Paper Monitor
13:31 UK time, Tuesday, 3 January 2012
A service highlighting the riches of the daily press.
Paper Monitor was just idly glancing over the front of a newspaper today and realised something shocking - with the top of the paper folded over it wasn't immediately clear which one it was.
Further investigation reveals it's the Independent. Under Chris Blackhurst, it now has proper stories on the front page. Today there's three of them. And some rather engaging looking blurb under the masthead.
Its front page can no longer be cruelly categorised as it once was in The Thick of It by a fictional but cruel newspaper night editor:
"It's not like we're the Independent - we can't just stick a headline saying 'CRUELTY' and then stick a photo of a dolphin or a whale underneath it"
Supporters of the old-style Indy might say "it's gone like any other newspaper", with its engaging blurb and mix of front page stories.
But that's rather akin to saying a motor vehicle "has gone like any other car" because it has the humdrum basics of four wheels, an engine and a steering wheel.
Surely it's what wheels and engine you choose that makes a car distinctive - not going off-piste and having three wheels? Or indeed creating a sort of terrestrial glider by removing the engine.
Comparing its story mix with its long-time spiritual stablemate the Guardian and there's now quite a disparity. The Grauniad's top two on the front are headlined: "NHS accused over disabled patient deaths" and "Labour urges radical rethink on welfare".
The Indy on the other hand has: "Crackdown on small firms, a blind eye for big business" and "Gun laws in spotlight as man with arms licence kills family".
The new captain is steering the ship on a very different course.
The 
