 | |
| Type | Dailynewspaper |
|---|---|
| Owner | Younis Art Studio Inc. |
| Publisher | Abed Younis |
| Editor | Zaldy Dandan |
| Founded | 1972 (1972) |
| Headquarters | Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands |
| Website | mvariety.com |
Marianas Variety is a dailynewspaper published inSaipan,Northern Mariana Islands, five times per week. It is owned by Younis Art Studio Inc.Marianas Variety is a member of theAssociated Press,Reuters, and the Pacific Islands News Association.[1]
Established on March 16, 1972,Marianas Variety News & Views today has a readership of 40,000 in the Northern Mariana Islands and 2,000 elsewhere inMicronesia. It had a sister publication: thePalau Horizon inPalau, which had a readership of 8,000, launched in 1998.[1] Former sister publicationVariety on Guam was sold in 2015 and is now theGuam Daily Post.
Variety prints an average of 24-40 pages daily with full color capability and is distributed in theNorthern Mariana Islands,Guam,Palau, and theFederated States of Micronesia. It has subscribers throughout theSouth Pacific, thePhilippines,Hawaii,Japan and themainland United States.
In 2003, theUnited States Environmental Protection Agency gave an Environmental Achievement Award toMarianas Variety News & Views for "producing consistent, extensive, fearless and unbiased news coverage focusing on the causes, resolutions and preventions of environmental issues — including the contamination of soil, groundwater, drinking water, seawater and air — along with their effects to human health and safety."[2] The newspaper has also received awards from the local chapter of theSociety of Professional Journalists.[1][3]
In 2001, the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) held a gubernatorial election in whichCovenant Party politicianBenigno Fitial, then the Speaker of theCNMI House of Representatives, was a contender. On October 19, 2001, Rep. Stanley Torres wrote a letter insinuating that Fitial had accepted a $100,000 bribe from businessmanWillie Tan. Three days later,Variety ran a front-page article headlined, "Torres accuses Fitial of accepting bribe," with the caption "Fitial calls allegation 'absurd.'" On October 25, Torres ran a paid political advertisement inVariety which reprinted the full letter and added, "I don’t hide behind legislative shield to tell LIES. I don’t go to daily Mass and receive Holy Communion and tell LIES." Abed Younis, the newspaper's owner, approved the advertisement for publication. The newspaper also published paid advertisements from Torres vehemently refusing to retract his allegations. Fitial lost the election.[4]
In March 2003, Fitial and Tan filed a defamation lawsuit against theVariety for printing the advertisements.[4] Their argument was based largely upon Younis's personal dislike of Tan, who was a partial owner of a rival newspaper, theSaipan Tribune, and upon theVariety's failure to investigate Torres's claims further than the original article before printing the advertisements.[4]
The trial court grantedsummary judgement in favor of the newspaper; this was affirmed by theNorthern Mariana Islands Supreme Court, which citedThe New York Times Company v. Sullivan and determined that Younis Art Studio was not liable for defamation under theactual malice test. The decision stated that there was no evidence thatVariety had knowingly printed false information, nor was there evidence thatVariety had acted with a reckless disregard for the advertisements' truthfulness. The court ruled that Younis's dislike for Tan was immaterial to the case, as it had no bearing on the determination of actual malice, and that the newspaper did not have to investigate the truthfulness of the advertisements absent serious doubts regarding them. The court also rejected the claim that Tan's financial interest in theTribune played intoVariety's actions, noting that there was no evidence of any such profiteering scheme.[4]
Source:[1]