Vincent Browne's Village voice

national | arts and media | other press Friday September 10, 2004 16:09 by Michael Hennigan - Finfacts.com finfacts at finfacts dot ie 087 2474328

A challenge to the cosy media/society consensus?

Vincent Browne has taken on a significant challenge. 'Quality investigative reporting' doesn't come cheap, which must be the reason why Irish newspapers allocate insignificant resources to it. His planned new magazine will likely depend largely on freelance journalists, paid by article while material such as US book reviews is easily available online for those who are interested. Good content depends on good research. Can it provide compelling material that is not available in so many other publications?

It remains to be seen as to whether about 5% of purchasers of the main dailies on a Saturday- all multi-sectioned- will have sufficient appetite and reading time for Village. Vincent Browne currently has weekly columns in two newspapers as well as a four-nightly radio political programme. His views are well known and the bar is higher today than when he founded Magill magazine, which is also about to have a rebirth. The mask has already been lifted from the ugly face of Irish society and the Internet provides access to a huge range of interesting information. The challenge is to produce a publication each week that is much more than another clone of Vincent Browne, while providing a fresh insight into public affairs that cannot be just browsed through, free at a newsstand.