Mass media in the Republic of Ireland

The media in Ireland include all the media and communications outlets of any other developed nation. The Irish media landscape is more similar to that of the United Kingdom than media in the rest of Europe; examples of this include the pre-eminence of national daily newspapers over local newspapers.

Press freedom

Ireland has freedom of the press enshrined in its constitution. The NGO group Reporters sans frontières named Ireland in joint first position in their "World-wide press freedom index". However, some Irish journalists still campaign for the libel laws to be loosened.

The Troubles in Northern Ireland led to some restrictions on press freedom. The 1960 Broadcasting Authority Act allowed the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs to direct Radio Telefís Éireann "not to broadcast any matter, or any matter of any particular class". This was used between 1971 and 1994 to prevent broadcasts of supporters of violence on RTÉ. From 1977 to 1994, it also applied to Sinn Féin members. Since 1994, the situation in Northern Ireland has had little impact on freedom to report from that area. In fact, the most famous attack on an Irish journalist was not political, but against Sunday Independent crime correspondent Veronica Guerin.

Newspapers in Ireland

Main Article: Newspapers in Ireland

There are several daily newspapers in Ireland, including the Irish Independent, The Irish Examiner, The Irish Times, Irish Daily Star, and the Evening Herald. The best selling of these is the Irish Independent, which is published in both tabloid and broadsheet formats.

The leading Sunday newspaper in terms of circulation is The Sunday Independent. Other popular papers include The Sunday Tribune, The Sunday Business Post, Ireland on Sunday and The Sunday World.

There is a very large range of international magazines available in Ireland

One noted trend in Irish newspapers is the presence of Irish editions of UK newspapers, these include The Irish Sun, Irish Mirror, Irish News of the World, and the Irish edition of The Sunday Times, the only one of the Irish editions that is of a broadsheet newspapers. The Irish Daily Star also is sometimes placed in this category, though it has a far greater Irish content than the other UK editions, and is also 50% owned by Independent News and Media.

There are quite a large number of local weekly newspapers, with most counties and large towns having two or more newspapers. Curiously Dublin remains one of the only places in Ireland without a major local paper; The Dublin Evening Mail having closed down in the 1960s. In 2004 the Dublin Daily was launched, but failed to attract enough readers to make it viable.

There are also a number of newspapers printed in Irish. These include Foinse, a weekly newspaper and Lá, a daily newspaper. Foinse mainly focuses on Irish language related matters and Gaeltacht affairs, but also contains many other areas including current affairs, national and international events and other features, including 'Foinse sa Rang' a segment aimed at helping Leaving Certificate students with their Irish exam. Lá is printed in Belfast and focuses on current events and politics.

The Irish magazine market is one of the worlds most competitive with hundreds of international magazines available in Ireland ranging from Time and The Economist to Hello and Reader's Digest. This means that domestic titles find it very hard to retain readership. Among the best selling Irish magazines are the RTE Guide, Ireland's Eye, and In Dublin.

The Independent News & Media group has a large presence in the Irish media market, especially in newspapers. It owns the Evening Herald, Irish Independent, and Sunday Independent, controls the Sunday World and The Star, and exercises a large degree of influence on the Sunday Tribune. Until 2004 it also held a large stake in the cable company Chorus Communications.

The main Irish publications are often strongly identified with a political agenda. The Irish Times is probably Ireland's most liberal newspaper on social issues, whereas the Irish Independent is seen as more conservative. Opinion on Northern Ireland is as diverse as that in the general public, ranging from the strongly anti-Republican line of the Sunday Independent to the more sympathetic Sunday Business Post.

Broadcasting in Ireland

Broadcasting in the Republic of Ireland is divided into public service broadcasting, governed by the Broadcasting Authority Acts 1960-2002, which establish the public sector broadcaster, Radio Telefís Éireann, and the commercial sector, governed by the Radio and Television Act 1988 and regulated by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland. RTÉ is financed by a mixture of licence fees paid by owners of television receivers, and advertising revenues. It is governed by a statutory authority appointed by the Irish Minister for Communications, Marine & Natural Resources.

The commercial sector consists of programme contractors appointed by the BCI, and granted broadcasting licences by the Commission for Communications Regulation. The contractors have specific public service obligations, most notably, a requirement for 20% news and current affairs.

Broadcasting in Northern Ireland is governed under United Kingdom law. The British Broadcasting Corporation operates a national region in Northern Ireland, known as BBC Northern Ireland, and one member of the BBC's Board of Governors is designated National Governor for Northern Ireland. The Office of Communications regulates the commercial broadcasting sector in Northern Ireland.

Television in Ireland

Main Article: Irish TV Channels

File:Father ted cast.jpg

Father Ted - one of Ireland's most popular TV shows - was made by a British company

BBC Northern Ireland began broadcasting television programmes in 1959 and RTE Television opened in 1961. Telefís na Gaeilge (TnaG), now called TG4, started its Irish language service in 1996 and commercial television arrived when TV3 began broadcasting in 1998.

The Republic of Ireland has four national terrestrial channels: RTÉ One, RTÉ Two - both operated directly RTÉ, TG4, operated by a subsidiary of RTÉ, and TV3 Ireland, operated by TV3 Television Network Limited under a programme contract from the BCI. Northern Ireland has three national terrestrial channels: BBC One Northern Ireland, BBC Two Northern Ireland (known on digital as BBC Two NI) - both operated by BBC Northern Ireland - and UTV, the latter being the Office of Communications Channel 3 licensee for Northern Ireland, and thus affiliated to the UK ITV1 network. In addition to the Northern Ireland channels, the United Kingdom channels Channel 4 and Five are also broadcast in Northern Ireland. Also in Northern Ireland, Ofcom licences some local terrestrial channels, known as Restricted Service Licences or RSLs, such as Channel 9 in Derry.

In the Republic of Ireland, the BCI has issued content contracts for three new television channels - Setanta Sports (Ireland), a dedicated sports channel, which went on air in August 2004, as well as City Channel, a Dublin local channel expected to debut in September 2005, and Channel 6 (Ireland), a general entertainment channel expected to debut in late 2005. All three of these channels will require subscription to a multichannel television package.

While many people in Ireland still receive their television via the off-air networks (run by RTÉ Network Limited in the Republic of Ireland, and Crown-Castle and Arqiva in Northern Ireland), many people subscribe to multichannel television networks. The biggest multichannel TV network in Ireland is British Sky Broadcasting, which broadcasts a digital satellite television service to the entire island. Viewers in Northern Ireland can receive RTÉ and TG4 via this service, and viewers in the Republic of Ireland can receive the BBC via this service. In addition, many subscribe to cable television or MMDS services. NTL owns the cable television licence for Northern Ireland, in addition an NTL-branded service is available in Dublin, Galway, and Waterford, though this is now run by Morgan Stanley in preparation for its on-sale to UGC Europe. UGC own most of the remaining cable and MMDS licences in the Republic of Ireland, via their subsidiary Chorus Communications. Should they complete their acquisition of NTL Ireland, it is presumed that Chorus and NTL Ireland will be merged into a single cable company for almost the whole Republic of Ireland. Cable TV services in the Republic of Ireland offer the Northern Ireland television services, while NTL Northern Ireland offers RTÉ One and RTÉ Two.

In Northern Ireland, the Freeview digital terrestrial television service is available. The Republic of Ireland does not have a digital terrestrial television service, despite frequent government announcements since 1998 that one would be started.

Most satellite television stations broadcast in the United Kingdom are available via at least one of the mulitchannel providers in Ireland.

Radio

The first known radio transmission in Ireland was a call to arms made from the General Post Office in O'Connell Street during the Easter Rising. The first official radio station on the island was 2BE Belfast, which began broadcasting in 1924. This was followed in 1926 by 2RN Dublin and 6CK Cork in 1927. 2BE Belfast later became BBC Radio Ulster and 2RN Dublin became RTE.

The Republic of Ireland has five national radio stations: RTÉ Radio 1, RTÉ 2FM, RTÉ Lyric FM, and RTÉ Radio na Gaeltachta are operated by RTÉ, while Today FM is a commercial radio station operated by Scottish Radio Holdings under a contract from the BCI. The BCI's main commercial radio service is the Independent Local Radio network. This consists of 18 commercial stations licensed for different franchise areas. Except in Dublin and Cork, they operate as monopolies. (6 stations are now licensed in Dublin and 3 in Cork). They operate a common news service, Independent Network News, and a common sales house, Independent Radio Sales. The first of these stations, FM104, came on air in 1989. One independent regional radio station, Beat 102-103, currently also exists, with the possibility of further franchises being issued. The BCI also issues contracts for non-commercial community of interest and local community stations.

Northern Ireland has two national radio stations: BBC Radio Ulster, operated by the BBC, and the Ofcom-licensed Downtown Radio. The BBC also operates a local radio station in Derry, BBC Radio Foyle A number of local commercial radio stations (licensed by Ofcom) are also broadcast, including Q102 in Derry and Cool FM in Belfast. The five UK wide BBC Radio radio stations, as well as the three UK-wide Ofcom radio services (Classic FM, TalkSport, and Virgin Radio) are also available in Northern Ireland.

See also: Irish Radio Stations

Film

The Irish Film industry has grown rapidly in recent years thanks largely to the promotion of the sector by Bord Scannán na hÉireann (The Irish Film Board)[1] and the introduction of heavy tax breaks. Some of the most successful Irish films included Intermission (2001), Man About Dog (2004), Michael Collins (1996), Angela's Ashes (1999) and The Commitments (1991).

Ireland has also proved a popular location for shooting films with The Quiet Man (1952), Braveheart (1995), Reign of Fire (2002?) and King Arthur (2004) all being shot in Ireland.

Ireland has a high rate of cinema admissions. The biggest multiplex chain in the country is Ward Anderson (owners of the Cineplex, Omniplex, and Savoy brands), with other cinemas being owned by United Cinemas International, Cineworld (formerly UGC Cinemas), and Vue (fomerly Ster Century).

There is also a large video rental market, dominated by Xtravision, a subsidiary of Blockbuster Video.

Internet

The Internet has seen a huge jump in popularity due to the "Celtic Tiger" and the increase of widely available technological goods, as well as people new found ability to buy them. Ireland is still the country with the least subscriptions to the Internet in Europe. The Internet is mainly concentrated in the big urban centres, with rural houses not usually having a computer or access to a broadband connection port. The government announced in 2002 the installation of a massive broadband connection along the west coast but so far this has not happened.

Eircom is the main Internet service provider, providing dial-up as well as broadband services while more recently, NTL Ireland has introduced competition into the broadband market. BT Ireland's Internet subsidiary, Ireland On-Line, is the other major player in broadband Internet provision, and also has a large number of dial-up subscribers. Other Internet service providers include Smart Telecom and Chorus.