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The ''Irish Independent'' is an
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
daily
newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...
and online publication which is owned by
Independent News & Media (INM), a subsidiary of
Mediahuis.
The newspaper version often includes glossy magazines.
Traditionally a
broadsheet
A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of . Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper format), ta ...
newspaper, it introduced an additional
compact
Compact as used in politics may refer broadly to a pact or treaty; in more specific cases it may refer to:
* Interstate compact
* Blood compact, an ancient ritual of the Philippines
* Compact government, a type of colonial rule utilized in British ...
size in 2004. Further, in December 2012 (following billionaire
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 ...
's takeover) it was announced that the newspaper would become compact only.
History
Murphy and family (1905–1973)
![Captions Please](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Captions_Please..._%286880132787%29.jpg)
The ''Irish Independent'' was formed in 1905 as the direct successor to ''The Irish Daily Independent and Daily Nation'', an 1890s' pro-
Parnellite
The Irish National League (INL) was a nationalist political party in Ireland. It was founded on 17 October 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell as the successor to the Irish National Land League after this was suppressed. Whereas the Land League h ...
newspaper. It was launched by
William Martin Murphy
William Martin Murphy (6 January 1845 – 26 June 1919) was an Irish businessman, newspaper publisher and politician. A member of parliament (MP) representing Dublin from 1885 to 1892, he was dubbed "William ''Murder'' Murphy" among the Irish ...
, a controversial Irish nationalist businessman, staunch anti-
Parnellite
The Irish National League (INL) was a nationalist political party in Ireland. It was founded on 17 October 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell as the successor to the Irish National Land League after this was suppressed. Whereas the Land League h ...
and fellow townsman of Parnell's most venomous opponent,
Timothy Michael Healy
Timothy Michael Healy, KC (17 May 1855 – 26 March 1931) was an Irish nationalist politician, journalist, author, barrister and a controversial Irish Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain an ...
from Bantry. The first issue of the ''Irish Independent'', published 2 January 1905, was marked as "Vol. 14. No. 1".
During the
1913 Lockout of workers, in which Murphy was the leading figure among the employers, the ''Irish Independent'' vigorously sided with its owner's interests, publishing news reports and opinion pieces hostile to the strikers, expressing confidence in the unions' defeat and launching personal attacks on the leader of the strikers,
James Larkin
James Larkin (28 January 1874 – 30 January 1947), sometimes known as Jim Larkin or Big Jim, was an Irish republican, socialist and trade union leader. He was one of the founders of the Irish Labour Party along with James Connolly and Willia ...
. ''The Irish Independent'' described the
1916 Easter Rising as "insane and criminal" and famously called for the shooting of its leaders.
[Easter Rising newspaper archive]
—from the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
History website In December 1919, during the
Irish War of Independence, a group of twenty
IRA
Ira or IRA may refer to:
*Ira (name), a Hebrew, Sanskrit, Russian or Finnish language personal name
*Ira (surname), a rare Estonian and some other language family name
*Iran, UNDP code IRA
Law
*Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, US, on status of ...
men destroyed the printing works of the paper, angered at its criticism of the
Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief th ...
's attacks on members of the
Dublin Metropolitan Police
The Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) was the police force of Dublin, Ireland, from 1836 to 1925, when it was amalgamated into the new Garda SÃochána.
History
19th century
The Dublin city police had been subject to major reforms in 1786 and ...
and British government officials. In 1924, the traditional nationalist newspaper, the ''
Freeman's Journal
The ''Freeman's Journal'', which was published continuously in Dublin from 1763 to 1924, was in the nineteenth century Ireland's leading nationalist newspaper.
Patriot journal
It was founded in 1763 by Charles Lucas and was identified with radi ...
'', merged with the ''Irish Independent''. Until October 1986 the paper's masthead over the editorial contained the words "incorporating the Freeman's Journal".
For most of its history, the ''Irish Independent'' (also called simply the ''Independent'' or more colloquially, the ''Indo'') was seen as a nationalist, Catholic,
anti-Communist
Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...
, newspaper,
["During the Free State Period, the ''Independent'' was characterised by a triumphalist strain of Catholicism, virulent anti-Communism and support for the Pro-Treaty Party." ]Fearghal McGarry
Fearghal McGarry (born 16 November 1971) is an Irish historian specializing in the history of Ireland in the 20th century, currently Professor of Modern Irish History at Queen's University, Belfast.
McGarry is the author of books about Ireland in ...
, "Irish Newspapers and the Spanish Civil War", ''Irish Historical Studies'', Vol. 33, No. 129 (May 2002), pp. 68–90. which gave its political allegiance to the
Pro-Treaty party
Cumann na nGaedheal
Cumann na nGaedheal (; "Society of the Gaels") was a political party in the Irish Free State, which formed the government from 1923 to 1932. In 1933 it merged with smaller groups to form the Fine Gael party.
Origins
In 1922 the pro-Treaty ...
and later its successor party,
Fine Gael
Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil à ...
.
During the Spanish Civil War, the ''Irish Independent''s coverage was strongly pro-
Franco
Franco may refer to:
Name
* Franco (name)
* Francisco Franco (1892–1975), Spanish general and dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1975
* Franco Luambo (1938–1989), Congolese musician, the "Grand Maître"
Prefix
* Franco, a prefix used when ref ...
: the paper criticised the De Valera government for not intervening on behalf of the
Spanish Nationalists
Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...
.
In 1961, the
harp
The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...
became a symbol of the ''Irish Independent''. It originally appeared in black but was changed to green in 1972.
O'Reilly (1973–2012)
In the 1970s, former
Heinz chairman
Tony O'Reilly
Sir Anthony Joseph Francis O'Reilly (born 7 May 1936) is an Irish former businessman and international rugby union player. He is known for his involvement in the Independent News & Media Group, which he led from 1973 to 2009,Dublin, Ireland, ...
took over the ''Irish Independent''. Under his leadership, it became a more
market liberal newspaper and economic right-wing. By the mid-nineties its allegiance to Fine Gael had ended. In the
1997 general election, it endorsed
Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtà Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christia ...
under a front-page editorial, entitled "It's Payback Time". While it suggested its headline referred to the fact that the election offered a chance to "pay back" politicians for their failings, its opponents suggested that the "payback" actually referred to its chance to get revenge for the refusal of the
Rainbow Coalition to award the company a mobile phone licence.
[''Irish Examiner'' archives]
—O'Reilly 'took revenge in editorial'. 2 December 2002
In late 2004, Independent Newspapers moved from their traditional home in Middle Abbey Street to a new office, Independent House in
Talbot Street
Talbot Street (; ) is a city-centre street located on Dublin's Northside, near to Dublin Connolly railway station. It was laid out in the 1840s and a number of 19th-century buildings still survive. The Irish Life Mall is on the street.
Locati ...
, with the printing facilities already relocated to the
Citywest
Citywest ( ga, Iarthar na Cathrach) is a suburban development on the southwestern periphery of Dublin, originally developed as a "business campus." It contains a large hotel, with a convention centre, a small shopping centre and a small but ex ...
business park near
Tallaght
)
, image_skyline = TallaghtDublinD24.jpg
, image_caption = Tallaght, Dublin
, image_flag =
, flag_size =
, pushpin_map = Dublin#Ireland
, pushpin_label_position = left
, ...
.
On 27 September 2005, a fortnight after the paper published its centenary edition, it was announced that editor Vinnie Doyle would step down after 24 years in the position. He was replaced by Gerry O'Regan, who had until then been editor of the ''Irish Independent''s sister paper, the ''Evening Herald''. The newspaper's previous editor
Stephen Rae was also formerly editor of the ''Evening Herald'' and was appointed editor in September 2012. Fionnan Sheahan was appointed editor in January 2015.
O'Brien (2012–2019)
Billionaire
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 ...
acquired a majority shareholding of the ''Irish Independent''s parent company INM in May 2012.
Mediahuis (2019–present)
In July 2019 the takeover of INM by Belgian media group
Mediahuis was approved by the Irish High Court.
From 11 February 2020, it was announced that Independent.ie content would go behind a paywall.
Digital archives
The Irish Independent is available on the
Irish Newspaper Archives
The Irish Newspaper Archives is a commercial online database of digitised Irish newspapers, and claims to be the world's oldest and largest archive of Irish newspapers.
Subscription-free access to the archive is available to users in Irish publi ...
, in black-and-white microfilm up to 2004, in colour since 2005. It is also archived up to 2009 online on the
British Newspaper Archive
The British Newspaper Archive web site provides access to searchable digitized archives of British and Irish newspapers. It was launched in November 2011.
History
The British Library Newspapers section was based in Colindale in north London, u ...
website.
New Irish Writing and Hennessy Award
Since 2011, the ''Irish Independent'' has been the home of New Irish Writing (and its associated Hennessy Award), which was originally established by
David Marcus in 1969 in 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 ...
'' and appeared in the ''
Sunday Tribune'' from 1988 to 2011. The New Irish Writing Page is "the longest-running creative writing feature of its kind in any Irish or British newspaper".
''Exam Brief''
''The Irish Independent'', in co-operation with the
Institute of Education
IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society (IOE) is the education school of University College London (UCL). It specialises in postgraduate study and research in the field of education and is one of UCL's 11 constituent faculties. Prior to ...
, produces ''Exam Brief'', a yearly six-part supplement dedicated to preparation for Leaving and Junior Certificate exams.
This supplement is published in February, March and April each year.
Related papers and concerns
See
Independent News & Media article for newspapers and media assets in the wider group.
Print circulation
Average
print circulation
Print circulation is the average number of copies of a publication. The number of copies of a non-periodical publication (such as a book) are usually called print run. Circulation is not always the same as copies sold, often called paid circulat ...
was approximately 165,000 copies per issue in 1999,
and had dropped to approximately 100,000 by 2016.
In 2019,
Independent News & Media exited the ABC auditing process.
Hence, no circulation figures are available after 2018.
References
External links
*
{{Ireland newspapers
1905 establishments in Ireland
Independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
Independent News & Media
Newspapers published in the Republic of Ireland
Political newspapers published in Ireland
Publications established in 1905