By Sarah Lagan
The Irish Post has relaunched to reflect the Celtic Tiger economy
that has changed the face of Ireland and its community in Britain.
The paper is trying to target the second- generation Irish in the UK
and more affluent young Irish people who are coming to Britain to work
in business and the professions.
The Post was launched in 1970 by
journalist Brendan MacLua for the Irish community living in Britain. It
campaigned on behalf of the Birmingham Six and the Guildford Four at a
time when being Irish in a foreign country was not popular.
While
trying not to alienate traditional readers, the Post, which has
increased pagination by eight pages to 64, wants to attract more 24 to
44-yearolds by becoming more populist and focusing less on politics.
It
includes interviews with Jimmy Carr and Graham Norton and a feature on
journalist Fergal Keane’s battle with alcoholism, while the likes of
Frank Carson and the Dubliners are less prominent.
There is more focus on the business, property and jobs pages and the entertainments section has been extended.
Editor
Frank Murphy said: “The Irish are no longer coming over to dig the
roads. They’re affluent, high-powered professionals who are coming to
Britain for shorter periods of time.
“We want to attract younger
readers and are focusing on more human interest stories. We are still
nationalist, but not slavish to Sinn Fein. We’re a rounded family paper
with a positive outlook and want a united Ireland by peaceful means.”
The
paper’s redesign was led by Peter Sands of the Editorial Training
Centre under the guidance of research undertaken by Lansdowne Market
Research and the team at the Post. It includes the use of a sans serif
font, shorter lead stories for more news in briefs, a new masthead and
signposting.
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