As one of the world's great newspapers goes entirely digital, here's a letter from the editor explaining why.
As The Independent launches its next chapter, my thanks to our most important allies – that's you.
This is the most exciting time in the history of journalism. New tools, new markets, new business models and new audiences are consuming volumes of information once unimaginable. Digital technology makes reaching them easier than ever.
Maintaining world-class standards and high-quality values is the hard part. But it can be done. That’s the context in which The Independent is becoming global, digital – and profitable.
Six years ago my family bought one of the greatest titles in the history of media. It was, however, losing £25m per year. And every day its audience was just over 100,000 readers in print, and under half a million readers online. A lot has changed. We created a new newspaper, i – defying expectation and expensive advice – and invested heavily in our digital products.
As a result, today our journalism will reach nearly 400,000 readers in print, and we have around three million readers online (a third in America; over half through social media; and also more than half on their mobiles). That is down to the effort and brilliance of a remarkable team, who have my deep thanks, and who have ensured we make this bold move from a position of strength, not weakness.
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