These media sources are slightly to moderately conservative in bias. They often publish factual information that utilizes loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes) to favor conservative causes. These sources are generally trustworthy for information, but may require further investigation. See all Right-Center sources.

• Overall, we rate the Irish Independent Right-Center Biased based on story selection and editorial positions that moderately favor the right. We also rate them Mostly Factual in reporting, rather than High due to the lack of hyperlinked sourcing.

Detailed Report

Factual Reporting: MOSTLY FACTUAL
Country: Ireland
World Press Freedom Rank: Ireland 13/180

History

The Irish Independent, formerly Irish Daily Independent and then Irish Daily Independent and Daily Nation is an Irish national daily newspaper based in Dublin, Ireland. The Independent.ie is the online publication of the paper which covers news, including Ireland, World, Sport, Business, Entertainment, and Travel. 

The Irish Independent first launched in 1891 as the Irish Daily Independent, by Charles Stewart Parnell. In 1900, after a merger, it became the Irish Daily Independent & Daily Nation and in 1905 it was acquired by anti-Parnellite, controversial politician businessman William Martin Murphy and became the Irish Independent. William Martin Murphy was nicknamed “William Murder Murphy”, due to his “harsh stance” during the 1913 Lockout of workers. His family owned the newspaper group until 1973. The paper was then bought by Irish billionaire and former CEO of Heinz, Tony O’Reilly who built the Independent News & Media plc (INM group). He led The Irish independent from 1973 to 2009, followed by his son Gavin O’Reilly In 2012, Denis O’Brien acquired a majority shareholding of the Irish Independent’s parent company Independent News & Media plc (INM) and together with another shareholder Dermot Desmond, sold their shares to Belgium based Mediahuis. Gert Ysebaert is the chief executive of the Mediahuis Group and Cormac Bourke is the editor of The Irish Independent. 

View our profile on Ireland’s media and government

Funded by / Ownership

The Irish Independent is owned by Independent News & Media plc (INM) which is a subsidiary of Belgian group Mediahuis. Mediahuis is owned by wealthy publishing families: VP Exploitatie (Van Puijenbroek family), Concentra (Baert family), and Thomas Leysen & partners (largest shareholder). Please see the details of ownership here.  Revenue is derived through advertising and subscriptions.

Analysis / Bias

In 2020 Reporters Without Borders ranked Ireland 13/180 in their Press Freedom Index stating that “Independent News and Media (INM) controlled much of the daily and Sunday newspaper market, while broadcasting was dominated by the semi-state company RTE.” Micheal Martin is the prime minister of Ireland and he is the leader of the center-right party, Fianna Fail.

The Irish Independent is considered a conservative newspaper of Ireland. For example, during the 1997 general election, it endorsed Fianna Fáil with its editorial, titled “It’s Payback Time”. 

In review, the Irish Independent reports local news with minimal bias in wording such as this Body of teen discovered in car in Dublin. This story like most do not contain hyperlinked sourcing. The Irish Independent also has a section dedicated to political news that slightly favors the center-right Fianna Fail party such as this: Micheál Martin ‘let down and grossly insulted’ Limerick City – Fianna Fáil TD.

Editorially, they occasionally report somewhat negatively on the Labour Party such as this: Is Burton really that keen to lead party into electoral meltdown? They also use emotionally loaded wording in opinion pieces such as this “Labour leader Alan Kelly says children should be allowed give grandparents a ‘quick hug’”. When covering world news, pertaining to the USA, they cover the Trump Administration with a critical tone such as in this article “Trump’s attempt to paint Biden as ‘a puppet of the radical left’ is laughable” and “Rather than ‘end American carnage’, Trump has pushed it to a frightening new level.” In general, they report news mostly factually and with a slight right-leaning bias in editorial positions.

Failed Fact Checks

• None in the Last 5 years

Overall, we rate the Irish Independent Right-Center Biased based on story selection and editorial positions that moderately favor the right. We also rate them Mostly Factual in reporting, rather than High due to the lack of hyperlinked sourcing. (8/12/2016) Updated (M. Huitsing 7/2/2020)

Source: https://www.independent.ie/