And so farewell to the Independent on Sunday which has come from the printers for the very last time. I suppose we should be sad when any newspaper closes down, although I wasn’t sad when Rupert Murdoch’s filthy News of the World was scrapped after, among other crimes against humanity, it hacked the the telephone of a murdered school girl.
I am definitely sad the Independent has gone because, apart from one major aberration last May, it has always been just about left of centre in its politics. It was not exactly a voice of the Labour Party but at least it allowed Labour voices to be heard, without distortion, without lying about her majesty’s opposition. I bought it today for the very last time, just for old time’s sake, and to remind myself what I will be missing and what I have missed since last May.
The references to last May are pertinent because until then I had bought the daily edition on an occasional basis and the Sunday on a weekly basis, but then, from left field, or rather right field, the Independent told its readers to vote Conservative, or more specifically for the discredited right wing Tory/Lib Dem coalition that had done so much damage to the country. In my small-minded, blinkered way, displaying my usual inconsistency, I never bought another copy until today. (My inconsistency is exemplified in particular by my boycott of Rupert Murdoch’s papers but not his TV channels – oh dear.)
It wasn’t the journalists’ fault that Alexander Lebedev’s newspaper had urged its readers to re-elect a coalition the newspaper had been highly critical of for the previous five years, but I took my revenge on them nonetheless. I do not know if it was the actions of people like me not buying the paper because it wanted me to vote Tory that have finally sunk the Independent but that’s the curse of Eclectic Blue for you.
The reality is that the printed word is in permanent decline. It’s only old people like me who buy papers, after all, as young people get their content on line. Get in the queue in your local newsagent and supermarket and tell me otherwise!
Whilst we still have newspapers, it would be nice if there was a political balance, but what have we got now?
In the right wing Tory camp we have the Mail, the Sun, The Times, the Star, the Telegraph, the Express and all their Sunday equivalents whilst on the left, and I mean slightly left of centre here, we have the Mirror plus the low circulation Guardian and Independent. Not exactly well balanced, is it? And with the Independent now dead in the water, we’re not far off a right wing privately owned monopoly.
The next paper to go, surely, will be the Guardian and its sister the Observer. It is the only paper not run for profit which is just as well given the losses it is now accruing. In the not too distant future, there will be a decision to be made, quite possibly like the Independent, to go on line.
Anyway, goodbye to the Independent. It was nice knowing you, apart from last May, that is. It’s a voice fewer on the news stands and it’s a less pluralist media. In a so called democracy, it’s a dark day.
