Independent News & Media plc (INM) (LSE: INM), is a media organisation based in Dublin, Ireland, with interests in 22 countries on 4 continents^[2] worldwide. The company owns over 200 print titles, more than 130 radio stations, over 100 commercial websites and many billboard locations, and is a leading press player in five countries.^[2] The INM group of companies has been dominated by Tony O'Reilly and his family since 1973 – O'Reilly was CEO until early 2009, one of his sons, formerly COO, Gavin O'Reilly, became CEO in early 2009, and two others were non-executive directors for many years.O'Reilly resigned as CEO on the 19th of April 2012 and was replaced by the current COO, Vincent Crowley. O'Reilly had come under pressure in recent months from two of INM's largest shareholders; businessman Denis O'Brien and financier Dermot Desmond.

History[link]

The company was formed as Independent Newspapers Limited in 1904 by William Martin Murphy, as the publisher of the Irish Independent.

In 1973 Sir Tony O'Reilly acquired 100% of the "A" shares of the company from the Murphy and Chance families, and was later forced to bid for the "B" (non-voting) shares. The company was later floated on the Irish Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange.

The group expanded overseas, acquiring interests in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.

In 1999, the company name was changed to Independent News and Media plc. While the O'Reilly family and close allies still have a controlling interest (over 29.5% at July 2008), their shareholding is being diluted and a significant shareholding is being built by Irish entrepreneur, Denis O'Brien (over 27% at May 2008). 5% of the holding company is held by Clear Channel Communications, transferred in return for control of a South African outdoor advertising firm.

Markets[link]

Ireland[link]

The group owns a number of national newspapers in Ireland, the Evening Herald, Irish Independent, Sunday Independent, Sunday World and the Irish Daily Star, as well as 14 regional titles, two free newspapers, and a magazine. It has a substantial central website, Independent.ie, which includes much regional as well as national content, and an archive, though this can only be browsed, not searched. It also claims to have Ireland's "no. 2 job site" and the "largest property website on the island.

In 1993, the group bought into the Sunday Tribune, in which it now owns 98% of the issued share capital and over which it has considerable influence. As INM technically only holds 29.9% of voting shares and so lacks management control, it does not consolidate the results of the Tribune, which is loss-making, with accumulated losses of around 45 million euro since acquisition.^[3]

For many years, the main printing facility was in Abbey St. in Dublin but this is now at Citywest.

The group launched Independent Colleges, which has its base on Dublin's Dawson Street in 2007.

The Belfast Telegraph Group was bought for around 400 million euro in 2001, and is highly profitable, making perhaps 30 million euro annually.^[3]

United Kingdom[link]

Until March 2010, the company published The Independent and the Independent on Sunday. The newspapers were sold to a company controlled by Alexander Lebedev.^[4] The company also owns the Belfast Telegraph group which publishes the Belfast Telegraph, Sunday Life, Ads for Free, and also owned the now-defunct Ireland's Saturday Night. It also produces the widest-distributed jobs magazine in the London area.

During 2007, INM opened a new full-colour Goss printing press facility in Newry, Co. Down. The press the Goss Flexible Printing System known as the FPS was the first FPS sold by Goss Preston.^[5]

The Independent (of London) was bought for around 100 million euro in 1997 and has been loss-making throughout, with accumulated losses of at least 150 million euro.

South Africa[link]

The group is the largest newspaper publisher in South Africa, owning 14 newspapers including The Star and Pretoria News in Gauteng, the Daily Voice, Cape Times, Cape Argus and Weekend Argus in Cape Town, The Mercury, Post, Isolezwe, Daily News, Sunday Tribune and Independent on Saturday in Durban, the Diamond Fields Advertiser in Kimberley, as well as the national Sunday Independent and 13 community newspapers in Cape Town. The group's titles account for 48% of the total advertising spend in paid newspapers,^[6] 31% of all newspapers sold in the country, and 58% of the English language market.

Australia and New Zealand[link]

The company owns a 39.1% stake in APN News & Media Limited, a large newspaper publisher in Australia and New Zealand, which owns, for example, the New Zealand Herald, and is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.

On 12 February 2007, INM announced that the board of APN had recommended an all-cash revised offer of A$6.10 per share for the entire issued share capital of APN.^[7] The subsequent bid to take APN News & Media Ltd private in May 2007 was unsuccessful.

At 2010 INL has only 21.7% of APN, according to APN's own website

India[link]

INM has also entered into the Indian market, purchasing 20% (reduced to 13% in July 2009) of Dainik Jagran, the publishing company behind India's best-selling paper. This market has been identified by INM as being a key element of its move into non-English speaking media markets with huge growth opportunities and potential for advancement. Since the initial investment INM has deepened its involvement by buying 20% of the radio business of Dainik Jagran. The intention is to establish eight radio stations in the so-called "Hindi Belt".

Other interests[link]

INM also held stakes in the Unison ISP and the iTouch electronic payments and premium rate telecoms operator, the controlling stake in the latter later being sold to a Japanese firm.

Cable[link]

The company formerly held a 50% stake in Chorus Communications, the second largest cable television and MMDS operator in Ireland, having acquired this with a merger between Cable Management Ireland, and their own Irish Multichannel. However this was sold in 2004.

The Group[link]

The chief executive is Gavin O'Reilly, who has been CEO since 2009. The chairman is Brian Hillery, former Fianna Fáil politician and now a governor of the Central Bank of Ireland. The holding company website is inmplc.com.

Controversies[link]

There have been questions about the policy of not consolidating the 98%-owned but loss-making Sunday Tribune, and on the other hand the practice of consolidating entirely the massively profitable APN, which is less than 41%-owned. In the half year to June 2007, for example, the group reported operating profits of 155 million euro – but this excluded 1.5 million euro of losses from the Tribune, and included 85 million euros from APN (whereas a proportionate share of profit would have been, at that time, 32 million euro).^[3]

There have also been questions about APN, which was acquired in transactions involving both the group and the O'Reilly family, and profited the latter greatly, and about the massive level of group debt (over 1.3 billion euro). Furthermore, there have been complaints about the level of power of the O'Reilly family, the independence or otherwise of the board, and about the costs of O'Reilly as CEO, with second-largest shareholder Denis O'Brien and others having noted travel costs from O'Reilly's primary home in the Bahamas, company payments towards his now second home in Kilcullen, near Dublin, on top of large salary and other contributions.^[3]

The groups' failure to cover the controversy surrounding INM director Brian Mulroney has also been criticised. Mulroney was the subject of an inquiry by Canadian Privy Council because of his part in a scandal involving the purchase of Airbus by Air Canada, and also his relationship to German arms' dealer Karl-heinz Schrieber.^[8]

The group's relationship with a variety of entertainment and public relationships firms via Clear Channel Independent has also been seen as problematic.

See also[link]

	Ireland portal
	Companies portal
	Journalism portal

• List of Irish companies

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official site
• Independent Online South Africa

v t e ISEQ 20 companies of Ireland Aer Lingus Group Aryzta Bank of Ireland CRH C&C Group DCC Dragon Oil Élan Corporation Glanbia Grafton Group Greencore Independent News & Media Irish Continental Group Kenmare Resources Kerry Group Kingspan Group Paddy Power Ryanair Smurfit Kappa United Drug

Electronic News Gathering trucks and photojournalists gathered outside the Prudential Financial headquarters in Newark, United States in August 2004 following the announcement of evidence of a terrorist threat to it and to buildings in New York City.

The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public. These include print media (newspapers, newsmagazines), broadcast news (radio and television), and more recently the Internet (online newspapers, news blogs, etc.).

Etymology[link]

A medium (plural media) is a carrier of something. Common things carried by media include information, art, or physical objects. A medium may provide transmission or storage of information or both. The industries which produce news and entertainment content for the mass media are often called "the media" (in much the same way the newspaper industry is called "the press"). In the late 20th century it became commonplace for this usage to be construed as singular ("The media is...") rather than as the traditional plural.

Broadcasting[link]

Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video signals (programs) to a number of recipients ("listeners" or "viewers") that belong to a large group. This group may be the public in general, or a relatively large audience within the public. Thus, an Internet channel may distribute text or music worldwide, while a public address system in (for example) a workplace may broadcast very limited ad hoc soundbites to a small population within its range.

The sequencing of content in a broadcast is called a schedule.

Television and radio programs are distributed through radio broadcasting or cable, often both simultaneously. By coding signals and having decoding equipment in homes, the latter also enables subscription-based channels and pay-per-view services.

A broadcasting organization may broadcast several programs at the same time, through several channels (frequencies), for example BBC One and Two. On the other hand, two or more organizations may share a channel and each use it during a fixed part of the day. Digital radio and digital television may also transmit multiplexed programming, with several channels compressed into one ensemble.

When broadcasting is done via the Internet the term webcasting is often used.

Broadcasting forms a very large segment of the mass media.

Broadcasting to a very narrow range of audience is called narrowcasting.

Television[link]

In a broadcast system (television), journalists or reporters are also involved with editing the video material that has been shot alongside their research, and in working on the visual narrative of the story. Broadcast journalists often make an appearance in the news story at the beginning or end of the video clip.

In television or broadcast journalism, news analysts (also called news-casters or news anchors) examine, interpret, and broadcast news received from various sources of information. Anchors present this as news, either videotaped or live, through transmissions from on-the-scene reporters (news correspondents).

News films ("clips") can vary in length; there are some which may be as long as ten minutes, others that need to fit in all the relevant information and material in two or three minutes. News channels these days have also begun to host special documentary films that stretch for much longer durations and are able to explore a news subject or issue in greater detail.

The desk persons categorise news stories with various formats according to the merit of the story. Such formats include AVO, AVO Byte, Pkg, VO SOT, VOX POP, and Ancho Visual.

• The AVO, or Anchor Voice Over, is the short form of news. The story is written in a gist. According to the script visual is edited. The anchor reads the news while the visual is broadcast simultaneously. Generally, the duration of an AVO is 30 to 40 seconds. The script is three to four lines. At first the anchor starts to read the news, and, after reading one or one-and-a-half lines, the visual is aired, overlapping the face of anchor.

• The AVO Byte has two parts: An AVO, and one or more bytes. This is the same as an AVO, except that as soon as the AVO ends, the Byte is aired.

• The Pkg has three parts: Anchor, Voice Over, and Sign Off. At first a Script is written. A voice over anchor reads the anchor or anchor intro part.

Newscasters[link]

Newscasters

Newsmagazines[link]

Cover of 2512, a monthly newsmagazine published in Réunion.

A newsmagazine, sometimes called news magazine, is a usually weekly magazine featuring articles on current events. News magazines generally go a little more in-depth into stories than newspapers, trying to give the reader an understanding of the context surrounding important events, rather than just the facts.

Newspapers[link]

A newspaper is a lightweight and disposable publication (more specifically, a periodical), usually printed on low-cost paper called newsprint. It may be general or special interest, and may be published daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly, bimonthly, or quarterly.

General-interest newspapers are usually journals of current news on a variety of topics. Those can include political events, crime, business, sports, and opinions (either editorials, columns, or political cartoons). Many also include weather news and forecasts. Newspapers increasingly use photographs to illustrate stories; they also often include comic strips and other entertainment, such as crosswords.

Reporting[link]

Print journalism[link]

Journalists at work in Montreal in the 1940s

A story is a single article, news item or feature, usually concerning a single event, issue, theme, or profile of a person. Correspondents report news occurring in the main, locally, from their own country, or from foreign cities where they are stationed.

Most reporters file information or write their stories electronically from remote locations. In many cases, breaking stories are written by staff members, through information collected and submitted by other reporters who are out on the field gathering information for an event that has just occurred and needs to be broadcast instantly. Radio and television reporters often compose stories and report "live" from the scene. Some journalists also interpret the news or offer opinions and analysis to readers, viewers, or listeners. In this role, they are called commentators or columnists.

Reporters take notes and also take photographs or shoot videos, either on their own, or through a photographer or camera person. In the second phase, they organize the material, determine the focus or emphasis (identify the peg), and finally write their stories. The story is then edited by news or copy-editors (US style) or sub-editors in Europe, who function from the news desk. The headline of the story is decided by the news desk, and practically never by the reporter or the writer of the piece. Often, the news desk also heavily re-writes or changes the style and tone of the first draft prepared by the reporter / writer originally. Finally, a collection of stories that have been picked for the newspaper or magazine edition, are laid out on dummy (trial) pages, and after the chief editor has approved the content, style and language in the material, it is sent for publishing. The writer is given a byline for the piece that is published; his or her name appears alongside the article. This process takes place according to the frequency of the publication. News can be published in a variety of formats (broadsheet, tabloid, magazine and periodical publications) as well as periods (daily, weekly, semi-weekly, fortnightly or monthly).

Newsreels[link]

A newsreel was a documentary film common in the first half of the 20th century, that regularly released in a public presentation place containing filmed news stories.

Created by Pathé Frères of France in 1908, this form of film was a staple of the typical North American, British, and Commonwealth countries (especially Canada, Australia and New Zealand), and throughout European cinema programming schedule from the silent era until the 1960s when television news broadcasting completely supplanted its role.

Pathé would eventually merge with RKO...

An example of a newsreel story is in the film Citizen Kane (which was prepared by RKO's actual newsreel staff), which includes a fictional newsreel that summarizes the life of the title character.

Online journalism[link]

Online journalism is reporting and other journalism produced or distributed via the Internet.

An early leader was The News & Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.

Many news organizations based in other media also distribute news online. How much they take advantage of the medium varies. Some news organizations, such as the Gongwer News Service, use the Web only or primarily.

The Internet challenges traditional news organizations in several ways. They may be losing classified ads to Web sites, which are often targeted by interest instead of geography. The advertising on news Web sites is sometimes insufficient to support the investment.

Even before the Internet, technology and perhaps other factors were dividing people's attention, leading to more but narrower media outlets.

Online journalism also leads to the spread of independent online media such as openDemocracy and the UK, Wikinews as well as allowing smaller news organizations to publish to a broad audience, such as mediastrike.

News coverage and new media[link]

By covering news, politics, weather, sports, entertainment, and vital events, the daily media shape the dominant cultural, social and political picture of society. Beyond the media networks, independent news sources have evolved to report on events which escape attention or underlie the major stories. In recent years, the blogosphere has taken reporting a step further, mining down to the experiences and perceptions of individual citizens.

An exponentially growing phenomenon, the blogosphere can be abuzz with news that is overlooked by the press and TV networks. Apropos of this was Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s 11,000-word Rolling Stone article apropos of the 2004 United States presidential election, published June 1, 2006. By June 8, there had been no mainstream coverage of the documented allegations by President John F. Kennedy's nephew. On June 9, this sub-story was covered by a Seattle Post-Intelligencer article. ^[1]

Media coverage during the 2008 Mumbai attacks highlighted the use of new media and Internet social networking tools, including Twitter and Flickr, in spreading information about the attacks, observing that Internet coverage was often ahead of more traditional media sources. In response, traditional media outlets included such coverage in their reports.^[2] However, several outlets were criticised as they did not check for the reliability and verifiability of the information.^[3]

Other journalism[link]

Internet[link]

Newspaper "gone to the Web" in California

The Internet has allowed the formal and informal publication of news stories through mainstream media outlets as well as blogs and other self-published news stories. Journalists working on the Internet have been referred to as J-Bloggers, a term coined by Australian Media Academic Dr Nicola Goc to describe journalists who [blog] and [blog]gers who produce journalism. "J-Bloggers: Internet bloggers acting in the role of journalists disseminating newsworthy information, who subscribe to the journalistic ideals of an obligation to the truth and the public's right to know" (Media and Journalism: Theory to Practice (2008) Melbourne: OUP, p45) . The World Wide Web has also seen the development of Online Newspapers and Online magazine. E-zines is a result of the new magazine templates used by literature Broadcasting a .com Media, is one example incorporated within its Internet eZine "The Reviewer" not found on magazine racks to keep up with the economy and stay solvent in 2009 say Journalist Perry Campanella editor for Literature Broadcasting with Video Book Presentations Filmography, produced by Richard Levine a Worldwide Publishing Corporation incorporating multilinguale features not found on magazine rack placements, at the touch of a button in the 21 Century a News Wire headline.

Newscasters[link]

Newscasters

See also[link]

• Court of public opinion
• News Media in the United States
• Journalism

References[link]