Irish Newspaper Readership 2005: Fact or Fantasy?

national | arts and media | other press Sunday March 13, 2005 20:13 by Michael Hennigan - Finfacts.com

This week, several Irish newspapers which have lost circulation in recent years, bragged about increases in readership.

What's behind the spin?

In a week dominated by news of the official report into the illegal charging of patients at Irish nursing homes since 1976, there apparently wasn’t much soul-searching in the mainstream Irish media as to why another huge story of consequence to the public was missed for so long?*

Following a report two weeks ago, which showed that Irish newspaper circulation was at best stagnating in a country of rising incomes and population, this was a week for the newspaper industry to crow even where some publications lost circulation.

The latest research on newspaper readership was published. It is based on readership by any adult aged 15+ and shows that 91.4 percent of Irish adults read a newspaper – at least 2 minutes spent on a particular publication – so one is a newspaper reader by simply checking the time of a TV programme.

-for more, click on link