Irish Independent

History

Murphy and family (1905–1973)

The Irish Independent was formed in 1905 as the direct successor to The Irish Daily Independent and Daily Nation, an 1890s' pro-Parnellite newspaper. It was launched by William Martin Murphy, a controversial Irish nationalist businessman, staunch anti-Parnellite and fellow townsman of Parnell's most venomous opponent, Timothy Michael Healy 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. The Irish Independent described the 1916 Easter Rising as "insane and criminal" and famously called for the shooting of its leaders. In December 1919, during the Irish War of Independence, a group of twenty IRA men destroyed the printing works of the paper, angered at its criticism of the Irish Republican Army's attacks on members of the Dublin Metropolitan Police and British government officials. In 1924, the traditional nationalist newspaper, the Freeman's Journal, 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, newspaper, which gave its political allegiance to the Pro-Treaty party Cumann na nGaedheal and later its successor party, Fine Gael. During the Spanish Civil War, the Irish Independents coverage was strongly pro-Franco: the paper criticised the De Valera government for not intervening on behalf of the Spanish Nationalists.

In 1961, the harp 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 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 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.

In late 2004, Independent Newspapers moved from their traditional home in Middle Abbey Street to a new office, Independent House in Talbot Street, with the printing facilities already relocated to the Citywest business park near Tallaght.

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 Independents 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 acquired a majority shareholding of the Irish Independents 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, 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 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 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, 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 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.

References

References

1. (27 June 2023). "Some Newspaper Sales update".
2. (30 November 2012). "Who is the greatest Irish footballer of all – see if you agree with our choice". Irish Independent.
3. (21 December 2012). "A message from the editor to you, our reader". Irish Independent.
4. Andy Bielenberg, ''Entrepreneurship, Power, and Public Opinion in Ireland: The career of William Martin Murphy''.
5. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/easterrising/newspapers/index.shtml Easter Rising newspaper archive] {{webarchive. link. (9 April 2016 —from the [[BBC]] History website)
6. "Following a report on the assassination of the Lord Lieutenant ... the IRA attacked the offices of the (Irish Independent) the following day". Ian Kenneally, ''The Paper Wall: Newspapers and Propaganda in Ireland 1919–1921''. Dublin, Collins Press. 2008, {{ISBN. 1905172583 (p. 105).
7. "Irish Independent masthead containing 'Incorporating the Freeman's Journal'". [[IrishNewsArchive.com]].
8. "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]], "Irish Newspapers and the Spanish Civil War", ''Irish Historical Studies'', Vol. 33, No. 129 (May 2002), pp. 68–90.
9. Fearghal McGarry, "Irish Newspapers and the Spanish Civil War", ''Irish Historical Studies'', Vol. 33, No. 129 (May 2002), pp. 68–90.
10. [http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/2002/12/06/story187197121.asp ''Irish Examiner'' archives] {{webarchive. link. (8 May 2009 —O'Reilly 'took revenge in editorial'. 2 December 2002)
11. (9 January 2015). "INM appoints two new editors to Irish Independent and Sunday Independent". The Irish Independent.
12. (3 May 2012). "Denis O'Brien buys another 5% stake in Independent News & Media". [[RTÉ News and Current Affairs.
13. Donnelly, Ellie. (30 July 2019). "Court approves INM takeover by Mediahuis". Irish Independent.
14. Burns, John. (2 February 2020). "Outside chances of new Sindo boss Alan English". [[The Times]].
15. [http://www.writing.ie/resources/new-irish-writing/ Vanessa O'Loughlin, "New Irish Writing"] {{webarchive. link. (21 March 2016 , Writing.ie.)
16. (25 March 2012). "Your chance to join the ranks of our best writers". The Irish Independent.
17. {{usurped
18. "Exam Brief". Irish Independent.
19. "Good times begin to roll for hard-pressed newspaper sector". [[The Irish Times]].
20. "Irish Times, Sunday Business Post circulation down 30% since 2006".
21. Slattery, Laura. "Fall in circulation for all of Republic's daily newspapers". The Irish Times.
22. "Irish Morning Newspaper ABC Circulations, Jan–June 2012 – SEO Ireland, Search Engine Optimisation, Media and Marketing Consulting". ilevel.ie.
23. "Morning Newspapers ABC July–Dec 2012 – SEO Ireland, Search Engine Optimisation, Media and Marketing Consulting". ilevel.ie.
24. (10 December 2020). "The Irish Independent Newspaper Circulation". bywire.news.
25. "Archived copy".
26. "Certificate". www.abc.org.uk.
27. "Certificate". www.abc.org.uk.
28. Doyle, Conor. "Irish Newspaper Circulation July-Dec 2017 Island of Ireland Report – Media and Marketing Consulting, PPC, SEO Ireland, Search Engine Optimisation".
29. "Certificate". www.abc.org.uk.
30. "Certificate". www.abc.org.uk.
31. (22 August 2019). "Irish Newspaper Circulation Jan-June 2019 Island of Ireland Report Print".