Anne Harris (born 25 August 1947) is the former editor of the '' Sunday Independent''. Her daughter Constance Harris writes for the newspaper as a fashion writer. She is the former wife of

Eoghan Harris Eoghan Harris (born 13 March 1943) is an Irish journalist, columnist, director, and former politician. He has held posts in various and diverse political parties. He was a leading theoretician in the Marxist-Leninist Workers' Party of Ireland, p ...

who was an opinion columnist for the newspaper.

Biography

Anne Harris was born 25 August 1947. In 1972, Harris wrote a controversial article defending the 1972 Aldershot Bombing, an article she later expressed regret for. Harris also worked for the ''

Irish Press ''The Irish Press'' (Irish: ''Scéala Éireann'') was an Irish national daily newspaper published by Irish Press plc between 5 September 1931 and 25 May 1995. Foundation The paper's first issue was published on the eve of the 1931 All-Ireland ...

'', as well as the political magazine ''

Hibernia ''Hibernia'' () is the Classical Latin name for Ireland. The name ''Hibernia'' was taken from Greek geographical accounts. During his exploration of northwest Europe (c. 320 BC), Pytheas of Massalia called the island ''Iérnē'' (written ). ...

'' and the fashion magazine ''

Image An image is a visual representation of something. It can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or somehow otherwise feed into the visual system to convey information. An image can be an artifact, such as a photograph or other two-dimensiona ...

''.Foley, Michael. "A Socialist who went to market" (Profile of Anne Harris), ''The Irish Times'', 27 March 1997. Harris was originally a

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

and a

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

. In the 1980s she abandoned socialism in favour of the

free market In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any o ...

, but remained a feminist. Harris also became known for her opposition to

Irish nationalism Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of cu ...

and

Irish republicanism Irish republicanism ( ga, poblachtánachas Éireannach) is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland under a republic. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate. The develop ...

, similar to her then-husband Eoghan Harris and

Conor Cruise O'Brien Donal Conor David Dermot Donat Cruise O'Brien (3 November 1917 – 18 December 2008), often nicknamed "The Cruiser", was an Irish diplomat, politician, writer, historian and academic, who served as Minister for Posts and Telegraphs from 1973 ...

; this position was reflected in the ''Sunday Independents coverage of

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. This caused some commentators to claim Harris was a "

Southern Unionist In the United States, Southern Unionists were white Southerners living in the Confederate States of America opposed to secession. Many fought for the Union during the Civil War. These people are also referred to as Southern Loyalists, Union Lo ...

". Harris lived with ''Sunday Independent'' editor Aengus Fanning until his death in 2012. On 5 February 2012, the ''Sunday Independent'' announced Anne Harris would succeed Fanning as the publication's editor. On the evening of Saturday 19 July 2014, group editor of INM Stephen Rae ordered the presses to be stopped to amend a column written by ''Sunday Independent'' editor Anne Harris which featured references to

Denis O'Brien Denis O'Brien (born 19 April 1958) is an Irish billionaire businessman, and the founder and owner of Digicel. He was listed among the World's Top 200 Billionaires in 2015 and was Ireland's richest native-born citizen for a period of several ye ...

. Copies of the original article did however appear, allowing comparisons between the two. Harris originally wrote: "Denis O'Brien is the major shareholder in INM. In theory, with 29% of the shares, he does not control it. ''In practice, he does''." Rae had the last sentence deleted. Harris also wrote: "The question is whether he understands newspapers. In order to confront the truths in our society, we must have a free press. ''With the restrictive charter for journalists proposed last year, and some garrotive (sic) new structures, Denis O'Brien does not make this easy.''" This was changed to: "The question is whether he understands newspapers. In order to confront the truths in our society, we must have a free press. ''If the restrictive charter for journalists proposed last year, along with some other structural changes, are anything to go by, it might be instructive for him to listen to journalists, troublesome and all as they are.''" Harris left the newspaper some months later, with ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' noting her departing speech to staff as follows: "She is understood to have spoken only about journalists and journalism and not about newspapers and their owners, a subject matter she has previously addressed in several columns".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Anne 1947 births Living people Irish feminists Irish newspaper editors Irish women editors Irish women journalists Sunday Independent (Ireland) people Women newspaper editors