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The Donegal News (also known as Derry People/Donegal News and formerly Derry People) is a twice-weekly local newspaper in the northwest of the island of Ireland, first published in 1902. Originally covering Derry, Northern Ireland, it moved across the border to Letterkenny, County Donegal at the beginning of World War Two and took on more of a Donegal focus. It is owned by the North West of Ireland Printing and Publishing Company, who also own several other papers in the region including the Ulster Herald and Fermanagh Herald. Its two editions had a circulation of 15,986 for the first half of 2007, with the Friday edition accounting for most of the figure. Its main competitors are the Donegal Democrat and Derry Journal.
[edit] History
The paper was first published in Derry in 1902, but at the start of the second world war, the paper’s owners decided to move production across the border to Letterkenny, County Donegal in an aim to avoid possible harsh censorship laws, which saw the paper’s rival, the Derry Journal, being banned for a short time on both sides of the border.[3] The paper has always had a nationalist editorial policy and so was able to attract readers from both County Donegal and the mostly nationalist city of Derry. The paper became the first to be based in Letterkenny and after the war had ended, it decided to keep production in the Republic and gradually began to focus more on northern Donegal rather than its original Derry base. Derry has always been an important centre of employment for the north of Donegal with many Donegal families also moving across the border, which led to papers such as the Derry Journal and the Derry People, building up a loyal readership in both jurisdictions. Throughout its history, the paper has remained under the control of the Lynch family, who’s North West of Ireland Printing and Publishing Company is the largest newspaper group in Ireland still family controlled.
In 2002 the paper was renamed as the Donegal News, with the Derry People title kept in the masthead, and was part of a wider re-launch of the paper that saw an overhaul of its layout. The Monday edition was launched in 2006, in the wake of an unprecedented growth in the sector in the county, which saw rivals such as Donegal Democrat launch two extra editions, and the emergence of the River Media group, who now have four newspapers in the county.
[edit] Content
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Monday (Tabloid) edition of the
Derry People/Donegal News
The Monday edition uses a tabloid format, while the more popular Friday edition is a broadsheet. The current editor is Columba Gill, with Deputy Editor, C.J. McGinley. Reporters include Harry Walsh, Colm P. Feeny, Kate Heaney among others. As part of the paper's re-launch in 2002, a new layout was introduced which increased the number of pages of the publication, as well as the number of these in colour. The Donegal News mainly reports on local events and local sport, as well as devoting space to "local notes", where unpaid correspondents submit reports on births, deaths and marriages in their particular town.
A number of regular features are also carried, such as 'Friday Talk' and 'The Last Corncrake', as well as a column in the Irish language, 'Scéal Eile'. The Friday edition also carries a weely lifestyle supplement called 'DN', with regular columns relating to television, cinema, travel, health and local entertainment.
Both editions of the paper are made available on-line as paid-for 'e-books', while the 'DN' supplement is made available free of charge.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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