Manx Independent.

Manx Independent. 

December 6th 2012

The 'Manx Independent' is a weekly paper that is printed and shipped here for Thursday every week, unless there is a delay due to bad weather ect. This is a typical cover for the independent the one that I have already shown in my blog was an unusual one but I was just aiming to show that the weather here really does have some effect. 

Already the differences between this and 'The Courier' is noticeable, the front page isn't half adverts. They also have two big stories that are about a 14yr old boy being hit by a car while waiting for the bus to school and a man who was killed by a wall collapsing on top of him while he was working on the water main. Both of these stories were advertised on the front of the 'Courier' and this is because Jonston Press are not just going to give what is classed as important local news away for free, of course they are going to charge 75p for it otherwise they wouldn't make any money other than advertising. This paper is also advertising a subscription and this lowers the price to 48p although the advert is no where near as big as the one on the 'Lancashire Evening Post' it is just a small sentence written underneath the masthead next to the price. 

As you begin to look at the first couple of pages of the paper there are no adverts, there is a weather prediction on the bottom of page 4 and then 'Shoprite' have taken out a whole page to advertise what they are selling in there stores. Most of the stories that I can see are all about the Isle of man in some way here are a few of the articles names; 

• Test views Tested, Should our vehicles have a regular MoT? 
• TT spees limit call
• Value for money

There is also a very active opinions page in this paper were people are showing that they have a voice.

There are articles about 'Penalties for those whose dogs mess' 'Governors lacking in imagination' 'Soil erosion is caused by cyclists'. These are all local people who have issues with or are supporting changes in their communities. This is actually the most active opinions page I have seen while looking through weekly local papers and this I think is because these papers don't really have a website so there is nothing for them to blog on about stories or anything like that and since this is a weekly paper there is plenty of time for the reader to write a response to an article or story and for it to be delivered and considered to be published in the paper if the staff think it is appropriate. 

The lack of advertisements in this paper is something that I don't think I am used to the average is one every 2 pages and it is no more than 1/3 of the page most of the time. They are also advertising for any local people that have a story to contact them by either phone or email which shows that they are trying to get the local people involved in the paper.

This paper also has a pull out that is called 'What, When, Where?' and it is quoted to be 'Your weekly entertainment guide to entertainment and leisure in the Isle of Man'. It is only 12 pages long which is incredibly short to when you compare it to the one that came out of the 'Lancashire Evening Post' which was 40 pages, as this paper is 48 pages long 12 pages does not really seem that much as appose to some other papers that I have looked at. From what I have read of it this features everything that is going on a the Gaiety Theater, the Villa Marina and the two local cinema's. It has reviews on news films as well as local photographers 'capturing beauty of our island and its wildlife'. There is also a 2 page spread that lists exactly what is on for Music, Dance, Exercise, Community and Club. Again this is something that I have seen in most of the local papers that I have looked at and it is one of the key roles of a local paper as they do need to offer this kind of information to their readers. 

From this section the paper moves into classifieds, announcements, buy & sell, entertainment, jobs, motors, Isle of Man Property, public notices and sport. The sport on this paper is a lot more in depth it isn't just the local hockey results there is the local schools cross country, Michael Dunlop and one of the TT legends bikes and of road biking competitions. 

This paper has a lot more text and a lot less adverts which is something that I am not used to seeing. I can deffently see the difference between the free sheet and the paid sheet when they are from the same area especially when 70% of the free sheet is adverts.