What are the claims that media critics are making today about both print and electronic media?

9.1 Introduction

This chapter reviews the Economics literature on newspapers and magazines, possibly the two oldest and most influential media in history. We attempt to summarize a vast literature, both theoretical and empirical, on print media. This is especially challenging since this industry has undergone enormous changes since its inception, continues to evolve at a rapid speed today, and also varies in form and structure across cities and countries. Our emphasis will be on the newspaper industry, given the preponderance of research in this area. Out of necessity, our review of empirical research will also focus mostly on the newspaper industry in the United States, again reflecting the great majority of empirical research thus far.

Print media, especially newspapers, are vital in political and economic discourse. Society tends to attach particular importance to the newspaper industry as it has traditionally been an important source of information that affects civic participation, but has also often been monopolized in small local markets.1 This chapter will examine the economic forces surrounding these issues, as well as summarize research on the history of print media, on advertising in these media, and on the relationship between print media and the Internet.

The importance of newspapers to the democratic process, and in informing citizens, has long been recognized. In the early years of the United States, its founders viewed newspapers as critical for the development of the new country. They provided the newspapers of the day with subsidized postal rates and helped create a reliable distribution network (Federal Communications Commission, 2011). Newspapers have been considered so integral to civic participation that policymakers are not content with relying on market provision of this good, and have often exempted newspapers from regulations that would normally apply in other industries. Perhaps the most famous example of this is the US Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970, which carved out an exemption for newspapers from the usual provisions of antitrust laws. Under the Act, newspapers that would normally compete in the same market were allowed to form joint operating agreements (JOAs), which allowed them to combine their business operations—in particular, the advertising side of the business—while maintaining separate news divisions. The stated goal of the legislation was to allow certain markets to support multiple newspapers, where otherwise circulation declines would have led to a monopoly.

At the same time, newspapers have usually been given free rein with regard to their content, in contrast to broadcast media such as radio. As discussed in Chapter 8, the fact that broadcast media use publicly owned spectrum has allowed a certain level of content regulation that has never been the case in the newspaper industry. Indeed, Gentzkow et al. (2006), discussed in more detail in Section 9.2, point out that in the past US newspapers never even made an attempt to claim an independent position, instead advertising their allegiance to certain political parties and publishing overtly partisan coverage of events.

Another major difference between the newspaper industry and broadcast media lies in market structure. There are often a large number of radio and television stations within a metropolitan area, and television, in particular, offers most consumers a wide range of local as well as national programming. By contrast, most newspaper consumption, in North America at least, tends to be strongly local. Moreover, the importance of economies of scale in this industry leads most cities to be local monopolies or duopolies at best, with recent years seeing a sharp decline in competition. Understanding the economic causes and consequences of local concentration is therefore extremely important.

Undoubtedly, though, the most important issue affecting the industry these days is the dramatic decline in both circulation and advertising revenues, particularly in newspapers, and the challenges posed by online media. As we will see later in this chapter, real advertising revenues in US newspapers have dropped by almost 70% since 2000, driven by a combination of declining circulation, cheaper and more effective online advertising options, and the severe effects of the 2008 financial crisis and its aftermath. Whether print newspapers will survive in their current form is an open question. Some industry observers believe that over the long term newspapers will simply change their form to purely digital versions. Even if so, it remains to be seen whether the electronic press can take the place of traditional daily newspapers with regard to providing factual, informative coverage of news events.

For magazines, the situation is not quite the same. While the two industries have much in common, the greatest difference lies in market structure. Newspapers, especially in North America, have traditionally operated in local markets, which is one reason why the Internet has disrupted this business so much, by suddenly introducing competition from around the country and the world. Magazines, by contrast, have always operated on a national scale and have therefore not been affected severely by digital media. Moreover, magazines have always needed to find ways to differentiate themselves through their choice of subject matter, in a way that newspapers have often not needed.

These differences perhaps explain the divergent fortunes of the newspaper and magazine industries in recent years. While newspapers have experienced dramatic declines, many countries have experienced a growth in the number of magazines in recent years. Data in the US suggests that magazine circulation and advertising revenues have remained relatively strong over the past two decades, as we will discuss in more detail in Section 9.2. Moreover, while a number of magazine titles have closed, there has also been entry in recent years. As with newspapers, however, the advent of the Internet may radically affect the physical form that magazines take, and it remains to be seen whether digital advertising revenues can match those of print editions.

The rest of this chapter organizes the economic literature on print media according to what we believe to be the most natural division of topics. In Section 9.2, we provide an overview of the print media industry, with an emphasis on the history of the newspaper industry, particularly that of the United States. We present some stylized facts on the industry and also discuss data sources for empirical researchers.

In Section 9.3, we discuss market structure in print media, in particular—the number of firms that the industry can support and the importance of economies of scale in this industry. We discuss in detail the structure of newspaper markets in the United States, and examine the reasons that the number of daily newspapers has fluctuated considerably over time, rising rapidly from the mid-1800s until about 1920, and then declining steadily since then.

In Section 9.4, we discuss the economics of print media, especially in the context of the recent and rapidly growing literature on two-sided markets. In fact, economists working on the print media industry were confronted with the challenges of two-sided markets—such as the estimation of multiple, interrelated demand models and cross-price elasticities—well before the development of the current literature on two-sided markets and its associated tools. We therefore first discuss an older literature on demand estimation in newspapers and magazines, before surveying the more recent research in this area.

In Section 9.5, we review the literature on advertising in newspapers and magazines. Our focus in this section is on papers that examine the intermediary role of print media in transmitting advertising messages to readers, as opposed to a more general analysis of the literature on advertising, which is enormous. In particular, we review the research on whether readers of print media value advertising positively or negatively, which has important consequences for the pricing model of newspapers and magazines. We also review research on targeted advertising in print media.

In Section 9.6, we review the literature on market power and antitrust in newspaper and magazine markets, with a particular emphasis on the literature on mergers. We also discuss joint operating agreements, vertical price restrictions, and restrictions on cross-ownership of newspapers and other media.

In Section 9.7, we turn to the effects of the Internet on traditional print media, on both the subscription and advertising sides. We review the literature on whether a publication's print and electronic editions are substitutes or complements. We then discuss the research on how online competition affects print newspapers and magazines.

Finally, in Section 9.8 we offer our concluding thoughts on the future of print media and the challenges that this industry faces.

IX.A Phase One: 1902–1935

The print media in Ethiopia has developed in three phases. First was during the pre-Italian occupation when the Ethiopian government, in spite of the shortage in skilled human resources and the appropriate technology, started publishing newspapers. That period (1902–1935) is noted for the inception of the newspaper in Ethiopia. After the 1920s, the newspapers were modernized and showed some improvement both quantitatively and qualitatively.

The media at the time were established and run by the government. There was no room for private media and alternative sources of information. As the literacy rate was low in the country, so also was the level of consciousness. Ethiopians seemed to be satisfied with the information they received from media controlled and run by the government. Nevertheless, one can also say that it was a period when literary work and journalism flourished because of the introduction of the Amharic typewriter and printing press in Ethiopia. The role played by both Emperors Menelik and Haile Selassie in encouraging print media in Ethiopia remains remarkable.

II.D.1 The Media Environment

No print media are published on Easter Island. Chilean newspapers and magazines arrive on Lan flights from the Chilean mainland. The Chile-based newsletter Te Rapa Nui can be found online. The three radio stations are operated by Chilean military forces. The Chilean Air Force's Radio Manukena has been on air since the early 1970s, with volunteer help. It broadcasts at 580 AM and 101.8 FM. In 1992, the Chilean Navy set up a music station broadcasting at 98.5 FM. Shortwave receivers can pick up AM stations from the United States. Television consists of TV Rapanui broadcasting programs taped on the mainland, from 6 p.m. to midnight. Some local news and information programs are produced on a voluntary basis.

V.D Print Media

The print media in the UAE are largely privately owned, yet newspapers and magazines receive government subsidies. The three most important newspapers in the UAE are al-Bayan, Gulf News, and Khaleej Times. The former is an Arabic-language daily. The latter two are English-language newspapers. In total, the UAE has nine daily newspapers with a total circulation of 300,000 copies a day. From the inception of the first newspaper published in the UAE in 1967, the government has viewed the press as a tool for nation building and promoting cultural, economic, and social development.

Although print media organizations continue to need a government license to publish in the UAE, censorship is being softened in the country, especially as satellite TV, the Internet, and the global flows of information associated with the information revolution continue to boom. Mohammed Al-Abbar, director general of Dubai's Economic Department, observes, “in today's world censorship doesn't exist. WE can pick up hundreds of channels here plus the internet. The world is changing. We are already a global city, traveling the world, and we know exactly what is happening around the world and we cannot hope to stop, nor would we want to stop whatever is happening. So censorship is no longer an issue.” In this spirit of openness, Dubai has established Dubai Internet City and Dubai Media City, two media and information technology hubs with state of the art technology and connectivity, tax-free business opportunities for the first 30 years of operation, censorship-free publishing ability, and “government support for the creation and marketing of world class enabling services for the media industry and information technology businesses.” With the creation of the media and information free zones, the UAE has attracted many international and regional media organizations broadcasting in the Middle East who in the past had located in Europe to avoid government censorship and red tape. The Crown Prince of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, and the minister of defense, who is the visionary behind the concept, are quickly ushering the UAE into the global limelight of most wired places. As an endorsement of the Crown Prince's initiative, the OECD held its first meeting in a developing country in Dubai in January 2002. The subject of the meeting was telecommunications deregulation as a stimulus to international development.

III.A Structure, Ownership, and Finance

Stereotyping in advertisements

The sexy librarian is prevalent in print media. Although print media shows this updated image, it tends to further perpetuate popular notions of the unenthused, unfashionable librarian by insinuating that the latter image is the opposite of the fun, young, and attractive librarian. Bacardi, for example, published an advertisement showing the nearly bare back of a slender, dewy-skinned woman. Her face cannot be seen, but the advertisers are certain that readers will be enticed by her dark long hair, lower back tattoo (commonly referred to as the “tramp stamp”), and the skirt that drapes lowly and nearly shows her buttocks. A tall glass of alcohol with ice sits in the cradle of her slender hand. The caption reads: “Librarian by day, Bacardi by night.” Bacardi, the message implies, is smooth. Drinking it, one is sultry, attractive, and fun. This woman is the opposite of herself during the day—uneasy, repellent, and lackluster. One can only imagine what she regularly wears to her job. Her uniform would be dowdy, undoubtedly, if it serves as a contrast to the sultry and fashionable ensemble on the page.5

A Honda Accord advertisement offers a similar juxtaposition as the advertisement attests that the vehicle is “the automobile equivalent of a really hot librarian—Good-looking, yet intelligent. Fun, yet sophisticated.”6 While the “intelligent” and “sophisticated” attributes describing librarians are complimentary to those in the field, one wonders why good-looking and fun are opposing attributes that librarians cannot realistically embody. The car is supposed to have all the qualities people want in a car although that, the ad demonstrates, is as rare as a “really hot librarian.” In asserting the rarity of the Accord, the advertisement clearly implies that the fun, attractive librarian is equally as atypical.

As noted prior, media images have a profound effect on the public view of reality, and the sexy librarian representation continues a tradition that allows for the accepted marginalization of library professionals. The sexy librarian image is equally as ungratifying as other stereotypes because it continues to overlook the work in which librarians engage. Undeniably, this perception of librarians does little to actually increase the meaningful facets of librarianship, to aid in recruiting new, valuable professions, and to serve our present and potential customers better.

While the sexy librarian has increased in popularity, the spinster is ubiquitous, continuously appearing in segments of popular culture. Gushers Fruit Snacks has recently released a commercial that features the young “old maid” and reinforces media acceptance of the elements of policeman and inept librarians. The advertisement shows a teenager quietly eating the snacks in the library. When his bag slips from the table, the drab librarian suddenly appears. Although she is young and does not wear glasses, she is presented as homely and disagreeable. She wears a white blouse beneath a navy-blue cardigan and ash-gray pants. Her hair is short and limp; her face is molded into a frown. She states sarcastically, “This is a library, not a lunchroom,” after snatching the box from his backpack. Fruit juice squirts from the box and on to patrons as she walks to the desk, but she is so concerned with taking the snacks from the customer that she neither notices nor cares. A patron waits by the desk; she holds the box by his face and dirties a patron as he asks for a book about wrestling. Rather than show him to the stacks or clarifying where the books are located, she simply points without uttering a word. The librarian then places the box of snacks in the drawer of a file cabinet simply labeled “MINE.” The worst part of the commercial is that the librarian does not smile at all, though she does roll her eyes frequently as she passes the studying patrons.

Some professions, like those in the medical field, have an array of images publicized in the media. The main protagonist of BET’s The Game is a medical student. City of Angels featured trauma doctors who came from diverse backgrounds. House highlights the difficulties of being a surgeon while Hawthorne focuses on the experiences of nurses. Library employees do not have thatdiversity in media representation. For that reason, people are unaware of the dissimilarity between a shelver, library assistant, library associate, or librarian. A librarian, frequently misconstrued, is anyone who works at a library. People are habitually surprised to learn that to be a librarian, one must have completed the requirements of the professional Masters in Library and Information Studies degree by an ALA-accredited program. Of all the films reviewed for this book, only one, Major League, mentioned this requisite.

Some professionals have encouraged librarians simply to ignore stereotypes. However, passivism only reinforces stereotypes because they fail to inform the public of who we actually are. Others endorse librarians embracing the stereotype that has long plagued them. Nevertheless, the condoning of and the inaction against the librarian stereotype further enforces popular perceptions. Take for example the reactions to the librarian action figure. Supposedly modeled after Nancy Pearl, an avid cyclist, accomplished author, and popular radio personality,7 the touted feature of the figure is its shushing action. Nancy, who defies the stereotype in a number of qualities, sanctioned and marketed the doll, reasoning that it would determine “which librarians have a sense of humor.”8 The issue stems beyond humor because these representations can have grave consequences for professional productivity and librarianship in general.

V.A Print

Many science reporters express a preference for print media because they assume this medium to be best suited for the communication of the difficult and complex content that characterizes most science reporting. Print often affords reporters the space to include and develop detailed information or concepts within the body of the story or in appendixes, sidebars, or illustrations. Despite these advantages, however, comparatively few newspapers have staff dedicated to coverage of science. Some of the major daily papers (such as the New York Times) are noted for their consistent, in-depth coverage of science. Regional and local papers, however, tend to rely upon the wire services, often reprinting stories verbatim. The dearth of specialty reporting may result from decreasing audiences for print media and the ongoing consolidation of media ownership. Online newspapers, e-mail alerts that track and sort stories according to subject, and other forms of direct electronic delivery of science news further complicate the future of print-based science journalism. On one hand, these services seem to threaten the established audience base for traditional print journalism. On the other hand, electronic delivery of news may attract new and more diverse audiences for science journalism in major newspapers and magazines. Online newspapers also make archival material conveniently accessible to readers. A typical reader has easy access not only to the current report on a given topic, but also to a vast storehouse of recent stories that may provide further background, information, or useful context for understanding an issue.

Without the time pressures associated with daily or even weekly deadlines, reporters for monthly news magazines have more flexibility to develop multiple dimensions of a given story than do newspaper reporters. More time may allow for broader and more varied sourcing and thus reporters for periodicals may be comparatively less reliant on prepackaged wire service accounts, institutional press releases, or stock sources than those working to shorter deadlines. Periodicals are not without constraints, however. Editors expect that science stories should contribute to the overarching theme of a given issue and often consider carefully the degree to which a story reflects or is consistent with the periodical's editorial stance and the expressed preferences of its established audience. Furthermore, while all reporting must concern itself with a need to attract audiences through compelling narratives, this pressure may be highest for those publishing in monthly periodicals. The limited number of issues requires that attention be focused only on those stories that can hook audiences quickly and generate widespread interest.

The shift to engagement models of public understanding led a number of research institutions to produce their own weekly, monthly, or quarterly periodicals designed to inform the interested public about the nature of their work. Staffed by professional science writers, many of whom have spent time working for newspapers or general audience periodicals, these publications produce science journalism for the purposes of improving relationships with their various publics. Arguably a tool for public relations, these periodicals nonetheless warrant our consideration because many audiences value them as reliable sources of science news.

IV The Future of Computer Networking

Discussing the future of digital technology in print media is often a hazardous exercise. So fast is the pace of change that predictions of the future of digital technology often appear as a kind of precocious historical description by the time a new printed volume circulates. Nevertheless, it is possible to forecast the general trend of the future of computer networking: increasing interconnection through networking of desktop computers and other digital devices (e.g., cellular telephones, handhelds, and PDAs) through an ever-expanding layer of global digital networks. At this time it seems likely that the future will witness ever-broader adoption of myriad digital devices with network connectivity through wireless networking technologies (such as IEEE 802.11) and through cellular dialup and satellite transmission.

Embedded technologies—machines and appliances with digital controls and sensors that also permit them to interoperate with a home network (and through it the Internet)—are expected to gain hold in the marketplace. Examples of such technologies include television control systems (e.g., the TiVo system) that connect to the Internet to update television schedules and which eventually promise to permit owners to schedule digital television recording sessions while away from home, refrigerators that are able to keep track of their own contents, automobile Internet displays that are able to retrieve and recite e-mail messages, and home security systems that permit families to monitor and control their households from any Internet location. There will almost certainly be a lengthy period of trial and error in this process as technologists and consumer engineers discover the kinds of appliances that provide meaningful benefits when attached to a network.

Ubiquitous networking—universal access and interconnectivity—is still a vision for the future but rapid progress toward that vision has been made in recent decades. Future progress will benefit from technological convergence in network protocols and in the rapid diffusion of the Internet as a medium that makes possible inexpensive interconnection for diverse digital devices.

II Nigeria's Mass Media During The Period Of Colonialism (Circa 1859–1959)

The mass media, at least the print media, predate the Nigerian nation itself, more proof that colonialism did not mark the beginning of civilization in Africa. This section focuses only on the print media because the broadcast media were yet to be introduced to the country. It was not until about 100 years after the first newspaper was published that Nigeria had its first television station. Radio came a few years earlier. Nigeria marked 140 years of the print media in 1999, a journey that started in Abeokuta in 1859. Christian missionaries pioneered the print media industry around the middle of the 19th century. The first newspaper published in Nigeria, Iwe Irohin fun awon Egba ati Yoruba (the newspaper for the Egbas and the Yorubas), was written in vernacular and circulated in the southwestern part of the country from around 1859. The Church Missionary Society (CMS), one of the many British pastoral groups that invaded Africa during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, published the newspaper. The CMS introduced the Anglican Christian denomination to Nigeria.

The newspaper's pioneering editor was Henry Townsend, an English missionary, who wrote in the first edition of the paper that Iwe Irohin was to “get the people to read…to beget the habit of seeking information by reading.” Iwe Irohin was an eight-page fortnightly newspaper that reported births, deaths, baptisms, confirmations, and other ecclesiastical messages. The paper's cover price was 120 cowries, far less that one cent in 1800 U.S. currency, and carried its first advertisements in 1864. There were pungent articles against slavery and other social issues. By and large, the people had access to the humane and moral philosophy of the newspaper that was based on Christian doctrines. An English-language edition was first published in 1860, seven years before Iwe Irohin ceased publication.

Information about the press in Nigeria between 1859 and 1913 is either scanty or nonexistent. Between the period when Iwe Irohin ceased publication and 1914, when Nigeria's southern and northern protectorates were amalgamated, many religious publications existed. These included the African Gleamer, published in 1917 by the African Church Organization, and the African Hope, published in 1919. R. Akinfeleye, in a 1986 publication, also gave a list of other publications that appeared around that period. These were the Nigerian Baptist, a monthly that made its debut in 1923; the African Challenge, published by the Sudan Interior Mission in 1934; the Catholic Life, published in 1936; and Labarin Ekkesiya (Muslim Chronicle), a religious paper published in 1947.

Apart from the religious publications mentioned above, the first private initiative into newspaper publishing was in 1880 with the introduction of the Lagos Times. Unfortunately, it ceased publication in 1883 despite its well-organized structure with depots in London, Freetown, and Accra. There were other entrepreneurial initiatives in the mass media during the following years. One of these was the Lagos Daily News, established in 1925 by one of Nigeria's fiery nationalist politicians, Herbert Macauley. It was the first daily newspaper to exist along the coast of West Africa.

The Daily Times of Nigeria was established in 1926 through the cooperation of some Nigerian businessmen and European financial interests. It was to serve as an alternative to the partisan newspapers that were in circulation at that time. The Daily Times, in its maiden editorial, promised “not to be attached to any particular creed or party.” It resolved to make its objective financial propriety rather than nationalist propaganda. Soon after this period, the clamor for political independence started to be featured in some of the newspapers.

During the early 1930s, Nnamdi Azikiwe, who later became Nigeria's first president, worked in neighboring Ghana as editor of the African Morning Post. On his return to Nigeria, he set up the West African Pilot in Lagos. He expanded the base of the newspaper to other parts of Nigeria with depots in Warri and Kano, a trend that made him the first to introduce a newspaper chain to Nigeria. Azikiwe found good use for the newspaper when he became active in the politics of the newly independent Nigeria in 1960.

In 1949, Obafemi Awolowo established the Nigerian Tribune essentially to support the political aspirations of his Action Group Party. During the period between 1979 and 1983 when the second democratic government was elected into power, many private businessmen hurriedly set up newspapers for political outreach. Most of these soon disappeared following the elections of 1970 and 1983. However, the National Concord newspaper, which was one of such to be set up then, was able to weather the storm and set the pace for private ownership of newspapers in Nigeria. Although National Concord, the flagship newspaper for the Concord Press, was unabashedly partisan to the political interests of its owner/financier, Moshood Abiola, it was one of the foremost national newspapers that circulated in Nigeria during the 1980s and 1990s.

Soon after it ceased to be dogmatic in its editorials, National Concord pioneered competitive remuneration and professionalism in journalism. Another area that the newspaper pioneered was the use of special interest newspapers, such as the Business Concord and Weekend Concord, to cater to financial issues and weekend entertainment, respectively. Weekend Concord was the first weekend newspaper published in Nigeria. Readers were provided with a lot of rich alternatives with the coming of the Concord group of newspapers. Concord was able to reach the nook and cranny of Nigeria and was indeed a truly national newspaper.

In most African countries, including Nigeria, the first generation of journalists soon became the countries' political leaders. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Nnamdi Azikiwe of Nigeria, and Herbert Macauley of Nigeria were some examples. They all played key roles in sensitizing the public through their vitriolic criticisms of the colonial governments, thereby awakening a sense of political consciousness in the citizenry. Their newspapers served well in building a band of loyalists who provided the support needed by the politicians on which strong political platforms emerged. They used their newspapers to forge a sense of nationalism, whip up emotional sentiments against colonial rule, and launch themselves into public attention in the process.

The colonial administration was able to respond with repressive laws that curtailed the antagonistic tone of the press at that time. Examples of such laws included the seditious offenses ordinance of 1909, the criminal code ordinance of 1916, and the newspaper ordinance of 1917. The control of the electronic media was in the firm grip of the government for obvious reasons. The European colonists had learned bitter lessons from the propagandist potential of radio in national politics. Radio ownership was thus limited to government agencies.

This trend continued in Nigeria, and in most African countries, well after colonialism ended. In fact, there is an ongoing process of deregulating the electronic media industry, with the first ever set of licenses for private broadcasting just a few years ago. African leaders believe that the broadcast media are organs of control that the government must protect as a tool to wield power and to gain legitimacy and consent from the people. The deregulation process is discussed further in another section of this article.

There was a somewhat unanimous tone to press coverage of national politics during the period shortly before independence in 1960. Different nationalities began to jostle for leadership positions in the soon-to-be vacant national government. The incompatibilities of the different ethnic and religious nationalities became evident in the tone and loyalties expressed by the media. On the eve of independence, the Nigerian Tribune not only had metamorphosed into a full megaphone for the Action Group Party, it had become the sole voice for the western part of Nigeria, made up of predominantly the Yorubas. While Nnamdi Azikiwe geared the West African Pilot toward representing the interest of the eastern states occupied by the Igbos, the northern states relied on the Nigerian Citizen to represent them in the new dispensation.

The daily newspapers, which a few years earlier had been in the vanguard of the movement for elimination of colonial rule, soon became so fractionalized that each ethnic region employed its own press to canvass parochial political interests. Soon after independence, there was a radical change in tone from the “militant nationalism” of the pre-independence press to a bitter struggle for political relevance. The new emerging politicians saw the press as a veritable tool for taking over power from the colonial powers. Leading political party newspapers were locked in vicious combat, while journalists descended to becoming pawns in the hands of desperate politicians. The journalists became exceedingly fanatical up to a point of being irresponsibly partisan and reckless.

IX Up The Republic

In the Republic of Ireland, the print media are dominated by the Irish Independent and the Irish Times. The “Indo,” as the Irish call it, is the paper of the common man, especially farmers, while the Irish Times was historically the paper of the Anglo–Irish elite and is the paper of record. There are also several tabloids that try to copy the successful formula of British tabloids, concentrating on scandal, politics, sports, and (to a lesser degree than their British counterparts) sex.

Until recently, there was only state radio and television, with RTE providing two television and two radio stations. But during the 1990s, the government opened the radio airwaves to a limited number of independent stations, the most influential of them being Today FM, whose weeknight drive-time public affairs show hosted by the acerbic Eamon Dunphy has proved that there is a future for quality, profitable independent broadcasting in a country where, for some 70 years, it was a state monopoly. The Irish government has also recently invested heavily in an Irish-language broadcast network, giving the native language a full-time radio and television station. The government is trying to revive the indigenous Gaelic language that was nearly stamped out under British colonization.

Although much smaller than the massive BBC, RTE was built on the BBC public service model and provides a considerable amount of news and public affairs programming. Unlike the BBC, it takes commercial advertising. In such a relatively small society, those who present programs on RTE become instant celebrities. Fintan O'Toole, the Irish Times columnist, has suggested that Gay Byrne, who for more than four decades hosted a daily radio show and a Friday night talk show on television, was as influential in Irish society as any of Ireland's great statesmen. O'Toole argued that Byrne got the Irish talking about taboo subjects, such as sex, that were frowned on in what remains, despite sweeping secularization, Europe's most socially conservative country. So influential is the reach of RTE that there was a serious movement to draft Marian Finucane, host of RTE radio's talk show Liveline, to run for president in 1997. RTE's Morning Ireland radio show is as influential an agenda setter in Ireland as BBC Radio 4's Today program is in Britain. On both programs, politicians and other public officials are grilled for an audience that is readying for or driving to work.

But it is the newspapers, especially the Irish Times and the Irish Independent, that remain the main agenda setters in Ireland. Rightly or wrongly, there is a widespread perception in Ireland that RTE's reliance on funding from the government makes it too deferential to the politicians who control its budget.