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'''''The Independent''''' is a [[Britain|British]] newspaper published by [[Tony O'Reilly]]'s [[Independent News & Media]]. It is nicknamed the ''Indie'', with the Sunday edition being the ''Sindie''.
It was originally published in [[broadsheet]] form, but from September 2003 haswas been publishedproduced in botha choice of [[broadsheet]] and [[tabloid]] formforms, with the same content in each edition. The tabloid editionversion is being rolled out gradually thoughout the [[UK]], and iswas termed by the newspaper "compact", presumably to disassociatedistance itself withfrom anythe negativeracy, opiniondown-market heldtype byof thetabloid. public withThe othersmaller newspapersformat publishedwas ingenerally thewell tabloidreceived format.by Thereaders Independent'sand leadwas hasrolled beenout followedgradually throughout the UK. by [[Rupert Murdoch]]'s ''[[The Times|Times]]'' quickly followed suit, introducing its own "compact" version. On the 26th March 2004, the broadsheet version of ''The Independent'' was discontinued.
It had a daily circulation of around 217,500 in September 2003, the lowest of any major national British daily newspaper, but claims a 15% rise in circulation as of March 2004 (taking it to circa 250,000).
''The Independent'' was named ''National Newspaper of the Year'' at the [[British Press Awards]] 2004.
On the 26th March 2004, the Independent scrapped their broadsheet edition.
==History==
''The Independent'' is the youngest British broadsheet still in existence, first published in October 1986. It was produced by [[Newspaper Publishing Ltd.]] and was the creation of [[Andreas Whittam Smith]], [[Stephen Glover]] and [[Matthew Symonds]]. All three were former journalists at the ''[[Daily Telegraph]]'' who had fled the regime of [[Lord Berry]]. [[Marcus Sieff]] was made the first chairman of Newspaper Publishing and Smith took control of the paper.
The paper was created inat a time of considerable tension in British journalism. [[Rupert Murdoch]] was challenging long accepted practisespractices and was fighting with the print unions. In this unsettled atmosphere the newly created paper was able to attract very good staff from the Murdoch broadsheets, who chose to jump ship rather than move to [[Wapping]]. ''The Independent'' also had a rather better relationship with its printers than others, mainly because it had not been around long enough for the relations to sour.
ChallengingLaunched with the advertising slogan "It is. Are you?", and challenging ''[[The Guardian]]'' for [[liberal]] readers, the paperit managed to reach a circulation of over 400,000 in 1989. Competing for readers in a moribund market, the arrival of ''The Independent'' was one of the factors that sparked both a general freshening of newspaper design and content as well as a costly 'price war'. The market was very tight, and when ''The Independent'' launched an independent Sunday section in 1990 it did very poorly and was soon merged back into the main paper, although Sunday publication did continue.
Into the 1990s it became clear that the parent company, Newspaper Publishing, was suffering,. two Two European media groups had takentook small stakes in the company. A number of other media companies were interested in taking fuller control of the ailing paper for a number of reasons. Both [[Tony O'Reilly]]'s media group and [[Mirror Group Newspapers]] developed substantial stakes in the company by mid-1994. In March 1995 Newspaper Publishing was restructedrestructured with a rights issue, splitingsplitting the shareholding into O'Reilly (43%), MGN (43%), and Prisa (''El Pais'', 12%). In the same month Smith left the paper. In April 1996 there was another refinancing and in March 1998 O'Reilly bought out the other 54% of the company for £30 million, includingand assumingassumed the company's debt. Brendan Hopkins headed Independent News while [[Andrew Marr]] and [[Rosie Boycott]] were made editors of both the broadsheet publications (the other being the ''[[Belfast Telegraph]]'').
Boycott left in April 1998 (to the''[[The Daily Mirror]]'') and Marr in May 1998 (later to join the [[BBC]] as its Political Editor), [[Simon Kelner]] was made the new editor. By this time the circulation of the paper had fallen to below 100,000. Independent News spent heavily to improve circulation and the paper underwent a number of redesigns. While circulation improved it did not approach the 1989 figures or restore the paper to profitability and the job cuts and tight financial controls took their toll on the journalists and their morale. Ivan Fallon, on the board since 1995, replaced Hopkins as head of Independent News & Media in July 2002. The paper is currently losing around £5 million a year, but as of March 2004, projects a return to profit by 2005.
Arguably [[Robert Fisk]] is the best known syndicated journalist to feature in ''The IndepedentIndependent''; his reports from the [[middle-east]] are widely and consistentyconsistently cited wherever [[Israeli]] / [[Palestinian]] issues are discussed in English on the web.
==Writers and Columnists==
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