Akhbar 'The Independent' bakal tutup, beralih ke platform digital

Akhbar terkemuka United Kingdom The Independent dan Independent on Sunday mengumumkan ia akan menutup operasinya menjelang Mac.

Dalam satu kenyataan yang diterbitkan di laman web independent.co.uk, pemilik The Independent, Evgeny Lebedev berkata jenama kedua-dua penerbitan itu masih kekal kerana akan menemui pembaca menerusi platform digital sepenuhnya.

“Industri surat khabar kian berubah dan perubahan itu didorong oleh pembaca. Mereka menunjukkan masa hadapan kita adalah dalam dunia digital,” kata Lebedev.

Portal BBC.com melaporkan edisi terakhir The Independent akan dicetak pada 26 Mac manakala edisi terakhir Independent on Sunday pada 20 Mac.

Dengan peralihan akhbar terkemuka itu ke edisi digital, beberapa jawatan di kedua-dua akhbar tersebut tidak diperlukan namun edisi digital ini akan mewujudkan lebih kurang 25 jawatan baharu.

The Independent diasaskan pada 1986, namun penjualannya mula menunjukkan penyorotan dalam penjualan beberapa tahun kebelakangan ini.

Pada Disember 2015, hanyak 56,074 naskah dijual berbanding 421,829 naskah ketika zaman kegemilangan akhbar itu pada 1989.

Pelbagai reaksi diterima di media sosial susulan laporan ini.

Walaupun sedih dengan berita ini, namun mereka tidak terkejut kerana ramai pembaca sudah memilih platform digital.

“Ini era digital,” kongsi Caroline Goldsmith.

Really saddened to hear that the Independent is closing it's print operations. But not entirely surprised. This is the digital age.
— Caroline Goldsmith (@GoldCaro) February 12, 2016

Not surprised the independent print is ceasing, been saying it for years that print has been in decline. Digital platform is taking over.
— Mills (@GappyMilliOnAir) February 12, 2016

Sad but not surprised to hear it's the end of print editions for the #Independent and Independent on Sunday. Moving where the readers are.
— Charlee Sully (@TheUsualStudio) February 12, 2016

Sebelum The Independent beralih ke platform digital sepenuhnya, ada juga netizen yang mahukan akhbar itu meningkatkan mutu laman web mereka.

@BBCNews If that's the case they need to seriously revamp the website, it's absolutely dire!
— Sian (@SianElizabeth) February 12, 2016

If The Independent is going to focus on its website, I really hope it ditches the clickbait.
— Clara Suess (@claramps) February 12, 2016

Quite sad about The Independent moving online only. Can somebody try & make the website less of a crashing monstrosity before April. Thanks.
— Mike Pullen (@MikePullen1969) February 12, 2016

If the Independent is going digital first, then they desperately need to improve their website which is so full of ads, it never loads.
— Chub Tropicana (@ChristinaMcMc) February 12, 2016

The Independent's clickbait website full of facile-internet-journalism-lite would do well to close it's virtual pages
— George Sabapathy (@mutantteenager) February 12, 2016

Dalam era digital yang makin pesat ini, kami ingin tahu jika anda masih membeli akhbar. Sertai undian kami dan kongsi pandangan anda di platform media sosial Astro AWANI seperti Facebook dan Twitter.