Irish Examiner

flo8s967qjh0nd

I have it on good authority that the Irish Examiner is about to raise its price again (presumably to €1.80, in line with the Irish Times). It begs the question, is it still worth it?
I'm a long time reader, but I have to say, we seem to be getting less and less for our hard earned cash:

The Arena was disposed of in favour of Champions. This is fine if you're a soccer fan, but it doesn't really leave much space for fans of other sports. The Arena used to have some very decent articles on the wider world of sports (often bizarre, minority sports). Now we're left with soccer, soccer and more soccer....and Champions seems to be in the Examiner every day of the bloody week.

The County seems to get smaller and smaller every week. Mostly now to do with sports.

The Farming Examiner is a credit to them in fairness, the best of all the national papers.

The Money and Jobs is terrible. As a business news supplement it is shockingly bad. Seems to be filled with random articles which don't fit in any other section of the examiner during the week.

The main paper, along with the Weekend section could badly do with a shake up and redesign. Its remained stagnant for far too long.

In case you think I'm being all negative, the Irish Examiner does do some very good things, e.g. The Outdoors page on Monday; photography is usually excellent and design is of a high quality; Feelgood, Residential and Commercial property all do their job very well; the Arts page is excellent; generally, sports coverage is of a very high standard; the back page is a very clever idea.

So, come on Irish Examiner, don't make me go and buy the Irish Independent (shudder!!!).

hunnymonster

I broadly agree with your analysis although I've not been in Ireland long enough to comment on changes

I'm job and house hunting in Cork at the moment so it is still the best option for me on a Friday and Saturday. I do buy it in the Mardyke arena where it is only 80c though

Padraig Mor

D'Examiner is going to pot alright. Although it's got a long way to go before it plumbs the depths of the Echo!

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

deRanged

As long as it has "the deaths" though, it'll do fine.

flo8s967qjh0nd

It's still the daily paper I feel most comfortable reading and has many good points, but I don't know am I just getting it now out of a misplaced sense of loyalty, dating back to the days of the Cork Examiner or whether its any good!
Also, it is the only daily paper which covers the 'rest' of the country in any fashion....the rest all being solely concerned with Dublin and National issues. Its interesting to note that a lot of the local news items do not appear in the version of the paper sent 'up the country'.

I think I'd be happy if I saw them making an effort, but I can't see it.
And if I see one more 'Two/three day special report' on Abortion/Drugs/Immigration I'll loose the plot.

The Scientist wrote: »

Good post though OP, maybe a letter to the Editor or Mr. Crosbie himself to echo your concerns...

Surely a terrible (and therefore excellent) pun??

run_Forrest_run

the jobs supplement is tiny alright but have you stopped to wonder why? Maybe it is because there aren't as many jobs out there as there used to be and/or companies are finding cheaper ways to advertise their job vacancies.

flo8s967qjh0nd

run_Forrest_run wrote: »

the jobs supplement is tiny alright but have you stopped to wonder why? Maybe it is because there aren't as many jobs out there as there used to be and/or companies are finding cheaper ways to advertise their job vacancies.

Of course I understand that they have no control over the amount of advertising in the supplement, but its the quality of the rest of the supplement (i.e. the 'money' part) which is most terrible.

bill_ashmount

deRanged wrote: »

As long as it has "the deaths" though, it'll do fine.

lol

You know you are getting old if that's the first page you check.

Fast_Mover

deRanged wrote:

As long as it has "the deaths" though, it'll do fine.

bill_ashmount wrote: »

You know you are getting old if that's the first page you check.

It's the first thing my mother checks!:D

Cool_CM

They should also remove that last word bit on the back page and replace it with more funny world stories.

dulpit

Wish they came out with a tabloid version like the independent... It's too big! TBH if i was to buy a paper in the morning, it would be the independent, purely due to the size..

run_Forrest_run

Christian Most Graphic wrote: »

Of course I understand that they have no control over the amount of advertising in the supplement, but its the quality of the rest of the supplement (i.e. the 'money' part) which is most terrible.

I agree alright, the Money section seems to be just stories of some little up-start bragging about their schooling and how great they are at their job and how much money they earn! <I'm not jealous:rolleyes:>

deRanged

dulpit wrote: »

Wish they came out with a tabloid version like the independent

absolutely. way handier than the broadsheet.

flo8s967qjh0nd

Since the Irish Independent went tabloid, the quality seems to have dropped through the floor. I wouldn't like to see the Examiner go tabloid tbh. I don't see how it would be way handier, it is a great life skill to be able to read a broadsheet on a train without waking up the person beside you
I do like The Guardian's Berliner size and format, although it helps that the Guardian is an excellent newspaper. No amount of fiddling around with the format with save a newspaper if the content isn't up to scratch.

Froot

Christian Most Graphic wrote: »

The Money and Jobs is terrible. As a business news supplement it is shockingly bad. Seems to be filled with random articles which don't fit in any other section of the examiner during the week.

+1, it is ****e alright.


:pac:

ShellBell1

I don't know why The Irish Examiner is going up in price - especially when you look at the amount of advertising they have in their supplements. Wouldn't that cover their production costs?

Yeah, I have to agree that I'm sick of all these 2/3 day special investigations into drugs, violence, parenting, sex trafficking, binge drinking, etc. There's no need for it. There are so many news outlets at our fingertips now, we generally have some accurate idea of how serious an issue is.

God, that 'Last Word' piece on the back page is ridiculous. Apart from Suzanne Harrington (who I judge to be an engaging writer), the others' ramblings are just sh*te. I especially hate the one by that American guy called Tom something-or-other - there's a picture of him beside it with him half laughing as though he just popped his head out of a window in some musical. All he ever babbles about is parenthood, being married, and his keep-fit attempts. Yawn.

Do you know that The Irish Examiner actually take their paper to unbiased individuals of a third level education standard to gauge feedback on its quality?

I think their reporting of international news is good. Their features page in the main paper has sort of gone to sh*t over the last 2 or 3 years. There was one recently all about a bloody professional 'nose's' views on celebrity perfumes! Like I care.. The same view goes for The Weekend supplement. I think food, drink, and books get too much scope near the back. I don't know why they have all these different chefs (Darina Allen, Regina Sexton, Clodagh Kenny, Mercy Fenton..), talking about recipes each week. Isn't one enough? Their fashion/beauty pages are dull and uninspired.

Ed Power, who writes the music article on the 2nd and 3rd pages of the Weekend, is good. I nearly always enjoy his articles on bands/singers. Paul Byrne is great at the film reviews - enjoy reading his words too. Dan Buckley on page 4 is an eejit. He's always repeating sh*te he said before. That little column ('reel blunders', trivia, etc), beside his 'treasure trove' of sh*te should be done away with.

Their Feelgood supplement is, for the most part, very good. I get bored when they keep featuring stories about Breast Cancer survivors, The Menopause, and depression, though. Things like that, if you know what I mean..

Jesus, don't get me started on The Evening Echo! It's like 'news for dummies'. That John Dolan on page 8 is a smug bastard, and they have too much coverage of mediocre local social events with a myriad of photos included. Unbelievably, they had a little feature in it recently telling us things like: "You should aim to drink 8 glasses of water per day", "Hunger may indeed be thirst", and "Try to eat breakfast each morning to prevent mid-morning snack attacks later"!! Christ, that was hardly telling people something they didn't know already. I thought that was established common knowledge.

Anyway, The Irish Examiner definitely has the potential to improve if it shuffles some things around. It's a very accessible broadsheet with nods to several different subject matter.

The Evening Echo is a dead weight, in my opinion. It's only fit for lining the bottom of a bird's cage.

deRanged

ShellBell1 wrote: »

The Evening Echo is a dead weight, in my opinion. It's only fit for lining the bottom of a bird's cage.

good crossword though.

invincibleirish

Why are ye bitching? newspapers always go up in price, its not a new thing, if you are really stingy buy it on a college campus. You can argue about its content and worth but newspapers are run along the same profit/loss lines as any other organisation.

Exhibit A, the Guardian was 80c, then went to 90c, and now is 1 Euro, no doubt in the next yeat it will be one 1.10 and the Irish Broadsheets will break the 2 Euro barrier.

ShellBell1

TBH, I don't really have an issue with its price - I'm more of an auld whinger when it comes 2 content.. But, hey, that was my personal opinion. Don't expect others 2 agree or anything. Just saying wot I think.

I realise we could do worse broadsheet-wise, but I also think we have great potential 2 do better. A small kick up the arse wud work wonders n d long term!

flo8s967qjh0nd

I'm not hugely bothered about price either....
and, for the record, it did go up in price yesterday, to €1.80.

I have to wonder about the way they did it though. Irish Times went up by 10 cent (and more on saturday) but announced it well in advance and packaged with a whole raft of improvements to the paper.
Irish Examiner on the other hand, made the price increase on a bank holiday, with no prior warning (save the rumour that I heard), no mention of it on the day the price went up, and no subsequent mention of the price rise. Also it lacked any of the type of improvements made by the Times.

Do the powers that be at the Irish Examiner think that little of their customers that they decided not even to mention the price rise? This is something that the Examiner themselves would base a 2 page special on if it happened in any other field.