De Valera, Fianna Fail and the Irish Press: The Truth in the News by Mark O'brien

From the Publisher

"The relationship between the Fianna Fail party and the Irish Press, both founded by Eamon de Valera in an era of political revolution, has been much misunderstood. Blamed for causing the bitter civil war and isolated in its aftermath by the political establishment, de Valera took what seemed the only course of action and founded his own political party and newspaper." "In the aftermath of independence, the process of nation building began with both Fianna Fail and Cumann na nGaedheal (later Fine Gael) competing to influence the process as much as possible. The Irish Press gave voice to de Valera's vision of Ireland and Irishness and passionately defended it from its detractors. It also provided him with a means to counter hostility in the media, that hostility orchestrated primarily by the Irish Independent and the Irish Times." The author gives a survey of the war of words between the two parties and their media allies, and charts the role of the Irish Press in bringing Fianna Fail to power. He explores the possibility of the Irish Press being de Valera rather than party-dominated and analyses the steady disintegration of the relationship between the party and the paper as the company found itself gradually alienated from the paper's readers, a modernising Ireland and a changing Fianna Fail party.

Product Details

• Table of Contents

Table of Contents