Tuam Hearald sold

facetheball

Heard in Dunmore last night that the Tuam Hearald is sold to the Connaught Tribune for 6 million. Wonder will the print works be shut down then as the Tribune shut down theres a few weeks back.

ErnieBert

facetheball wrote: »

Heard in Dunmore last night that the Tuam Hearald is sold to the Connaught Tribune for 6 million. Wonder will the print works be shut down then as the Tribune shut down theres a few weeks back.

Thr Tribune is a sinking ship. They let go around 20 staff last month. Their papers are dated and dull (with the possible excetion of the Sentinel).

The Tuam Herald should take the money and run.

manonthestreet

True for ya Bert, but they've a load of old money. The Sentinel isn't bad but the latest ABC figures show that it fell another 14 per cent in circulation over the past year and it fell 14 last year as well. The circulation of that is just around the 4,000 mark. Why they bother with it, I don't know. Yes, they let printers go and the printers were very pissed off at the way their last day unfolded. No goodbye drink, just an envelope and a cursory handshake. Don't know how the Competition Authority will view a company owning FOUR newspapers and the biggest radio station in the county. Paper is full of tired journos just waiting for the pension, two decades away.

smackbunnybaby

manonthestreet - you always seem to have the inside word on the media, almost too inside.

Mars Bar

I'd be surprised if Mr. Burke from Tuam Herald sold it off, it's been a family business for generations.

serfboard

Will it is up for sale alright, but I've seen no announcement yet that it has been sold.

SimpleSam06

manonthestreet wrote: »

Don't know how the Competition Authority will view a company owning FOUR newspapers and the biggest radio station in the county.

Are you trying to say there is no competition in the newspaper arena, when I have four of the things dropping through my letterbox every week, and radio where you can sample new stations with the twiddle of a knob?

manonthestreet

Yes sam, but the tribune had to get competion authority approval when they bought Radio West. They'll get it no bother as the other papers will be only too glad to see the trib spend six or seven mill of Opus dei... sorry, their hard earned old money on a paper that won't give them much more influence, ads or revenue but will in the same time keep out the predatory Irish Independent group, the Examiner group or the John Taylor Alpha Group. Imagine Galway is the only county without any of its media owned externally (apart from Galway Voice but that doesn't count as it won't see Christmas and is being seriously sugar-daddied). Word is that one of the trib journalists is being lined up to edit the tuam herald as the editor is the owner Jarlath Burke.

Mars Bar

Isn't it David Burke that's the editor and owner...
He is kinda on the lazy side. The Tribune did more about our Arts Festival(Tuam) than the Herald did. Somebody asked him why they didn't do more about it and his reply was "if you write the reports, we'll print them." They are the frickin' journalists like!

facetheball

Rot has set in there for a while allright. used to be good. The connaught are stalling on the deal now i think, wondering if they want the hastle of seperating the wheat from the chaff. David Bourke is the editor not jarleth. Jarleth died a few years ago.

mrsdewinter

So what's the story? Is it being sold or not? I think it's a fine paper. Under immense pressure from volume of papers published - and shoved through people's doors - locally. It'd be great pity to see it change hands. One of the last independently owned publications out there. Not many like it.

manonthestreet

It is a fine paper, but he shouldn't be selling it now. If he waited a few years, hire someone good to run it, pay them accordingly, make the profit it's making now and then sell it in a decade when times are good. 5 million or even six million is damn all return for 180 years of graft. There are two owners so thats about two mill each after tax. any knacker with a few houses can make that much now. That'd be my advcie. Not a time now for buyn or selln.:eek:

mrsdewinter

manonthestreet wrote: »

5 million or even six million is damn all return for 180 years of graft... Not a time now for buyn or selln.:eek:

Yeah, good points...

JamesStephens

I think it is sold. There was a meeting of potential buyers in the Claython Hotel last week. Word is that the Irish Independent Group are offering the most but that the seller prefers the connacht tribune group. This way the seller can retain a share of the business. However manonthestreet is right, it is a bad time to sell, you would not sell your car in this climate, never mind your family business for what is after all a pittance. The days of newspapers going for big sums have passed I think. What the herald needs is a kick in the arse, too many passengers. It could be much better. No need for massive photos three feet long to go with short articles. sport is a real sit on the fence job. tony galvins opinions are like declan tierney's tv columns - in that we've heard them all before...and before that again.

mrsdewinter

JamesStephens wrote: »

What the herald needs is a kick in the arse, too many passengers. It could be much better. No need for massive photos three feet long to go with short articles. sport is a real sit on the fence job. tony galvins opinions are like declan tierney's tv columns - in that we've heard them all before...and before that again.

Too many passengers? How many people work there? It's not the Times we're talking about here. It's a weekly paper where the reporters have to drum up interesting reports in a small town. And the design of the paper has come on a lot. They take advantage of the fact that they're a broadsheet and can do a good picture justice. Sometimes a picture tells a thousand words. I like the way they resist the temptation of running a big picture - and then drumming up a thousand words alongside it to try to justify it. I really enjoy Tony Glavin's stuff, they're the kinda articles you can sink your teeth into.

facetheball

I think hes' right, mrs de w. It could be a lot better. It is so samey week after week. the same tired articles. granted the design of them gives the impression they are better than they really are. I used to like tony galvins stuff, but its bitter old stuff. i dont know how many work there, but id say it could be a lot better. Noel Carneys' sport is good and Jim Carneys' is good and the photographs are good, but the rest of it is very tired. The tv man is not tierney but howley from my home town. tierney is in the connaught. hearald used to be better craic too. Tom Gilmore used to have odd stories that were great. It does need an injection of energy.

MayoForSam

Yeah, the Herald needs a bit of a gee-up alright, the missus buys it without fail every week and I skim through it in about 5 minutes. The C&W music coverage is a tad behind the times .

Not sure if a change of ownership will bring about major changes in editorial content, we'll see. Can't be that easy drumming up exciting news every week in a relatively small west of Ireland town.