Ian Meikle has resigned as chairman of Adelaide broadsheet The Independent Weekly, following founding editor Alex Kennedy’s departure this week.

It was rumoured that Meikle, like Kennedy, resigned over the Sunday
broadsheet’s Coopers Brewery coverage, but publisher Paul Hamra
told Crikey this morning, “Ian is
still a shareholder but being based in Sydney, it had become increasingly difficult
for him to chair our small publishing company in Adelaide.”

“There
are some new investors in our company so board composition will be changing at
the next board meeting,” he added.

As for Alex Kennedy resigning over the page one backdown on an earlier
piece on Adelaide icon Coopers that appeared on the weekend, Hamra said
that “Alex was
wanting to change our working relationship in the new year anyway, and
this difference of
opinion just triggered that.”

The Independent Weekly’s apology referred to an article on page one of
the newspaper entitled “Troubles Pour Down as Coopers Face ASIC
Enquiry.” (see right)

Hamra defended his paper’s apology in last Sunday’s paper by saying, “We think
it’s important as a newspaper to run apologies and clarification on stories
when they’re needed. It’s a show
of maturity.”