According to reporter Patrick Gallagher, the Irish read more newspapers per capita than almost any other society in the world. While this makes for a well-informed society, it also means that newspapers are in competition with each other for survival.

Three Dublin-based news groups provide the Republic of Ireland with five daily newspapers, while Cork also has its own. The Irish Independent is the wealthiest group.

'The Irish Press' was set up by Éamon de Valera and was largely funded by Fianna Fáil supporters. His son Vivion de Valera, who is Controlling Director and Editor-in-Chief, talks about the newspaper's background and development. He argues that 'The Irish Press' offers a different voice as opposed to solely representing the views of Fianna Fáil.

'Irish Times' editor Douglas Gageby talks about the political agenda of newspapers and how the government has attempted to influence the editorial policy of both print and television media. He argues that the journalist's role is to report the news and not to make it up. He is in favour of offering minorities a voice in the world of print media.

This episode of 'Report' looks at the newspaper industry and finds that while newspapers provide an accurate mirror-image of the community editorially, some of them do face a financial crisis which may result in big changes within news media organisations. It was produced and directed by John Williams.

'Report' was a series of filmed reports about aspects of contemporary Ireland, presented by Patrick Gallager. It was first broadcast on 15 October 1970.

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