St Helena Independent
The St Helena Independent became the first privately run newspaper to be a success on island. Produced by the team at Saint FM, the newspaper has been in operation since 11th November 2005 and has developed from a limited 11 page E-newspaper to a widely read printed paper expanding to 40+ pages.
In his editorial in the inaugural issue, Station Manager of Saint FM and now also editor of the St Helena Independent wrote: "For any media organisation, it is important to be able to stand on its own two feet and not lean on any single organisation for its survival. Every newspaper or Radio Station has got sponsors and advertisers for its survival >>
but one single sponsor or advertiser should not be so important that the editorial freedom is put in jeopardy. The Saint Helena Media Productions has run Saint FM with great success and the Island has experienced a completely new sound on the airwaves - FM radio. The world has become more aware of St Helena through internet radio, which has had 43,000 listeners in it's first six months of being established. It has all been done without expensive consultants or overseas expertise to great expense to the taxpayer. With a little enthusiasm a lot can be achieved." And a lot has since been achieved the The St Helena Independent, or 'Indy' as some prefer to call it has developed from strength to strength. >>
Just twelve editions later and the popularity of the online newspaper proved was such a success that the we went into print starting off with just 100 copies on 27th January 2006. At first it was felt that maybe having two newspaper on such a small island would prove to be unprofitable, but with each week that passes the Independent has grown and become more successful than ever envisioned, now distributing to 27 outlets around the island with sale of over 1000 copies each week, whilst still remaining free for download to the world wide web community.
Between 1500 - 2000 people download the Independent each week.
We welcome stories, news items and articles to Saint FM/St Helena Independent.
Brief History of Printed Media on St Helena
The first papers
First published in May of 1851, the earliest newspaper to be printed on the Island is the St Helena Advocate, which catered for a population of 6000. The proprietors felt that the Islanders were not used to freedom of expression or opinion, and therefore, they wanted to: “awaken and rouse [them] to a proper consideration of public affairs – to form a public opinion and to make [their] voice heard.” However, it was short lived, eventually having to close down in January 1853. The main reason was from competition with the St Helena Chronicle that had started publication in 1852. The Chronicle was government owned and succeeded in pushing the Advocate out of business. By 17 February 1853 The Herald was making the bold statement to: “think as we choose, to write as we choose, to admit into the paper what we choose, and to reject what we choose.” The Herald firmly stated: “We will be responsible to nobody.”
The first edition of the St Helena Herald was so successful that it ran out of print! The Herald continued publication until February 2nd 1860 and then suddenly stopped printing.
The owner, John Elliot then became the printer of the St Helena Record, a new paper. Both papers kept the same publisher, and both maintained the same slogan printed on the front page: “As you like it.” The Record ceased publication in April 1861 with no explanation – just a front-page advert stating that the St Helena Guardian would be published on Thursday 2 May, 1861. >>
And so it was, wanting to be characterised by “a spirit of fairness and impartiality to all” It set an Island record running a total of 62 years.
In August 1865, the proprietor of The Guardian, Benjamin Grant, published his second paper, The St Helena Advertizer which lasted until July 1866. By November of that year, E.S. McCauley (The printer and publisher of The Guardian) tried his hand at putting together the St Helena Star, which flded in January 1867. The St Helena Spectator was also published in 1866. However, by July 1868 The Spectator started to run into problems. They claimed that there was no difficulty in finding news, but there was a problem with finding a printing press. One was being used by The Guardian and the other by the St Helena Government.
Miscellaneous Papers and present day
During the latter part of the 1880’s, some other papers were published. These included some humorous names like: The Mosquito in January 1888. The Bug and The St Helena Church News were both published in July 1888. The St Helena Times in January 1889 followed by the monthly Critic and Flashlight, published on 1 December 1891 and the St Helenian, published in August of 1895. With the arrival of the Boer Prisoners in 1901, St Helena saw the publication of the De Krisgsgevangene a paper written in high Dutch which dealt with camp news and other information. The paper was censored, and therefore it was warned that it would include no political information. >>
An interesting period followed when no news papers were published. Instead, there were only Church Magazines which were published on a monthly basis from 1899 up until December 1947. However these magazines were censored to an extent and huge chunks of history was left unrecorded until years later when the newspapers that followed started reporting on events that the Church Magazines neglected. The 1960s also saw the publication of the Voice of the Union and The St Helena Association News Sheet.
The next paper to be published was The Jamestown Monthly, and then came The St Helena “Wirebird”, a government sponsored paper which ran until May 1966. During this period, publication had started of another Government paper, The St Helena News Review, and finally the St Helena News, both published weekly on a Friday. From 14th April 1990 to 21st June 1991, privately funded, The New Wirebird was published by Julian Cairns-Wicks, with sales averaging between 350 to 400 copies each week, and at one stage reached a sale of 550 copies at a price of 30p when the St Helena News was being sold for 15p.
On the 15th October 1999 The St Helena News Media Services (SHNMS) came into being as a media organisation and on the 1st June 2000 the 'new' St Helena Herald was born and the St Helena News was relegated to the archives. The St Helena Herald is still in print today. Ironically, if you consider the first newspaper in 1851, whose editor was adamant for 'freedom of expression', media in comparison with the present day government funded organisation has not changed much with regards to freedom of speech.
Suggested reading: the St Helena printing press in Gosse St Helena 1502 – 1938
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