ABSTRACT
As with so many revolutions, the ‘compact revolution’ within Britain’s broadsheet press was born of adversity. The Independent, itself born of another kind of revolution, that of ownership, had failed to sustain its dream of independence from traditional baronial or corporate ownership. Under the slogan ‘It is. Are you?’ – independent, that is – it was, paradoxically, a product of Thatcherism, particularly of her routing of the trades unions. This had coincided with the advent of new publishing technologies allowing the ‘direct input’ of their words and pictures by journalists. No longer did they have to pass through the ‘hot metal’ stage, for so long under the unbending control of the print unions.
