2014 is gone. It's been a great year for Standard Publications Ltd, home of The Malta Independent on Sunday, The Daily and online portal, The Malta Business Weekly, along with FIRST, Taste & Flair, I Do, A&H and Living Law magazines produced by this media house. 

Thanks to the hard work of all employees and contributors alike, 2014 was the year The Malta Independent established itself once more as Malta's second most read English language Sunday newspaper and the second most followed online news portal.

It was a great year for us because, among other things, we launched what many are describing as Malta's most accessible (and attractive) local news portal. It took us a while to establish and create a news portal which functions around the user and not just a fancy outfit that simply presents the news of the day. We dared to do what others avoided. We set out to create an experience for our readers that gave everyone the freedom to choose what to read from the home page, which is where 80 per cent of users like to loiter when accessing an online platform.

This is why we chose the 'endless' concept against the traditional short-page format that is still used by everyone else in Malta. The traditional model, still employed by our competitors, obliges the reader to struggle in the archive section to find stories not shown on the homepage due to its limitations. 

Other media houses favour this because with every page-view you get a new 'click'. We were prewarned that if you give readers the opportunity to read the headlines on your homepage, you tend to get fewer clicks on the stories. Yet, armed with investigative stories, enthusiasm, teamwork and determination, we forged ahead and took the plunge.

Today, three months after we launched the new independent.com.mt, the portal commands a stronger readership than ever. Page views are up every month, time-on-site is at a record high and first-time visitors are always on the rise. Technology does play a part in our success but there is only one thing that makes one news portal better than another: content. 

Whoever said that technology alone will put you ahead of your competition is in denial. The Malta Independent has been faring better than the competition because of its content, its cutting-edge investigations, creative editorial team and some of the best columnists around contributing regularly with their opinion pieces and blogs.

This newsroom never stops generating ideas or tires of chasing the protagonists that make the news on a daily basis. We also employ a good dose of logic and foresight to be able to get stories before others do. We don't always get it right and have our share of embarrassing moments too, but as long as we keep following the beacon of true and honest reporting, then we don't mind admitting it when we're wrong.

Journalists are real people, with real feelings and are subject to make mistakes just like everyone else. This is why we have never entertained the idea of creating a 'libel fund' to give ourselves the liberty to say what we want, safe in the knowledge that our readers will foot the bill if we're taken to court.

During 2014 our stories and interviews have influenced the national agenda and generated widespread debate. We launched the iSurvey, a quarterly scientific poll that we commission to experts in the field, and not brewed internally without external audit procedures. We are now looking ahead at 2015 for the next batch of iSurveys which will surely stir more debate while giving a snapshot of the local political scene. 

Equally exciting in 2015 will be the themes set for The Malta Business Weekly Business breakfasts, which resumed in 2014 supported by FIMBank and Hilton Malta. The Malta Business Weekly continues to lead as the stand-alone pink-sheet business newspaper, notwithstanding its recent clones inserted in other media.

While the newsprint business is truly struggling in today's digital age, The Malta Independent on Sunday has registered an increase in its readership over 2014. Aided by The Malta Independent Daily and the on-line portal, this paper has yet again established itself for innovative and breaking news stories attracting an ever bigger share of advertising support mainly from private and independent clients.

Our model is a very simple one. Ensure that the content is right and advertising will follow. This is why we feel we're being treated unfairly by the communications gatekeepers at the Office of the Prime Minister, who clearly favour some sections of the media over others when drafting media plans for government campaigns.

Those responsible are free to take me to task, even to court, if they believe I am wrong in my analysis but the figures don't lie and ratings and readership statistics are there for everyone to see. 

For 2015, we hope that this unfair treatment towards Malta's second most followed English language news media house is rectified. If this was the case, as MaltaToday claims it to have been under previous administrations, then it was totally wrong and shouldn't be repeated by this government.

At the beginning of a new year, I urge you to keep following this media group as we are on the point of rolling out some very new and exciting projects in the coming months. We will certainly continue to step up our news services with more audio-visual content online and we will continue to report, investigate and analyse the news stories with an independent outlook while keeping those in authority in check.

Pierre Portelli is Director for Content and Business at Standard Publications Ltd