Jamaican press group takes over 'The Voice' of black community
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The newspaper aimed at Britain's black community, The Voice, has been bought by Jamaica's largest newspaper group, it was announced yesterday.
Val McCalla, a Jamaican-born accountant and former RAF pilot, began the newspaper at the 1982 Notting Hill Carnival. It became a leading advocate for Britain's large black and Afro-Caribbean community. Mr McCalla's wife, Linda, and two sons, Michael and David, took it over following his death, aged 58, from a liver illness in 2002.
The newspaper was sold on Tuesday to The Gleaner Company, which owns the Daily Gleaner, Sunday Gleaner and Star newspapers in Jamaica.
The Gleaner Company's chairman, Oliver Clarke, declined to divulge the exact amount it had paid, but said the company would spend between £3m and £4m on the acquisition and refinancing of The Voice, its largest investment to date.
"We think The Voice has a great name in England," Mr Clarke said. "It's part of our general move to develop newspapers and other publications for a younger market and people of Caribbean descent."
Circulation of the London-based tabloid is said to be around 20,000 per week. In the past decade, declining advertising revenue, increased competition and accounting problems have hurt its readership figures.
Mr Clarke said he would seek to resolve the newspaper's financial woes through refinancing, but didn't plan any major editorial changes.
The Gleaner Company's UK director, John Hudson, said the company had made the McCalla family an offer last year that they had rejected, but the family subsequently made an approach in February to see if the company wanted to resume negotiations.
Speaking of any new direction the paper might take, Mr Hudson said: "We have to look and see what the market dictates and look at maybe some market research on it.
The Gleaner Company owns eight publications outside Jamaica, including two each in Canada and the United States.
The Voice launched the careers of the television interviewer Martin Bashir and the novelist Diran Adebayo.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments