The Independent retains the optimism and ambition of its youth

John Rentoul was a latecomer to a journalistic adventure that celebrates its 35th anniversary this month

Andreas Whittam Smith, founding editor of The Independent, which was launched in 1986 (Photoshot/Getty)

We are celebrating the 35th anniversary of The Independent this month. David Lister, the last of the original staff still working on the title (he edits the Daily Edition at weekends), wrote a lovely memoir last week. In it he recalled that the name was chosen rather late in the day.

When Andreas Whittam Smith, Matthew Symonds and Stephen Glover raised money for their new newspaper, its working title was The Nation. However, they decided this sounded a bit right-wing, and cast about for an alternative. The Examiner came top of a list given to market researchers to try out on the general public, but fortunately the three founders preferred a name that, although it scored well, came third behind The Examiner and The Chronicle.

As David Lister recalls, research for Saatchi and Saatchi found that The Independent was seen as “a young name; quite left wing but not unbalanced; reasonably open-minded; no class bias; no bias to the professions or business; reasonable sex bias; good for both single and family people; very strong on modern outlook; low regional bias”.

It was just right, and it defined the project, although it wasn’t decided until January 1986, nine months before the launch. I remember the excitement of that day, 7 October 1986. I bought the first edition. It was quite dull but it looked fantastic, and the name captured something about a respectable and decent resistance to high Thatcherism.

I was a latecomer to the enterprise, joining nine years later in 1995, when it seemed as though that spirit’s hour was coming, in the form of Tony Blair. By then, The Independent had been through commercial wars and was about to face an attempt by Rupert Murdoch to put it out of business by cutting the price of The Times.

But the title still had that magic about it, and I think it still does today. Through all the innovations and changes, going “compact” (not “tabloid”) and then online only, it retains that essential idea of making up its own mind and expecting its readers to make up theirs.

What is surprising about that early research for Saatchi and Saatchi is how true it remains today. “Quite left-wing but not unbalanced; reasonably open-minded.” Strange for a news organisation founded by three refugees from The Daily Telegraph, it has from the start been slightly to the left, sceptical of the establishment, but always pluralist.

Above all, as the largest quality digital news brand in the UK, The Independent still seems “a young name”, even as it approaches middle age. It still feels young, optimistic and recklessly ambitious. Long may it continue to be so.

Yours,

John Rentoul

Chief political commentator