‘The Independent’s’ closure signals the beginning of a trend
The Lebedev family joined the establishment when they purchased The Independent and the Evening Standard. They positioned themselves as saviours of the free press and marking the occasion, Alexander Lebedev commented: “I do not treat newspapers as business. I treat them as my responsibility”.
At the time, he continued: “I think newspapers are the only instrument which, through investigative reporting, can ferret out everything about international corruption” but yesterday, in announcing the closure of The Independent, this Russian oligarch reneged on that promise. Accompanied by the loss of at least seventy jobs, the axing of the print version of the paper likely leads the way to further cuts elsewhere as The Guardian is on its knees and even online The Sun has been forced to remove its paywall. Harsh changes are coming for those working in the press and even the wealth of the Murdochs, the Hearsts and the Lebedevs cannot stem that.
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