Former columnist will start new newspaper

On yesterday’s newscast we took note of a new radio station owned by the People’s United Party. Today there is word of a new newspaper … but unlike its partisan counterpart on the airwaves, “The Independent” professes to be free of political bias. In a notice to members of the Belize Tourism Industry Association, Editorial Director Meb Cutlack informed them that the paper will be published every Tuesday with nationwide distribution by Wednesday. With a financial backer willing to subsidize the publication for three months, Cutlack has predicted that within that time circulation will match that of the existing weeklies. Who those backers are is not mentioned, but the person in charge of supplying content to fill The Independent’s pages is Editor Karla Heusner Vernon. Unlike Cutlack, whose regard for journalistic accuracy lies somewhere between St. Herman’s Cave and the Blue Hole, Heusner has punched her ticket as news editor at Channel 5 and the old Broadcasting Corporation of Belize, as well as a columnist for the Reporter and San Pedro Sun. Her strength tends toward writing more than news gathering and, judging from the letter to B.T.I.A., the paper will lean heavily on tourism and environmental issues. The first edition is promised by mid-November but indications are that early December may be more likely.