In yesterday’s edition, our sister paper the Malta Independent on Sunday marked the 20th anniversary of Standard Publications’ first newspaper issue with a commemorative supplement.
TMIS was first published in 1992, and our portfolio grew over the past two decades. Standard Publications expanded to publish The Malta Business Weekly, the Malta Independent Daily, First magazine, Manic magazine, Taste and Flair and others. We were the first news company in Malta to bring out full colour magazines and a full colour newspaper in Berliner format – we have consistently set the bar when it comes to print.
A lot happens in 20 years. When TMIS first came out, Malta was still hoping to become an EU member, only five years after the landmark 1987 election which saw the country move into the modern age. We have journeyed with it and we have reported on all manner of issues factually, on the record and without fear or favour. We have brought you news, columns and debates that others are shy to pick up. We tell it as it is – to us, a spade is a spade and nothing will convince us otherwise.
The world of news has changed much in the past 20 years. Some of our writing staff have been reporting and writing for close to two decades and they all say the same thing, they would not have missed it for the world, and that they want to be here in another 20 years, doing the same thing.
Many say that newsprint is a dying business. We recognise that while the face of news is changing on every medium, newspapers will still be around for quite a while longer – at least in paper format. Maybe we can dream of the day when we buy silica papers that we download our subscriptions onto in another 20 years. But newsprint is still very much alive. It is what people still regard as a permanent record. What goes down in a newspaper is fact and it is black on white.
News has become much more tabloid style over the past years. But we believe that our role in the local media landscape is not to sensationalise, or look to create stories out of nothing. Our role is to report and publish factual stories. We also pride ourselves in analysing those stories and looking beneath the veneer to find out what is really going on. We also pride ourselves in investigating and publishing home-grown stories – what we call off-diary stories in the trade.
It has been quite a remarkable journey for us and our readers. Many thought we would not last five minutes, but with our Sunday paper being 20 years old, and our daily fast approaching its 15th birthday, we look forward with optimism. We always seek to bring our loyal and casual readers something fresh and different and we will continue to do so. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have supported us through the years by purchasing our products and contributing to them with letters, opinions, suggestions and criticism. We would also like to thank those who have supported us by booking adverts in our publications over the past two decades, we like to think that we have gained their respect through the way we have presented the news - every day for close to 15 years now. We also take this opportunity to re-commit our duty as a newspaper – to present fact and not conjecture, to analyse and not speculate; and to continue to invest in our product to keep with these rapidly changing times. Once again, thank you.