Press Review in 'The Revolution Papers'

I recently wrote a press review for 'The Revolution Papers' of 20 December 2016. I looked at two very different newspapers from the dying days of the Irish Civil War - the long-established and Pro-Treaty newspaper, Freeman's Journal and the recently established and vehemently Anti-Treaty propaganda sheet, Eire.

Front cover of 'The Revolution Papers', No. 51.

The Civil War began in June 1922 and for nearly 11 months, men and women who were once the best of friends and had once fought side by side during the War of Independence, were pitted against each other. Naturally, each side was convinced that they were right. It was very interesting to compare the two newspapers and see how they could have such widely differing opinions on the same issues.

See http://therevolutionpapers.ie/detail.php?id=51 for more information on this edition of 'The Revolution Papers'.

2016 Newspaper & Periodical History Forum Conference

The 2016 Newspaper and Periodical History Forum of Ireland (NPHFI) conference took place in the National Library of Ireland on Friday 25 and Saturday 26 November 2016. This was the Forum's ninth annual conference and the theme was 'Freedom of Speech in France, Germany, and Ireland in Time of Conflict'.

Entrance to the National Library of Ireland (as seen from the National Museum of Ireland). 

Eighteen researchers and academics from Ireland, France, Germany, United Kingdom and Canada addressed the conference theme with papers on freedom of speech during conflict ranging from the French Revolution of 1848 and the Paris Commune of 1871 to the First and Second World Wars and right up to the fall of the Berlin Wall. We learned about the power of caricature in newspapers and periodicals during wartime and the difficulties of keeping the press going during wartime censorship and how samizdat publications survived.

The keynote speech, entitled 'Liberty and Licence: the rise of the political press in Europe from the Enlightenment to the age of mass journalism', was delivered by Prof Hugh Gough, Emeritus professor of history at University College Dublin (UCD).

2016 Conference poster. We are grateful to Plantu for allowing us to reuse his cartoon.

The 2016 conference was held in association with the Embassy of France in Ireland, the Embassy of Germany in Ireland, and the National Library of Ireland. Thanks to all of these organisations for their support and assistance in helping to make the conference such a success. This is third NPHFI conference I have organised as secretary. I wish the new secretary, Dr James O'Donnell, every success in the role.