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Sunday Independent (Ireland)

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For other newspapers of the same name, see Sunday Independent (disambiguation).
Sunday Independent
Sunday Independent Masthead
TypeSunday newspaper
FormatBroadsheet
Owner(s)Independent News & Media
EditorAnne Harris
Founded1906
Political alignmentOriginally Catholic Nationalist,
then pro-Fine Gael,
now pro-Fianna Fáil, populist, Right Wing
HeadquartersTalbot Street, Dublin
Websitewww.independent.ie

The Sunday Independent is a broadsheet Sunday newspaper published in Ireland by Independent News & Media plc.

Circulation

Circulation has been on the decline for several years. Circulation was 291,323 between June 2004 and January 2005, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.[1]

The average weekly circulation, of the Sunday Independent declined to 238,798 for the period January to June 2012. This represented a fall in circulation of 7% on a year-on-year basis.[2]

Circulation then further declined to 237,185 for the period July to December 2012. This represented a fall in circulation of 5% on a year-on-year basis.[3]

History

The Sunday Independent was first published in 1905 as the Sunday edition of the Irish Independent. Like its daily counterpart, the Sunday Independent supported Cumann na nGaedheal and its successor Fine Gael.[4]

From the 1940s until 1970, the paper was run by Hector Legge (1901–1994). Legge's time at the paper was notable for the Sunday Independent in 1948 leaking the news that the Irish government were going to leave the British Commonwealth by repealing the External Relations Act.[5] Legge also published a series of articles by the writer Frank O'Connor (under the pseudonym "Ben Mayo") in the paper.[6]

In the 1970s, under the editorship of Conor O'Brien, the Sunday Independent became known for a series of investigations by journalist Joe MacAnthony into the activities of the Irish Sweepstakes.[7]

O'Brien was succeeded as editor in 1976 by Michael Hand.[8][9] Aengus Fanning became editor following Hand's departure in 1984.[10]

Anne Harris succeeded her husband Aengus Fanning after his death in January 2012.

Content

The newspaper is a general Sunday newspaper, covering news and politics. It is published in five sections: News, Sport, Business, Property, and Living, as well as a magazine section. In terms of news, while the newspaper maintains a broadsheet outlook, it has come in for much criticism lately due to its increasing emphasis on lifestyle features in the main section. It has also been criticised for regularly tending towards sensationalism, and for the often opinion-focused, rather than news-focused nature of its articles.[11][12] It is probably better described as a middle-of-the-road newspaper, rather than a newspaper of record. In the 1980s and 1990s, the Deputy Editor was Anne Harris.[13]

The Sunday Independent has become one of the most controversial publications in Ireland; an article in Magill magazine about the newspaper stated, "Its critics have characterised it as nasty and narcissitic,its supporters as lively and libidinous, a tornado of fresh air in a stale and shrinking industry".[14]

Noted for its trenchant support for Fianna Fáil, and particularly Bertie Ahern and latterly Brian Lenihan, it usually contains articles focused that party and its policies, often at the expense of other political groups in the state. The Government's former Minister for Defence, Willie O'Dea writes a weekly column for the newspaper. The former partner of Bertie Ahern, Celia Larkin has also started writing as a columnist for the newspaper following the closure of her beauty salon business.

Popularly nicknamed The Sindo, the paper has been a zealous critic of the Provisional IRA and Sinn Féin for many years.[15] In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Sunday Independent was reproachful toward SDLP politician John Hume, whom the newspaper accused of being insufficiently attentive to the needs of the Ulster Unionists.[16] Many of the Sunday Independent's columnists also criticised Hume for negotiating with Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams, accusing Hume of being naive about Adams.[14][15][17]

Front page

The front page featured is not the typical format as usually the paper runs with a "bottomer", a satirical analysis of the issues of the day. The main splash story "Slim majority trusts Ahern on Sinn Féin" written by Willie Kealy. The Off-lead "No to Keane as manager" was written by Shane Hickey, Donal Lynch and Ralph Riegel, the paper's Southern Correspondent. The bottom piece about Ireland's oldest university Trinity College Dublin selling Masters Degrees to its graduates was written by Daniel McConnell. The edition's date is 20 November 2005.

Editorial

The Editorial policy of the Sunday Independent can be described as support for Laissez-faire policies in economics and strong opposition to armed republicanism; some have described the newspaper's policies as those of the New Right. [14] It was strongly supportive of the Progressive Democrats and in favour of income tax reduction and the rolling back of the state. Major issues often include big government, the size of the public sector, terrorism, and more recently, the Republic's regime of stamp duty on newly acquired property. It usually features articles by Alan Ruddock, Jody Corcoran, Brendan O'Connor, Anne Harris, Deputy Editor Willie Kealy and, a more recent addition, economist Marc Coleman. Prior to his death, former editor Aengus Fanning also contributed material here. The Sunday Independent is quite hostile to the Irish Labour Party and social democratic policies; in the early 1990s, the paper singled out Labour politicians Mary Robinson (then serving as President of Ireland), Dick Spring and Michael D. Higgins for intense criticism.[14][18] The Sunday Independent also took a negative tone towards rival media outlets RTÉ and the Irish Times, objecting to perceived left-wing and pro-nationalist bias in these organisations.[14]

The Sunday Independent's editorials came out strongly against Martin McGuinness' campaign to become President of Ireland in 2011, claiming McGuiness' IRA past made him unsuitable for the role: "Those who contemplate voting for...McGuinness should ask if, within the context of the murders committed by the IRA on our security forces, they are prepared to force our soldiers and gardai to salute President McGuinness with equally heavy hearts.".[19]

Controversies

The newspaper has been the source of many controversies over the years:

Bishop Casey controversy

In 1993, the Sunday Independent advertised what was claimed as a "world exclusive" interview with Bishop Eamon Casey after he had fled Ireland following the revelation of his affair with Annie Murphy. However it was later revealed that Casey had refused to speak to the Sunday Independent and the "interview" was in fact a telephone recording of Casey speaking to a friend. The Sunday Independent later apologised for this incident, stating "We are not satisfied the bishop was interviewed in any normal sense of the word".[14][20]

The Keane Edge

The Keane Edge was a gossip column written by Terry Keane, a fashion journalist and estranged wife of former Chief Justice of Ireland, Ronan Keane. It was frequently the subject of successful libel actions by persons angered by accusations therein. [14] In it there were often hints of a relationship with a prominent political figure, named in the column as Sweetie. In 1999, it was revealed by Keane on the RTÉ One programme, The Late Late Show, that the figure had been the former Taoiseach, Charles Haughey. Keane gave the story as an exclusive to rival newspaper The Sunday Times, while still employed by Independent News and Media. She abruptly left the newspaper (amid much recriminations) and her column continued as Not The Keane Edge, soon renamed The Double Edge.

Mary Ellen Synon controversy

Mary Ellen Synon, a columnist with the newspaper, caused much controversy when she attacked the Paralympic Games as being "perverse", in an article of 22 October 2000. This became the subject of much public debate and lead to the columnist being criticised in the Oireachtas (Irish Parliament). Initially, the editor, Aengus Fanning, defended the columnist, however he eventually issued an apology, after the then health boards threatened to withdraw advertising from the newspaper. Synon has not written for the newspaper since, although it was denied that she had been dismissed from the newspaper.[21]

The 03 team

The 03 (later 04) team were a group of young female journalists who appeared in the Sunday Independent during 2003 and early 2004. The articles, originally appearing in the Living supplement but soon promoted to the main section, comprised the various members of the team writing usually very poor quality short articles on a common subject. However they were usually accompanied by a large colour group photo of the team posing scantily clad and very occasionally topless. Eventually the feature was dropped,[22] but not before the team had made a television appearance on the RTÉ One show Open House. They occasionally featured as a fantasy figure for fictional Sunday Tribune character Ross O'Carroll-Kelly.

Death of Liam Lawlor

On 22 October 2005, the controversial Irish politician Liam Lawlor was killed in a road traffic accident in the Khimki district of Moscow during the early hours of Saturday morning. His driver was also killed in the accident, and a female passenger in the back seat of the car was slightly injured. The Sunday Independent edition of 23 October published a story on its front page, written by Ciarán Byrne, Jody Corcoran and Nick Paton Walsh, claiming that Lawlor's car had been travelling "from a red-light district" of Moscow and that police had claimed that the female passenger was a teenage girl who police claimed was "likely to be a prostitute". Reports later during Sunday revealed that the female passenger was actually a 32-year-old Ukrainian national who worked in Prague as a legal secretary and interpreter and who had worked in that role for Lawlor before during previous business trips to Russia.[23] As the furore over the accuracy of the article continued on the Sunday, the article disappeared from the front page of the newspaper's website (although it could still be accessed by specifying its URL), and the PDF copy of the front page of the newspaper (usually available on the website) was also taken down.

On Monday 24 October, the managing director of Independent Newspapers, Michael Denieffe, admitted in an interview on RTÉ Radio 1's lunchtime news programme, News at One, that the report had been "inaccurate" and apologised to the Lawlor family for the distress caused. The original article had by this point disappeared from the website entirely, and the PDF copy of the front page had reappeared on the website with the offending article blanked out.[24] Later that afternoon, the editor of the Sunday Independent, Aengus Fanning, also apologised to the Lawlor family and said that he "took full responsibility" for the inaccurate report.[25] There had been considerable outrage about the report during the day, with calls being made on phone-in radio programmes for a boycott of the newspaper unless the editor and others responsible for the report resigned or were sacked.

Sunday Independent

On Tuesday 25 October, The Observer, whose Moscow correspondent Nick Paton Walsh had been one of those bylined in the original story, issued a statement acknowledging that there had been "serious discrepancies" in the article it had published (also claiming that the woman concerned was a prostitute), apologised for the distress caused, and removed the article from its website. In addition, Paton Walsh stated that he had had "no hand" in the drafting of the Sunday Independent article. Paton Walsh said that "an editor" in the Sunday Independent had contacted him on the Saturday seeking help to confirm reports that Mr Lawlor had died. Paton Walsh said that he had spoken with an official police spokesperson and relayed only the contents of three conversations with this same person to their newsdesk, saying that he had stressed that it was "only a possibility the girl was a prostitute".[26]

It was reported on Wednesday 26 October that the interpreter, Julia Kushnir, was seeking apologies from those newspapers who had published erroneous reports that she was a prostitute, and that she was likely to sue for damages if the newspapers did not comply.

The controversy sparked a debate over press standards in Ireland, with the Labour Party Senator Kathleen O'Meara calling for the establishment of a Press Council to monitor standards in the print media.[27] The then Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, stated that the print media coverage of Mr Lawlor's death was "grossly offensive, cruel and lacking in foundation and fact", and that defamation was not enough to deal with this kind of posthumous coverage. He said that legislation was being drafted to establish an appropriate press complaints council.[28]

On 10 June 2006, the Irish Times reported that Kushnir was to sue the Observer, the Sunday Independent, the Sunday Tribune, the Sunday World, the Irish Sunday Mirror, and the Irish Independent over the erroneous claim that she was a prostitute.[29] On 6 November 2007, the four Irish newspapers agreed to pay Kushnir libel damages totalling €500,000 before libel proceedings began in the Irish High Court and lawyers for the four newspapers apologised in court for the offence caused. The Observer newspaper had earlier settled its libel action for approximately €100,000.[30]

Death of Sgt. Tania Corcoran

The Sunday Independent sparked another furore in March 2007 when the newspaper featured a front page report of the death in childbirth of Garda Sergeant Tania Corcoran.[31] A headline noted that Sgt Corcoran was the wife of the ERU Garda who had fired a fatal shot in the Abbeylara siege, incensing friends and relatives of the couple.[32]

Pat Finucane controversy

The newspaper was sued by relatives of the murdered solicitor Pat Finucane over allegations that Finucane was a member of the Provisional IRA. Finucane was a solicitor who came to prominence due to successfully challenging the British Government over several important human rights cases in the 1980s.[33] He was shot fourteen times as he sat eating a meal at his Belfast home with his three children and wife, who was wounded in the attack.[34] His killer was a member of the UDA and an informer called Ken Barrett.[35] The Stevens Report found that Pat Finucane was never a member of the Provisional IRA and that his death was the result of collusion between the UDA and members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. The paper was sued by relatives of Finucane over comments made by their security correspondent Jim Cusack, and over an opinion piece written by the Unionist writer, Ruth Dudley Edwards who claimed that various "relatives, friends, associates and clients" of the Finucane had killed people. The paper was forced print an apology to the family of Finucane. The political magazine, the Phoenix estimated that the libel action cost the Sunday Independent €500,000 in damages and legal costs[36]

Supporting Bertie Ahern

The newspaper strongly supported Bertie Ahern during the Irish general election, 2007 and continued to support him during his appearances before the Mahon Tribunal. Columnists Eoghan Harris and Brendan O'Connor have been particularly strong in supporting Ahern. In August 2007 Harris was appointed to Seanad Éireann by Ahern. At the same time as supporting Ahern, the newspaper has been strongly critical of Taoiseach, Brian Cowen. Several front page articles, written by Jody Corcoran and Daniel McConnell, have accused him of mishandling the economy since the May 2007 election. According to McConnell's recent articles, Cowen has refused repeatedly to deal with Sunday Independent information requests.

Main writers

References

  1. ^ ABC
  2. ^ http://www.ilevel.ie/media-blog/print/102406-irish-sunday-newspaper-abc-circulations-jan-june-2012
  3. ^ http://www.ilevel.ie/media-blog/print/102468-sunday-newspapers-abc-july-dec-2012
  4. ^ The Blackwell companion to modern Irish culture Edited by W. J. McCormack. Wiley-Blackwell, 2001 (pp. 304-5). ISBN 0-631-22817-9
  5. ^ "Hector Legge" (Obituary) in The Times, 11 November 1994.
  6. ^ James H. Matthews, Voices: a life of Frank O'Connor, Atheneum, 1983 (pp. 196-7, 360). ISBN 0-689-11272-6
  7. ^ Irish Media: A Critical History since 1922 by John Horgan,Routledge, 2001.(p.105). ISBN 0-415-21640-0
  8. ^ "Independent Newspapers' Appointments". Irish Independent, 2 February 1976, (p.4). Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  9. ^ Obituary of Michael Hand by Alan Morgan. The Independent, 12 July 1997. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  10. ^ Horgan, 2001 (p. 107).
  11. ^ "Making a "tabloid broadsheet" work", Michael Foley. Irish Times, 21 March 1997, p.6. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  12. ^ "The absence of critical journalism is most obvious in the pages of the Sunday Independent. The paper is low on actual hard news content and instead places an emphasis on colour pieces or features. As well as promoting its "personality journalism", the newspaper dwells on the trials and tribulations of the elite personalities in Irish society". Quoted in "Trivial Pursuits" by Eoin Devereux, Magill magazine, May 1998, (p.56).
  13. ^ Emily O'Reilly, Veronica Guerin-The Life and Death of a Crime Reporter.Vintage, 1998 (p.73). ISBN 0-09-976151-3
  14. ^ a b c d e f g "No More Vanity Fare?" (Profile of the Sunday Independent) by Eddie Holt, David Quin and Catherine Logan. Magill Magazine, November 1997, (p.36-41).
  15. ^ a b The Troubles:Ireland's ordeal, 1966-1996, and the search for peace by Tim Pat Coogan. London : Arrow, 1996 (p. 395). ISBN 0-09-946571-X
  16. ^ "The SDLP leader John Hume still has some public explaining to do.... Why has he refused to make any concession to Unionist difficulties on the whole question of the Anglo-Irish Agreement?" Sunday Independent editorial, quoted in "The lead for the leader writers", Fortnight Magazine, No. 271, March 1989, (p. 15).
  17. ^ Modernisation, crisis and culture in Ireland, 1969-1992 by Conor McCarthy. Dublin : Four Courts Press, 2000. (p. 220). ISBN 1-85182-475-8.
  18. ^ Emily O'Reilly, (p. 68).
  19. ^ "Penny drops on McGuinness". Editorial, Sunday Independent, 16 October 2011. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
  20. ^ "Paper admits errors in Casey Report", Irish Times, 26 April 1993, (p.2). Retrieved 1 November 2011.
  21. ^ Disability and Social policy in Ireland by Suzanne Quin and Bairbre Redmond,University of Dublin Press, 2003 (p. 174) .
  22. ^ "[1]" unison.ie (PDF) [dead link]
  23. ^ RTÉ News: Lawlor family 'saddened' by media coverage. RTE.
  24. ^ http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/frontpagepdfs/2005/13173.pdf
  25. ^ RTÉ News: Newspaper apologises for Lawlor report
  26. ^ http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/front/2005/1026/629250659HM1LAWLOR.html
  27. ^ IOL | Call for press watchdog after newspaper apology
  28. ^ RTÉ News: Lawlor's son slams newspaper reports
  29. ^ [2]. The Irish Times Online, 2005.
  30. ^ [3] €500,000 libel damages in Lawlor crash case - The Irish Times - Wed, 7 Nov 2007]
  31. ^ "Garda who lost wife and son in childbirth shot John Carthy". The Independent, 11 March 2007. Retrieved on 8 March 2008.
  32. ^ "Newspaper under fire over garda death coverage". Irish Examiner, 13 March 2007. Retrieved on 8 March 2008.
  33. ^ Interview with Geraldine Finucane: Breaking the glass ceiling
  34. ^ "Pat Finucane: A controversial killing". BBC, 13 September 2004. Retrieved on 9 August 2008.
  35. ^ guardian.co.uk, Monday 13 September 2004 Loyalist informer admits Finucane murder
  36. ^ http://www.thephoenix.ie/phoenix/subscriber/library/volume-29/issue-01/contents.pdf

Further reading

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