View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Archive content
November 6, 2003updated 17 May 2007 11:30am

Irish News could lead comeback of in-house printing

By Press Gazette

The printing presses that were banished from the bowels of traditional newspaper buildings throughout the Nineties could be set to make a comeback after the example of the Irish News.

The Belfast-based daily claims that the economics of printing have swung the other way, so that it now makes more sense to produce the paper in-house rather than go to a contract printer.

Editor Noel Doran said: “The price of presses has dropped so it’s pretty competitive now – at the end of the day it was the managing director’s call and he thought the best deal was to get a Man Roland printer in.

“It opens up a range of new options for us, such as bigger papers and much more use of colour. At the moment we do three editions, but we will be reviewing that because we will be able to.”

The £8m printing facility will be up and running from May 2005 at a purpose-built print hall less than a mile away from the Irish News offices.

Up until 2000, the 112-year-old paper had been printed on-site. The decision was made to change to contract printing that year when the paper changed from broadsheet to a European-style tabloid Berliner format.

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

A spokesman for the Irish News, which is owned by the Fitzpatrick family, said: “It is highly unusual for a paper to return to in-house printing after switching to contract arrangements, but the Irish News has bucked many industry trends and Mr Fitzpatrick insists that the future demands of the paper can only be met in this way.”

By Dominic Ponsford

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network