The hometown paper for the East Mountains, Edgewood and the Estancia Valley since 1999.
New Mexico-owned. Supporting local journalists, local small business and our readers.
“In communities without a strong print or digital news organization, voter participation declines and corruption increases… contributing to the spread of misinformation, political polarization and reduced trust in media.” – Northwestern Univ. 2021
Of all the newspapers that have come and gone east of Albuquerque, The Independent is the last one standing. The Independent was founded in 1999 by husband and wife Wally Gordon and Thelma Bowles as a community paper serving Tijeras. Since then, teams of local journalists and community contributors expanded coverage across three counties. Under editor and owner Leota Harriman, the paper relocated to Edgewood and expanded to cover one of the state’s largest newspaper service areas: 4,000 square miles including the East Mountains, Edgewood and communities across Torrance County. In 2022, after the loss of local advertising and pandemic challenges, the paper briefly ceased publishing.
In 2023, CTRL+P Publishing, a community newspaper group owned by Pat Davis that is working to save small town local newspapers across New Mexico, with help from the New Mexico Local News Fund and small-dollar donors purchased the paper and restored it to print and online publishing. Today, the Independent, and sister publications the Sandoval Signpost, and Corrales Comment are part of the CTRL+P group.
Read more at newmexico.news
Our Team
Glen Rosales, Editor
glen@newmexico.news | 505.300.4087 | LinkedIn
Glen Rosales was a staff and freelance writer for the Albuquerque Journal for almost 35 years. He joined Ctrl+P Publishing group in 2023 as the editor of The Independent.
Pat Davis, Owner/Publisher
pat@newmexico.news | 505.300.4087 | LinkedIn
Pat Davis is the owner and publisher at Ctrl+P Publishing, a cohort of local New Mexico community newspapers. In addition to his work with Ctrl+P, Pat is the CEO of a large cannabis company and as an elected Albuquerque City Councilor.
Freelancers and Contributors
The Independent covers more than 4,000 square miles across central and eastern New Mexico — that’s far more than any individual reporter can keep up with. That’s why we employ a team of freelancer contributors and columnists to provide local coverage in communities they know best.
Some of our frequent contributors are: Loeta Harriman (Edgewood), Ty Bannerman (East Mountains), Josiah Ward (News)
Interesting in joining our team? Email our editor at the contact information above.
Our ethics.
Our newsroom and journalists are required to follow the Code of Ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists. This code ensures that we adhere to the highest professional standards of journalists, and they hold us accountable as a member of the journalism community.
Corrections and balance.
We require our reporters to report only facts they can support with research and attribution – and we hold outside contributors (including opinion writers) to the same standard. In the case of breaking or developing stories where information available at the time of publication may change afterwards, we strive to update original reporting when we learn of additional information that changes the original reporting.
Most readers who ask for a correction are usually asking to add an additional perspective or supplemental information that continues the conversation but does not require a correction of fact in the original story. Where practical, we will offer those persons the opportunity to submit a letter to the editor or opinion column on the topic.
But we also acknowledge that journalists are human and can make mistakes. In those rare instances, we correct erroneous reporting as quickly as practical and publicly acknowledge the change in the format in which it originally appeared.
If you would like to submit additional information or request a correction, please contact us here.
Advertisers, owners and conflicts of interest.
In order to prevent the appearance of improper influence of advertisers, subscribers or our owner on the editorial decisions of professional journalists we maintain a firewall between the editorial decisions and business side of our paper. Decisions about stories we cover and how we cover them are made by the editor of the paper who is not involved in any of the business operations of the paper.