We believe in local, public interest journalism. Our goal is to help shine a light on news and events for the Beach.
Original reporting and photography published by The Independent News has been recognized by the Virginia Press Association. Our coverage of the agriculture industry has been recognized by the Virginia Beach Excellence in Agriculture Committee and Virginia Farm Bureau. We were recognized as the small business of the year for 2018 by the Creeds Ruritan Club.
Our main coverage and distribution areas include southern Virginia Beach, Kempsville, the Oceanfront and Town Center.
Here is the mission statement for our newspaper.
The Princess Anne Independent News is a community news source that that gathers and delivers news of interest to the people of Virginia Beach, helping citizens engage in civic life, community and culture. We are a forum for conversations that encourage, not limit, ideas in our communities and our city.
The newspaper, site, and content published in print and online are produced and owned by Pungo Publishing Co., LLC, unless otherwise noted at the bottom of posts. While we welcome free expression, we reject any advertising that contains profanity, personal attacks, offensive or demeaning content and junk science.
We are committed to diversity, civic responsibility, freedom of expression, open government and strong communities. We value agriculture and rural life.
Thank you for reading and supporting local journalism. If you value what we do, please consider supporting The Independent News by advertising.
A note about commenting here and at our social media sites:
There are two general rules about commenting here:
- Keep it civil.
- Keep it clean.
If criticism is due, please criticize ideas and not the people who have them. We can challenge ideas without resorting to insults. There’s some leeway given to comments about public officials or The Independent News itself, but please consider that this is a community newspaper.
Additionally, comments under clearly assumed names or offensive names may be removed at the editor’s discretion.
A note about copyright:
We are proud to provide original reporting, stories and photographs to our readers. We encourage people to share links to our content on social media. However, we ask you to please respect our copyright and the copyrights of contributors that allow us to republish work in print or online. Since we pay for the newspaper and compensate contributors for the work that you see here and in print, we will pursue remedies against those who violate our copyright by reproducing our original work. If you ask — and it’s generally about our photos — we are often happy to work something out and provide permission for reuse. Please ask in writing to jhd@princessanneindy.com. All original content herein is owned by Pungo Publishing Co. LLC., P.O. Box 7064, Virginia Beach, VA 23457. We protect our copyright and ownership of our work so we can continue to pay for journalism.
Steve, this is John, the editor. For now, we are not doing subscriptions. We’re a small start-up community paper covering and available in southern Virginia Beach. We’re available for free at the locations under the “Find Us” tab. I hope we’ll be able to do subscriptions in the coming year if there is enough interest, but we’re not there yet. Best, John.
I responded. Thanks.
Frank, This is John, the editor. My cell is 757-748-5331. I’d love to see it, if possible.
Hello John,
I will give you a call.
The name of the Rescue new in our area that is a NO KILL Shelter who has 40-50 dogs at all times is GO Rescue Pet Adoption Center. We are on FB.
Wayne, We publish every other Friday, distributing over that weekend. Our next paper is May 27, just before the Strawberry Festival. We are a print publication, and most, but not all, of our stories are published online after the edition is off the stands. Best, John.
Will do. New email is jhd@princessanneindy.com.
Sir, This is John, the editor. We seldom publish events on the site, but we have a free, as-space-is-available listing in the print edition, generally for events in the south part of the city. Also, we sell advertising. You can email any event to me via jhd@princessanneindy.com. Best wishes, John.
Hello, My understanding is donations to a specific squad got to the squad itself. Here is a link to the Sandbridge rescue page. There is contact information at the page. You can check with the squad directly. Best, John.
https://www.sandbridgerescuesquad.com/support
I would love a PDF copy of The Princess Ann County Cookbook, how could I get it?
You can download a copy here:
https://archive.org/details/princessannecook00unse
Sorry for that. This is John, the editor. So you know, not everything published in the print edition goes online. The site is not monetized, so our content appears in print first, and some of it is posted after the print edition is off the stands. My email is jhd@princessanneindy.com. Thanks.
Do y’all accept letters to the editor?
Yes. Please send to letters@princessanneindy.com.
I’ll check with them and put a note at the top of the page about some of the libraries, which has been an issue due to Covid. Other nearby spots are the 7-Eleven at Tiffany (on the newspaper rack near the ATM) and Princess Anne near Mike’s Break Room and the Virginia Beach Farmers Market (either in the hallway or in the Princess Anne County Grill, if you don’t want to go to the PA Library.
I just discovered your website today and am curious, where do you align politically and do you present both sides of an issue or slant it right, or left?
We work to present accurate journalism. We don’t make political endorsements. Opinion is marked as such.
Is there an online version of your paper? How do I link to it, or is this it? how do I find the most current ?
I would like to have it and share with others that would like to see it
Some stories are published online here (normally) well after they appear in print, but the stands are where to find us. Click on the “FIND US” menu for locations in Virginia Beach. Thanks.
Do you do any commercial printing? Or can you refer me? I have a couple of books in the works about local Princess Anne County history.
We do not. You might check with a local printing house or, if you self-publish, consider a company such as IngramSpark. Best of luck.
Great job on the 2022 VB local voting guide. Everyone got asked the same questions and was allowed to answer as they saw fit, leaving it up to the voters to decide. Outstanding.
How often is the Princess Anne Independent News printed and distributed?
We print 25 editions per year, every other Sunday with a week break in the summer and around the holidays. Our next paper is on June 11.
I had lost all hope of receiving unbiased news from our local paper and was thrilled when I found this publication. However, it appears you are all just as biased in your coverage of actual news as every other news outlet. Very disappointing. My family will no longer subscribe to your one sided view of the world.
Hi! Wanted to say that I have greatly enjoyed this newspaper! The local coverage is wonderful and I look forward to the Sudoku and Crossword for down-time at work. Thank you!