Comments on: Indy editor-in-chief determined to appoint Liddle

By: Independent newsroom concerned by possible Liddle appointment | Left Foot Forward

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 12:35:32 +0000

[...] noted on this blog, the indicators point that Lebedev’s number one choice for editor is a certain Rod Liddle, famed [...]

By: Where you won't read all about it ... | Left Foot Forward

Where you won't read all about it ... | Left Foot Forward — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 14:25:42 +0000

[...] related mystery, as Left Foot Forward noted this week, is why not a paragraph seems to have been written in print about probably the most offensive [...]

By: Unlucky Alf

Unlucky Alf — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:50:08 +0000

What is Simon Kelner’s new plan for The Independent? This could be the last chance that the paper has to get some investment and one has to question if he has the ability to run a newspaper. He has made three big decisions – the appointment of Freuds to run marketing, Roger Alton to edit and Daryl Fielding to change the way that advertising is run. He’s already changed Daryl (at a huge cost) and replaced her with someone the Lebdevs wouldn’t have back at The Standard. He want’s to change Roger (at a huge cost) with someone that’s a huge risk (only an inexperienced executive would say that the publicity really good for the paper). And as for Freuds (recruited at huge cost) – they haven’t contributed one decent innovative promotion or advertisment.

Wouldn’t it be a real shame if the last chance The Independent has is put in his hands…..

By: Ron Broxted

Ron Broxted — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:22:09 +0000

What are Liddle and Suzanne Moores (the other front runner) views on Independent Minds and blogging? Pay per view?

By: PICamp

PICamp — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:05:05 +0000

RT @Paul0Evans1: Left Foot Forward – Indy editor-in-chief determined to appoint Liddle http://bit.ly/7hCKq8 <<'serious liberal new …

By: CS Clark

CS Clark — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:04:48 +0000

Bit of a mistake in the 5th para there. You’ve got 4,000 people vowing not to buy the Indy again when it should be 4,000 people guaranteed to buy the Indy in order to get angry.

By: Paul Evans

Paul Evans — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 13:58:32 +0000

Left Foot Forward – Indy editor-in-chief determined to appoint Liddle http://bit.ly/7hCKq8 <<'serious liberal newspaper'? rotflmao

By: Anon E Mouse

Anon E Mouse — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 12:08:45 +0000

James – Quite agree. If I see one more picture of a polar bear on an iceberg because the Indy believes the nonsense made up by the IPCC about the icecaps melting I’ll scream.

It is not a newspaper, it is as you describe a “viewspaper” and as such doesn’t really warrant wasting space on blogs about it.

As for Kelner – if he any doubts lingered about the appointment of Rod Liddle the internet response will have clinched it now for him. Well done all….

By: Ben Rooney

Ben Rooney — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 11:54:09 +0000

RT @nextleft: RT @leftfootfwd … Indy editor-in-chief Simon Kelner still determined to appoint Rod Liddle http://bit.ly/4Zt1xk < v bad idea

By: James Graham

James Graham — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 11:51:07 +0000

Kelner is responsible for turning the Independent from a respectable broadsheet to a daily tabloid “viewspaper” that almost entirely replaced actual content with comment and so-called “campaigns”. All too often, those campaigns turned out to be little more than publicity stunts for the paper itself.

The post-2005 general election “Campaign for Democracy” was a case in point. By all accounts it was a tremendous success, garnering 40,000 petition signatures inside of a month. Compare that to Charter 88′s 80,000 signatures during the 90s or the lacklustre iwantareferendum.com in 2008. Yet those petition signatures were never presented to Downing Street and were not collected in such a way that they could actually be used for campaigning purposes (i.e. there was no data protection statement). No-one knows what happened to them. If the Independent had been serious about the campaign, this would have kickstarted a UK grassroots campaign for electoral reform. Instead it went nowhere.

I think most people cottoned on to these repeated stunts five years ago, which is why sales to the Independent have continued to slide. Sadly, this Liddle thing is just the latest in a series of stunts and does beg the question: is Liddle the real problem? Kelner has had his shot and has failed comprehensively.