A most diabolical deed' by Elaine Farrell

Author:Elaine Farrell [Farrell, Elaine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Children's Studies, History, Europe, Ireland, Great Britain, General, Political Science, Public Policy, Social Services & Welfare
ISBN: 9781526102249
Google: h225DwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Published: 2015-11-01T00:37:31+00:00

5

‘News of the ghastly spectacle’:1 the press

Nineteenth-century Irish newspapers comprised articles about wars and politics, summaries of parliamentary proceedings and official publications, tales of local, national and international happenings, and regular columns focused on sport, business, markets, the arts, fashion and high society. Advertisements regularly occupied an entire page of Irish newspapers, sometimes spilling on to a second page, where notes from the editor, summarising events reported in the edition, were also generally positioned. In his study of late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century London newspapers, Peter King adduced that ‘law and order news was part of the staple diet of the average newspaper reader in this period’.2 Irish newspapers in the latter half of the nineteenth century also regularly informed readers when crimes were discovered, suspects were arrested and cases were heard in court. Although, as Heather Shore stressed, ‘newspapers were more concerned with reporting series of events rather than conveying any sort of moral message or simply sensational reporting’, the type of crimes reported and style of reporting can reveal much about press attitudes during this period.3

Crime reporting was influenced by contemporary opinions about newsworthy topics. Stuart Hall et al. concluded that the:

media do not simply and transparently report events which are ‘naturally’ newsworthy in themselves. ‘News’ is the end product of a complex process which begins with a systematic sorting and selecting of events and topics according to a socially constructed set of categories.4

The location of the crime and circulation base of the newspaper was a major factor that dictated coverage. As Ryan notes, local newspapers ‘have a long tradition of reporting human interest stories, murder trials and criminal investigations, especially those of local interest’.5 The length of crime reports in Irish newspapers was also affected by the newspaper column inches available and the information known at the time of print. Technological advancements and the growth and development of the railway line in the 1840s and 1850s facilitated the expansion of the newspaper industry in Ireland.6 The abolition of stamp tax in 1855 and paper tax in 1861 also led to an increase in the number of newspapers and the frequency with which editions were published.7 In consequence of the removal of the stamp tax, for example, the thrice-weekly Belfast News-Letter became a daily publication in 1855.8 By 1875, eighteen Irish newspapers were published on a daily basis.9 Communication developments also aided newspaper editors in their pursuit of up-to-date information. The Magnetic Telegraph Company, established in 1851, gathered international and London news, and communicated this to newspapers in Ireland.10 In 1868, the Press Association was founded in London to collect news items from various correspondents around Britain and Ireland for distribution to a number of newspapers.11 The Cork Examiner also telegraphed news copy to London, lifted from newspapers that had recently arrived on American ships to Cork harbour.12

Suspected infanticide cases appeared in the pages of the Irish press on a weekly basis.13 Perhaps surprisingly, reports describing the discovery of infant remains were often brief, inconspicuous and devoid of emotion or personal opinion.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.