The Independent (Papua New Guinea)

The Independent was a national weekly newspaper published in Papua New Guinea from 1995 to 5 June 2003.[1][2]

It was an English-language publication. It was published in the Port Moresby suburb of Boroko by Word Publishing, owners of the Tok Pisin-language Wantok Niuspepa.[3][2] It replaced Word Publishing's previous, long-running weekly newspaper, The Times of PNG in 1995. It was originally known as the Saturday Independent, but later changed its publication date to Thursday and adopted the name of The Independent. In 2001, it absorbed another Word Publishing title, PNG Trade Monthly, which became a business liftout in the newspaper.[4] By the time of its closure, it had opened bureaus in Mount Hagen, Lae, Rabaul, Madang and Bougainville.[5]

Joe R. Kanekane has described the newspaper as both "one of the pillars of investigative journalism" in PNG and "an advocate of good governance and transparency". He highlighted their role in covering many of PNG's "worst corruption scandals", including the affair leading to the Tos Barnett forestry inquiry and the Public Officers Superannuation Fund Board's controversial purchase of The Conservatory building in Cairns, Australia. Its former editor, Anna Solomon, noted the paper's independent coverage of scandals concerning the activities of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force in the Bougainville Civil War, while Colin Barron cited its coverage of environmental issues, including critical coverage of activities of logging companies, and willingness to run advertisements informing landowners of their rights.[5][6]

The Independent closed in June 2003, citing a challenging economic climate and the demands of competing against two national daily newspapers, the Papua New Guinea Post-Courier and The National.[3] Together, The Times of PNG and The Independent had operated for 23 years.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "The Last Story". PNG Gossip Newsletter. Retrieved July 26, 2005.
  2. 1 2 "The independent". Library of Congress. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  3. 1 2 "PNG's 'Independent' newspaper to close". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 31 May 2003. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  4. 1 2 "PNG: The Independent weekly to close after 23 yrs". scoop.co.nz. 3 June 2003. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  5. 1 2 Firth, Stewart. Globalisation and Governance in the Pacific Islands (PDF). ANU ePress. pp. 385–386.
  6. ↑ Barron, Colin, Bruce, Nigel & Nunan, David (2014). Knowledge & Discourse: Towards an Ecology of Language. Routledge. pp. 124–126. ISBN 1317881273.
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