Paradox
Sir: Paul Johnson (The press, 7 March) suggests that the circulation of the Inde- pendent is 'not much over 250,000. It will soon, I suspect, be looking for more cash and may even be up for grabs — a very tasty property for a really rich man.' In common with most other titles we had a bad month in January when a combina- tion of holiday hangover and severe bad weather reduced our average daily sale to 257,000; throughout February sales have been on a steeply rising trend — on the basis of subtracting unsold from distributed copies our average circulation for the final week of the month was 298,382 and we estimate that March has begun with an average daily sale slightly in excess of 300,000. As far as our financing require- ments are concerned, the February board meeting decided that there was no need for more cash.
Mr Johnson's failure to talk to anybody at the Independent before making his comments is paradoxical. Although he frequently uses his Spectator column to castigate other journalists for their idleness in not checking facts, I am not aware that Mr Johnson has once, since the conception of the Independent became public know- ledge 15 months ago, bothered to talk to anybody at 40 City Road before putting pen to paper.
Matthew Symonds
Deputy editor, The Independent, 40 City Road, London EC1
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