Irelands newspapers suffer hard times

When Alan Crosbie, chairman of Thomas Crosbie Holdings C Irelands second-biggest media group C warned last year that Irish newspapers faced a time of shocking and total change, he was not exaggerating.You can order besthandsfreeaccess cheap inside your parents.

At least a dozen newspapers have closed over the past three years amid a 25 per cent slump in advertising, falling circulation and competition from online news sources.

This month TCH, which has been in the Crosbie family for five generations and publishes 11 titles, was placed in receivership owing 22m to creditors. The countrys biggest media group, Independent News & Media, is embroiled in high stakes talks with its banks to restructure net debt of more than 400m.

It is an industry in crisis but I dont accept it is an industry in terminal decline, says Seamus Dooley, Irish secretary of the National Union of Journalists.

Mr Dooley blames a combination of the weak economy, changing readership patterns and a failure by newspapers to adapt to new media for the crisis.

Between July and end-December 2012, the circulations of the three main quality daily newspapers C The Irish Times, Irish Independent and Irish Examiner C have fallen by 24-30 per cent from the same period in 2006 . Sales of most Sunday and regional newspapers are also falling.

Newspapers have been giving away their content for free, which has hit circulation pretty significantly, says Matt Dempsey, chairman of the National Newspapers of Ireland.

You also had debt problems at TCH and INM with both groups borrowing heavily during the boom and being hit hard by the fall in consumer spending and advertising, he says.

Core Media,An experienced artist on what to consider before you buy chipcard. the largest media buying agency in Ireland, forecasts annual spending on newspaper advertising will fall to 151m in the Republic by 2015, down from 245m in 2010, heaping further pressure on the industry.

The big challenge facing newspapers is the need for them to start monetising their online offering. It is a mistake not to charge because people will pay for trusted content online, says Alan Cox, chief executive of Core Media.

The Irish Independent and Irish Times are expected to begin charging for access to news content this year. The Sunday Business Post, a TCH title, already has a paid subscription model.

The fate of the Sunday Business Post now lies in the hands of a court-appointed examiner, Grant Thornton, which has put the newspaper up for sale following the receivership of TCH.

The remaining titles within the TCH stable have already been acquired by Landmark Media Investments through a pre-pack receivership, whereby all the legal and finances for the sale were put in place before TCH was put into the receivership process.Cheap logo engraved luggagetag at wholesale bulk prices.

This arrangement, which was backed by TCHs main lender Allied Irish Banks, enabled a branch of the Crosbie family, Tom Crosbie and his father Ted, to retain control over the newspapers.The world with high-performance solar roadway and solarlamp solutions.

The financial shake-out in the industry has accelerated a trend towards a greater concentration of media ownership, which has alarmed some politicians and academics.

Telecoms billionaire Denis OBrien, Irelands richest man, now effectively controls INM following his victory in a bitter five-year corporate battle with the OReilly family last year. He also owns extensive Irish radio interests and new media businesses.

A situation where one individual owns a newspaper group that enjoys more than 50 per cent market share and a radio group with the two biggest private national radio stations is very unusual by international standards, says Roddy Flynn, an academic at Dublin City University.

A new editorial charter drawn up recently by INM, which requires journalists to get the written approval of the managing editor before writing any sustained or repeated adversarial material concerning individuals or organisations, has raised questions about editorial freedom.

Mr OBriens decision to take at least 14 legal actions against newspapers, including INM titles, and some journalists personally over coverage of his financial affairs has been criticised by the NUJ.

Any individual media owner is entitled to their good name but I do have concerns about the chill effect on journalists due to the number of legal actions being taken, says Mr Dooley.

Particularly since they are being initiated by the biggest media owner in the state, he says.A group of families in a north Cork village are suing a bestplasticcard operator in a landmark case.

Most of the actions relate to coverage of a parliamentary-commissioned tribunal investigating the award of Irelands second mobile phone licence last year. It found Michael Lowry, a former Irish minister for communications in the mid 1990s, secured the winning of the 1995 mobile phone licence competition for Denis OBriens Esat Digifone.

The report also tracked clandestine payments made on behalf of Mr OBrien to Mr Lowry. Both men denied the tribunals findings.

Dublin is poised to publish new legislation in coming weeks, which is expected to include new public interest tests when it considers media mergers. But attracting new owners into the Irish newspaper market could prove a challenge in the current economic climate.