Best Of Times, Worst Of Times

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RTÉ News understands staff were told at a meeting today that all but three positions at the paper were to be made redundant and that those three jobs had to be reapplied for.

A print version of the Times Ireland was launched in June 2017 after a digital-only launch in 2015. The publication will return to a digital-only edition. The Sunday Times in Ireland will be unaffected.

The Times Ireland to cease print edition (RTÉ)

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26 thoughts on “Best Of Times, Worst Of Times

    1. Bodger

      Joan, the journalists at the Times ireland edition were always very decent and helpful to us and they broke important stories. Harry Burton is a brilliant cartoonist also.

      1. Joan

        Burton is brilliant? You genuinely think that? Sweet Jaysus. It broke few stories of note. It wasn’t even fit for fish and chips.

  1. class wario

    overall a loss to the media landscape here. their writers did some great investigative work (see the recent fai stuff for some good examples) and covered plenty of stories that other outlets wouldn’t for whatever reason touch (this was very noticeable around the abortion referendum).

    Their Murdoch rag tendencies came to the fore more than once though, almost a pity the decent people involved will be linked to stuff like the recent totally uncritical platforming of Peter casey for example. But as I said, overall a loss…

          1. shayna

            The video of me being pounded on my face by Tyrone GAA players by O’Neills footballs – yikes! To be fair most of them missed – it was 13 metres.

  2. Vanessa the Holy Face of Frilly Keane

    Terrible loss to print News in Ireland
    And having a decent competitive market is again denied

    Sincerely sorry for everyone losing their jobs

    xV

  3. Mary McCarthy

    The Times Ireland edition was a half-hearted token effort at an Irish publication. Yes there was good stories from time to time but the amount of Irish material was so little, if you went past the first couple of pages it was the same as the UK title. Same for sports coverage, one or two Irish stories and the rest UK copies. The Irish Daily Mail isn’t a whole lot better, a lot of it’s content is 100% copy of it’s British sister paper, is terrible at supporting Irish feature contributors e.g Monty Don for gardening (what’s wrong with all the Irish gardeners?). Half their letters each day are from Somerset, Berwick, Brighton, etc!! Their sales have collapsed too, I think this is largely down to so little Irish content yet charging premium price, €1.60 weekdays and €1.80 weekends. Terrible value for an “Oirish” publication.

  4. eoin

    The Times Ireland, which was launched in July 2017, and today sells around 3,300 issues a day. The “old” Times which was the London Times (no Irish journalism, like the Financial Times or the Daily Express) was printed in Ireland and used to sell around 2,200 issues a day. For an extra 1,100 issues a day, maybe less than €1,000 in revenue a day (cover price less VAT, delivery, printing,returns), it’s difficult to justify any sort of decent journalism enterprise for €6,000 a week, Mon-Sat.

    They have a handful of decent journalists, they’ve run some decent investigations, the fake Dublin abortion advice clinics, illegal gambling premises in Dublin city centre, the Harolds Cross Greyhound site scandal come to mind. They were also very good for adding depth to some stories, Siteserv commission, NBP and NCH come to mind. Harry Burton is a genius cartoonist. Its nature reporting was unique but I wonder was it popular. Sunday Times journalists Mark Tighe and John Mooney occasionally added interest to the daily Times Ireland. I don’t believe they’ve been sued for defamation in two years, that’s no mean feat in this place.

    On the negative side, its columnists were awful, I can honestly say in two years, I may have read a handful, five articles (not columnists), overall total. Columnists are critical and act as a bridge for the public to the significance of the news. 75% of the news articles were yesterday’s news which was already covered in online social media, broadcast and online traditional media, no extra depth or value added (for the reader, and it’s the reader that ultimately counts). Courts and company accounts reporting was bought-in syndicated. The business and economics reporting was not good in my opinion, sorry, it was 95% day-old press statement or widely-circulated report. The political reporting was mediocre, the influence of head office in London on Brexit stories appeared obvious to me. There was a failure by News International to pool talent between the Sun (particularly on crime and courts reporting), Sunday Times and the Times Ireland. They weren’t sued for libel, fair enough, but frankly, they rarely did investigative work on individuals which would merit libel proceedings.

    Why didn’t the Times Ireland take off and at least get to 25,000 copies a day, the same as the Examiner or the Mail? I would say lack of investment in a journalism critical mass, lack of distinctive material which means it got lost in a sea of existing free and paid-for media, awful columnists and no obvious editorial direction, lacklustre marketing. If you were asked to describe the Examiner, Irish Times or Independent brands, you probably could. Ask about the Times Ireland and you wouldn’t.

    Finally, spare a thought for Colette Sexton who appeared to come on board from the SBP at the Times Ireland a few weeks ago as a political correspondent; Niamh Lyons, the former TI political reporter was promoted to political editor. Looks like both posts are now at risk. Reminds you of that old Somerset Maugham tale “Appointment in Samsarra”

  5. Gabby

    Printed newspapers in general have sinking circulation, mostly due to rolling news on the internet and on electronic media. Some people have stopped buying newspapers for cultural reasons. All is uncertain.

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