The New York Independent had an illustrious history between 1848 and 1928. It was an important voice in support of abolitionism, women’s suffrage and other progressive causes. The paper ceased publishing on the eve of the Great Depression. The masthead fell into disuse and was forgotten for more than 90 years.
But the name and the paper’s legacy were a perfect fit when we began searching for a way to take TheImproper Magazine to the next level.
TheImproper was originally known as TheImproper Hamptonian and covered the beach community with aplomb. The current management took over the site shortly after it expanded to Manhattan in 2005 and it was incorporated into TheImproper Network LLC in 2007.
TheImproper.com has published continuously since then, looking askance at pop culture, arts, entertainment, fashion, lifestyles, politics and other topics. It’s been quite a ride for more than a decade and an unabashed success for a small independent site.
But times change and we felt it was time for us to step up and embrace the challenges facing the nation and, frankly, the world.
Now more than ever, we need an independent voice to report on critical issues that could have a grave impact on all our lives in New York City and the nation–something more thoughtful than the celebrity trash in The New York Post and the low-brow reporting in The New York Daily News.
Don’t get us wrong, we love those newspapers and The New York Times, but we also see a middle ground that needs to be filled by a publication like ours. So the metamorphosis of TheImproper into The New York Independent has become a reality.
We’ll still publish in-depth features, daily breaking news, opinion and gossip focused on the arts, theater, film, celebrities, music and lifestyles. But The New York Independent will be much more. It’s literally rising from the dustbin of history to become, once again, a progressive voice for change.
If you loved the first act, definitely stick around for the second act and let’s see how things shake out in the next decade.
About Keith Girard
Keith Girard has more than 30 years of experience as a reporter, editor-in-chief and senior media executive. Keith’s career began in Washington, D.C., where he was a reporter for The Washington Post and worked as a contributing editor for Regardie’s, a regional business magazine, and Washingtonian, the city’s leading lifestyle magazine.
In 1992, he became editor-in-chief of The Daily Record, a six-day business and legal newspaper published statewide in Maryland. He was also named editor of its sister publication, Warfield’s Business Record, a weekly newspaper. In its third year of publication, Warfield’s was named the best regional business newspaper in the United States by the Association of Area Business Publications (AABP), a national trade group that represents 68 newspapers. In 1996, he merged Warfield’s into The Daily Record to become part of its expanded weekend edition. The following year, the AABP named The Daily Record the best business publication in the United States.
In all, the paper won more than 60 editorial awards under his tenure from the Maryland, Delaware, D.C. Press Association, the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), the Associated Press, and the Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW) for reporting, editorial writing, graphics and layout, and design. Through his work at The Daily Record, Girard gained a reputation for turning around publications and was recruited by Crain to take over InvestmentNews at a critical time 18 months after the newspaper’s launch.
Because of his success at InvestmentNews, he attracted the attention of VNU Business Media and was offered the role of editor-in-chief of Billboard magazine. As editor-in-chief of Billboard magazine, Keith oversaw a global staff with five bureaus in the United States and one in the United Kingdom. In just one year, he engineered a complete overhaul of the newspaper and led the paper through a strategic redirection that included two staff reorganizations, expanded coverage, the opening of a San Francisco bureau to cover digital music, the launch of a new Web site and Billboard’s first e-newsletters and a major industry event focused on touring.
In his own reporting career, Keith has won nearly two dozen journalism awards for feature writing, general reporting, investigative reporting, editorial writing, headlines, and publication layout and design. He has written one book, on the role of the Marines in Operation Desert Shield/Storm. In 1982, he was named one of the 100 future leaders of Washington, D.C., by Washingtonian magazine.
Editor & Publisher
Keith Girard
Associate Editor
Debra Thomas
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Writer at Large
Globetrotter Dogma – Bruce Northam
Contributing Writers & Photographers
Matt Kindelmann
Beatrice Bugnosen
David Salidor
James Edstrom
Mark Bego
Iris Wiener
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Columnists
Gastronomique – Sarah Ricard
Real Life Designing – Lyn Peterson
Looking Askance – Keith Girard
DMCA Compliance
The New York Independent is fully compliant with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If material is posted on this site on which you believe you hold a copyright, please contact us immediately and accept our assurance and our apologies that the material was posted in error without knowledge of the said copyright and will be removed immediately upon notification in accordance with Title 17, United States Code, Section 512(c)(1) also known as the Safe Harbor provision of the Act. Contact: Keith Girard at kgirard@thenyindependent.com, or by calling 646-246-4477.