newspapers


SHUTTERSTOCK EDITORIAL.


with an inspired amateur rather than a hard-bitten professional. For instance, he didn’t really see the point of employing sub-editors. On the paper he envisaged, writers and reporters


would sub-edit their own copy and write their own headlines. I indicated my disagreement with such a course of action. I suggested that everybody’s copy benefited from a once-over by someone else, that a grid system of layout with predetermined story lengths would not look great and that there was a ‘knack’ to writing headlines. Far more influential journalists than I finally persuaded him to abandon the idea. Tere was a radical side to Whittam Smith’s nature. He


would not countenance anyone on the staff, including himself, earning more than 10 times the lowest paid employee. Apparently, he was paid £130,000 a year, while the lowest paid received £13,000. Elon Musk take note. And, to prevent the emergence of a Murdoch Mark Two,


no Independent investor was allowed to hold more than a 10th of the equity. Inevitably, those strictures did not survive subsequent investments from more conventional newspaper groups. Whittam Smith insisted we become the only paper with a


presence in parliament to opt out of the lobby system, a move fully endorsed by political editor Tony Bevins, a free spirit and refugee from Te Times. Tis slightly grubby, quasi-masonic system was (and still is) used by MPs in general and ministers in particular to brief signed-up lobby journalists on an anonymous basis. As part of his new-broom approach, the editor also insisted journalists should not take freebies. On the minus side, Whittam Smith sometimes found it


difficult to cope with the idea that people with working class accents – and whose personal contact with Oxford was perhaps limited to a day trip - could possibly have the intellect


and judgement to take on senior roles at the paper. He always insisted on being styled Whittam Smith even though the family name was the perfectly


adequate Smith. His secretary at Te Telegraph, Linda Tanner, who became publicity officer at Te Indie, was very protective of the great man. She was not desperately keen on the lower


orders referring to him as Andy Smith, Andy Pandy or Squitters. Belying any impression of amateurism, Whittam Smith


Andreas Whittam Smith, surrounded by editorial staff, holds a copy of the first issue of The Independent; the paper used desktop publishing technology from the outset


presided over an intensely complicated gestation period for the paper. He had to: attract an initial £18 million in investment; undertake extensive market research; predict likely advertising revenue; find suitable premises; choose printing companies in various parts of the UK; and make sure distribution was fast and efficient. Starting a new newspaper is a huge undertaking. Te Independent was born at a time when a huge chunk of


“


Whittam Smith insisted we opted out of parliament’s quasi-masonic lobby system


the population got their news from papers and the internet was embryonic. It was a great time to be a journalist on a quality paper. In its heyday, Te Independent was a great paper to work on. As William Wordsworth said: ‘Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive. But to be young was very heaven!’ Tat sounds a bit over the top in this context but we had


the time and resources to pursue stories, there was no pressure to remain tied to a desk and management did not adhere to the psychopathic management techniques of the Mail. Te only imperative was that we had to keep producing stories that other papers didn’t have and that each story should have a unique Independent twist – an unfathomable concept demonstrated by Whittam Smith thrusting his hand in the air and twisting an imaginary knob. Tankfully, the destructive and dispiriting era of clickbait


was decades into the future. One can only hope that it is a passing phase.


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