Derry Journal
Encyclopedia
The Derry Journal is a newspaper based in Derry
Derry
Derry or Londonderry is the second-biggest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-biggest city on the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Irish name Doire or Doire Cholmcille meaning "oak-wood of Colmcille"...

, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

, serving County Londonderry
County Londonderry
The place name Derry is an anglicisation of the old Irish Daire meaning oak-grove or oak-wood. As with the city, its name is subject to the Derry/Londonderry name dispute, with the form Derry preferred by nationalists and Londonderry preferred by unionists...

 as well as County Donegal
County Donegal
County Donegal is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Donegal. Donegal County Council is the local authority for the county...

 in the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

. It is operated by a Johnston Press
Johnston Press
Johnston Press plc is a newspaper publishing company headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland. Its flagship titles are The Scotsman and the Yorkshire Post; it also operates many other newspapers around the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and the Isle of Man. It is the second-largest publisher...

 holding company entitled Derry Journal Newspapers
Derry Journal Newspapers
Derry Journal Newspapers is a holding company of Johnston Press that operates several local newspapers in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Its key titles include the second oldest newspaper still in existence in Ireland, the Derry Journal and the Donegal Democrat both of whom are the...

. The paper is published on Tuesday and Friday and is a sister paper of the Sunday Journal
Sunday Journal
The Sunday Journal is a local newspaper published in Derry, Northern Ireland that was launched in March 2004 as part of the Derry Journal newspaper group. The paper, along with its Donegal on Sunday edition, is the only local paper on the island of Ireland to be published on a Sunday, with a...

, the only local newspaper published in Ireland on a Sunday. It is the second oldest newspaper still in existence in Ireland.

Establishment

The London-Derry Journal and General Advertiser was launched on Wednesday 3 June 1772 and was a four page paper that cost one penny and was initially published on Wednesday and Saturday. In October of the same year, the paper's publication days were changed to Tuesday and Friday, and 1877 it became a daily paper for a brief time, however, this lasted just three months and the paper became a tri-weekly publication after three months (Monday, Wednesday and Friday).

In its early days, the paper's editorial policy was that of the Protestant community who would become known as 'Unionists
Unionism in Ireland
Unionism in Ireland is an ideology that favours the continuation of some form of political union between the islands of Ireland and Great Britain...

' in the following decades. However, in 1829 the paper endorsed Catholic Emancipation
Catholic Emancipation
Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in Great Britain and Ireland in the late 18th century and early 19th century which involved reducing and removing many of the restrictions on Roman Catholics which had been introduced by the Act of Uniformity, the Test Acts and the penal laws...

 (equal rights for Catholics), leading to the then editor, William Wallen, to resign in protest to form the Londonderry Sentinel and North West Advertiser
Londonderry Sentinel
The Londonderry Sentinel is a newspaper based in Derry, Northern Ireland. It is published by Johnston Publishing , a holding company of Johnston Press and William Allen is the current editor...

. The paper's position became more nationalist throughout the nineteenth century and was renamed the 'Derry Journal' in 1880 (the nationalist name for the city). The next major change to the paper took place in January 1958 when the paper reverted to its current publishing schedule: Tuesday and Friday.

Banning

The Journal is also the only mainstream newspaper to have been banned on both sides of the border; firstly in 1932 and again in 1940. Under the McCarroll family, the paper was firmly nationalist and it is this that is believed to have been behind a ban on the newspaper in the Irish Free State
Free State
The Free State is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Bloemfontein, which is also South Africa's judicial capital. Its historical origins lie in the Orange Free State Boer republic and later Orange Free State Province. The current borders of the province date from 1994 when the Bantustans...

 in January 1932. The Journal had been calling for Donegal voters to back Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party , more commonly known as Fianna Fáil is a centrist political party in the Republic of Ireland, founded on 23 March 1926. Fianna Fáil's name is traditionally translated into English as Soldiers of Destiny, although a more accurate rendition would be Warriors of Fál...

 candidates in the upcoming election and had been a strong critic of the Cumann na nGaedheal government. On Monday 6 January, Gardaí across Donegal told newsagents not to sell the paper until further notice, however, the source of the ban remains unknown and was rescinded almost immediately. It has been suggested that the decision to stop the selling of the paper was linked to a Fianna Fáil conference in Donegal that weekend, which received extensive coverage in the Monday edition published in Derry. The second ban was enforced in Northern Ireland by the Unionist government on 1 June 1940, it was also cut short and was removed by special dispensation four days later. This ban came again because of the paper's nationalist point of view - it had sided with the neutral Éire
Éire
is the Irish name for the island of Ireland and the sovereign state of the same name.- Etymology :The modern Irish Éire evolved from the Old Irish word Ériu, which was the name of a Gaelic goddess. Ériu is generally believed to have been the matron goddess of Ireland, a goddess of sovereignty, or...

 government, which Stormont believed amounted to not supporting the Allied war effort. Ironically the paper was able to cover its own banning through circulation on the other side of the border

Owners

In 1998, the McCarroll family sold the paper to what became Trinity Mirror
Trinity Mirror
Trinity Mirror plc is a large British newspaper and magazine publisher. It is Britain's biggest newspaper group, publishing 240 regional papers as well as the national Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and People, and the Scottish Sunday Mail and Daily Record. Its headquarters are at Canary Wharf in...

, who sold it to Local Press Ltd, a 3i
3i
3i Group plc is a multinational private equity and venture capital company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It has offices in 13 countries across Asia, Europe and the Americas and had total assets under management of £12.7 billion as at 31 March 2011...

 holding company, in January 2004. Johnston Press took ownership through the purchase of Local Press in November 2005 and it is now operated by the holding company Derry Journal Newspapers
Derry Journal Newspapers
Derry Journal Newspapers is a holding company of Johnston Press that operates several local newspapers in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Its key titles include the second oldest newspaper still in existence in Ireland, the Derry Journal and the Donegal Democrat both of whom are the...

.

External links

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