The Spanner is a free Irish

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,...

 Satirical magazine

Magazine

Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...

, which is published monthly in print format and as a weekly e-zine to members of Irish student website, Oxygen.ie. Its first issue was published in November 2004, making The Spanner Ireland’s longest running free satirical publication. The Spanner is also Ireland’s only national publication geared towards people of third level college age.

Contributors

The Spanner’s content is primarily provided by Irish

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 third-level students, or other young Irish writers. Unlike satirical publications like The Onion

The Onion

The Onion is an American news satire organization. It is an entertainment newspaper and a website featuring satirical articles reporting on international, national, and local news, in addition to a non-satirical entertainment section known as The A.V. Club...

, The Spanner welcomes anonymous, unsolicited contributions. Contributors do not receive payment for submitted articles, but do receive national recognition and exposure of their work.

Style

Given the heterogeneity of its contributors, The Spanner has exhibited a slight degree of variance in its content, though the style of writing usually resembles satirical third-party news parody. Each issue of the magazine is usually compartmentalised into Campus News, Home News, International News, Entertainment News and Sport News, in addition to varying special features. Mocked diary entries, college guides, advertisements and opinion pieces have also been published.

Distribution

The Spanner is distributed in college campuses in Ireland, in addition to pubs, cafés and clothing shops in major Irish cities where its target market would frequent. Some colleges have decided to restrict distribution of the magazine due to student complaints regarding its controversial content or for having unauthorised marketing teams on campus grounds.

Costs

Since The Spanner is distributed free of charge, its printing, editing and distribution costs are funded by advertising revenue and sponsorship.