Colonialism and journalism in Ireland

Abstract

Irish journalism developed during the 19th century at a time of tremendous change. While journalists were involved in the debates about nationalism, both as commentators and in many cases activists, they also developed a journalism practice that corresponded to the professional norms of journalists in Britain and the United States. It would appear that the middle‐class nature of Irish journalists meant there was a dual pressure towards professionalising journalism and fighting for legislative independence. Both factors came together in the development of a public sphere, where professional journalists were involved in creating public opinion.

Keywords:

• Journalism
• Ireland
• Professionalism
• History, Colonialism
• Newspapers

Notes

Irish independence was achieved in 1922 when the Irish Free State was established. Until 1948, when a republic was declared, Ireland had Dominion status within the British Commonwealth on the same basis as Canada.

William Howard Russell, the “father of war correspondents”, worked for the London Times and famously covered the Crimea War for that newspaper. He was born in Tallaght, Co. Dublin and educated at Trinity College.

Catholic Emancipation was achieved in 1829 and so allowed Catholics to take seats in the Westminster Parliament without subscribing to the Oath of Supremacy. It also opened up a range of other public offices to Catholics.

The Repeal Movement sought the removal of the Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland, which had meant the abolition of the Irish Parliament, and the granting of Home Rule.

Charles Stewart Parnell (1846–91), MP and leader of the Irish Party at Westminster and one of the most important figures in Irish nationalism in the 19th century. He led two great campaigns, Home Rule and for land reform. He understood the importance of the media and founded the United Ireland and was closely associated with newspapers around the country. The Parnell split, caused when a fellow MP, Captain O'Shea, sued for divorce, citing Parnell who had been having an affair with Mrs O'Shea for some years. The split had a profound effect on Irish politics as well as the media. Those who continued to support Parnell after the split realised it was hopeless when Parnell lost the support of the Freeman's Journal.

Curran and Seaton argue that far from the traditional Whig view of press history, a political press and the repression that went with it gave way to an increasingly commercial press funded by advertising. In the end it was this, they argue, that was far more effective in ridding Britain of its radical political press than censorship and repression.

The provision of university education was a highly controversial issue throughout the late 19th century. In 1845 Parliament passed the Colleges Act, which established the Queen's Colleges in Belfast, Cork and Galway. They were condemned as “Godless” by the Catholic hierarchy. Later a Catholic college was founded in Dublin, by Papal authority, but it could not confer degrees. In 1908 the National University was established with colleges in Dublin, Galway and Cork.

The real editor of the Freeman's Journal was Sir John Gray. Bodkin worked as a journalist for the Journal. In his novel the fictitious newspaper is called The Free Press, the editor is John Grayle. Bodkin's memoir of his life as a journalist will be cited elsewhere.

T. P. O'Connor was the only member of the Irish Nationalist Party to sit at Westminster for an English Constituency. As well as working as a journalist and editor all his life he was one of the founders of the so‐called New Journalism, see “The New Journalism”, The New Review, October 1889, pp. 423–34.

Fenians, a militant nationalist movement founded in New York by John O'Mahony in 1858. It was linked to the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), a militant, secret organisation in Ireland.

United Ireland was founded by Charles Stewart Parnell in 1881 and edited by William O'Brien. It became the official newspaper of both the Land League and the Irish Parliamentary Party. It ceased publication in January 1898.

The Institute was previously the National Association of Journalists, which was founded in 1889.

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) was founded in 1907 and Irish delegates were recorded as attending the Annual Conference in 1910 (Bundock, 1957, p. 26). By 1926 branches were formed in Dublin and Belfast and by the 1930s Irish Journalists had become enthusiastic members, with the new Irish Press being almost entirely a fully NUJ newspaper office at its foundation in 1931 (Bundock, 1957, pp. 110, 121). It might be interesting to speculate that the reason for this move towards trade unionism in Irish journalism was linked to the move towards a wholly commercial press.

What is remarkable is that such names are still used in Dublin newsrooms today.

DeValera and his followers had refused to recognise the Irish Free State that was established by the Treaty of 1922 because of the partition of the country. However, following the civil war he founded Fianna Fail and the Irish Press newspaper and entered parliament. See O'Brien (2001) for a fuller treatment of the Irish Press and its relationship to Fianna Fail.

Sinn Fein (ourselves alone), founded by Arthur Griffith in 1908, developed into the main nationalist party and established the first Dail, or Irish Parliament, following its success in the 1918 election.