Provo Pravda on the skids?

Given that Irish language newspaper Lá Nua is owned by Belfast Media and its MD is Mairtin O Muilleoir, it is difficult to muster any real sympathy for its predicament as the last issue was printed this week. Muilleoir is a veteran provo supporter and frequently the newspapers which his group produce are little more than sectarian hate sheets, brimming with Sinn Féin propaganda. Perhaps Lá Nua was an exception (self-evidently I have never read it), but given its provenance I doubt it did much to increase the cross community appeal of the Irish language. Perhaps another publisher can provide Irish speakers with an alternative weekly paper, I hope so, but I have no hesitation in wishing any venture Muilleoir and his group touches a swift demise.

Speaking of odious republican hate rags, a piece on Slugger suggests that An Phoblacht, the provo newspaper which once lauded terrorist murders in its ‘war news’ section, is seeking donations after it survived an Ard Fheis motion to close it for lack of interest. Let’s hope that it goes down the toilet as quickly as possible.

Comments

Unknown said…
An Phoblacht .... down the toilet, I'll second that.
19 December 2008 at 17:54
Owen Polley said…
Stonemason. I don't know if it can be ascribed to the credit crunch, but if so, every cloud and all that!
20 December 2008 at 09:59
Anonymous said…
I trust that the unionists who wrote in La Nua would disagree with the view that La did did promote Irish to as wide an audience as possible.
20 December 2008 at 14:12
Darren J. said…
I am absolutely DELIGHTED that the SF rag may go under. I'm very surprised though.

I have also no sympathy for Lá Nua. The last poster should be aware that (I believe) only one Unionist wrote for the paper, Ian Malcolm. Which is good- having even one is very positive.
20 December 2008 at 14:32
Aidan said…
"self-evidently I have never read it"
Why would it be self-evident? It's not unthinkable that an Irish person could read a paper in Irish. Also you are making assumptions about the paper's ideology without having read it, I find that a bit strange.
20 December 2008 at 18:30
Owen Polley said…
I'm making assumptions based on its ownership and on the other titles in its stable. I've read the Daily Ireland and the Andersonstown News.
21 December 2008 at 13:10
Johnny Guitar said…
I cannot say I am all that surprised by this news. Revolutionary newspapers are for revolutionary movements and I doubt anyone claiming that modern day Sinn Fein is a revolutionary party could maintain a straight face for very long.

An Phoblacht is interesting to take a peak at now and again to see just how poor Sinn Fein politics currently is. Apart from the some obvious stuff about Irish unity, the odd rant against the EU and criticisms of the Dublin government, the Brits and the unionists, you would be hard pressed to identify anything that Sinn Fein actually stands for at the moment. The quality of the letters in the letters pages are also fairly dire. In fact much of AP/RN these days involves looking back at The Troubles, dead volunteers, various commemorations and articles about other events from Irish history prior to 1969.

If I was a Shinner I would be pushing to knock the thing on the head.
22 December 2008 at 10:34
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