Magill
Encyclopedia
Magill was an Irish
politics
and current affairs magazine founded by Vincent Browne
and others in 1977. Magill was widely perceived as groundbreaking, specialising in in-depth investigative articles and colourful reportage by journalists such as Eamonn McCann
(who wrote its anonymous Wigmore column) and Gene Kerrigan
. It was relaunched in 2004 after an earlier closure before closing again in 2009.
Jack Lynch
had been less than forthright publicly about the truth surrounding the 1970 Arms Crisis
which brought down two ministers, including Charles Haughey
.(See link below)
In the 1980s as Ireland underwent rapid political change it became the major Irish magazine covering politics.
, John Waters
and Colm Tóibín
. (Tóibín went on to achieve renown as a novelist.) However clashes of personalities with Browne led each editor in turn to quit the post as did one of its major writers Gene Kerrigan.
, publisher of VIP Magazine
. Its editors in its second incarnation included John Ryan
, Emily O'Reilly
, Kevin Rafter
and Niall Stanage
.
.http://www.businessandfinance.ie/aboutus
The title was re-opened under a new editor (author and former diplomat
) Eamon Delaney
and deputy editor Andrew Lynch in November 2004. Whereas the earlier Magill was famously populist and leaned to the left, often carrying photographs of politicians with accusatory banner headlines, the new Magill published reviews, commentaries, analysis, book reviews and business reports as well as a broader range of articles than were found in Browne's fortnightly version. The new magazine was more right-of-centre than earlier versions.
Having dropped to an officially bi-monthly (and increasingly erratic) publication schedule in 2008, the magazine once again ceased publication in mid-2009 due to a lack of advertising as a result of the recession. It now seems unlikely that Magill will reappear.
s political commentator John Drennan, The Irish Times
contributor Jim Duffy
(who ceased his column when he became an advisor to the Leader of the Opposition in 2007) and an Irish government special adviser writing under the pseudonym Sean Sexton. Other people who have contributed to the new Magill include Fine Gael
deputy leader Richard Bruton
, former Labour deputy leader Liz McManus
, former British Conservative Party
minister Jonathan Aitken
, right wing retired United States
diplomat George Dempsey and BBC
Foreign Affairs Editor John Simpson. The legendary Wigmore column from the magazine's past incarnations also features.
The last incarnation of Magill was designed by Cobalt Design to make use of commissioned artwork as an important tool of communication. Issues feature several of Ireland's most established editorial illustrators, with work by Jon Berkeley
; David Rooney; Kevin McSherry; Fintan Taite and Joven Kerekes.
Its December 2005 edition carried an exclusive interview with Taoiseach
Bertie Ahern
.
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
and current affairs magazine founded by Vincent Browne
Vincent Browne
Vincent Browne is an Irish print and broadcast journalist. He is a columnist with The Irish Times and The Sunday Business Post and a part time barrister....
and others in 1977. Magill was widely perceived as groundbreaking, specialising in in-depth investigative articles and colourful reportage by journalists such as Eamonn McCann
Eamonn McCann
Eamonn McCann is an Irish journalist, author and political activist.-Life:McCann was born and has lived most of his life in Derry. He was educated at St. Columb's College in the city. He is prominently featured in the documentary film The Boys of St...
(who wrote its anonymous Wigmore column) and Gene Kerrigan
Gene Kerrigan
Gene Kerrigan is an Irish journalist and novelist who grew up in Cabra in Dublin. His works include political commentary on Ireland since the 1970s in such publications as Magill magazine and the Sunday Independent newspaper. He has also written about Ireland for International Socialism magazine...
. It was relaunched in 2004 after an earlier closure before closing again in 2009.
The Berry diaries
It first achieved a nationwide profile when it published the diaries of Peter Berry, the former Secretary (administrative head) to the Department of Justice in which he alleged that former taoiseachTaoiseach
The Taoiseach is the head of government or prime minister of Ireland. The Taoiseach is appointed by the President upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas , and must, in order to remain in office, retain the support of a majority in the Dáil.The current Taoiseach is...
Jack Lynch
Jack Lynch
John Mary "Jack" Lynch was the Taoiseach of Ireland, serving two terms in office; from 1966 to 1973 and 1977 to 1979....
had been less than forthright publicly about the truth surrounding the 1970 Arms Crisis
Arms Crisis
The Arms Crisis or Arms Trial was a political scandal in the Republic of Ireland in 1970, when two cabinet ministers — Charles Haughey and Neil Blaney — were sacked for allegedly attempting to illegally import arms for the Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland.-Background:The...
which brought down two ministers, including Charles Haughey
Charles Haughey
Charles James "Charlie" Haughey was Taoiseach of Ireland, serving three terms in office . He was also the fourth leader of Fianna Fáil...
.(See link below)
In the 1980s as Ireland underwent rapid political change it became the major Irish magazine covering politics.
Regular changes in editor
Browne later appointed a series of editors with he becoming managing editor. Its early editors included Fintan O'TooleFintan O'Toole
Fintan O'Toole is a columnist, assistant editor and drama critic for The Irish Times. He has written for The Irish Times since 1988 and was drama critic for the New York Daily News from 1997 to 2001. He is a literary critic, historical writer and political commentator, with generally left-wing views...
, John Waters
John Waters (columnist)
John Waters is a columnist with The Irish Times and a former editor of Magill magazine. His career began in 1981 with the Irish political-music magazine Hot Press. He went on to write for the Sunday Tribune and later edited In Dublin magazine and Magill...
and Colm Tóibín
Colm Tóibín
Colm Tóibín is a multi-award-winning Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, journalist, critic, and, most recently, poet.Tóibín is Leonard Milberg Lecturer in Irish Letters at Princeton University in New Jersey and succeeded Martin Amis as professor of creative writing at the...
. (Tóibín went on to achieve renown as a novelist.) However clashes of personalities with Browne led each editor in turn to quit the post as did one of its major writers Gene Kerrigan.
Ceased publication, then re-opened
Magill ceased publication for a period in the 1990s before returning in 1997 as a joint effort between Browne and Michael O' DohertyMichael O'Doherty (publisher)
Michael O'Doherty is a television talent judge, newspaper writer and the publisher of the VIP magazine group in Ireland. He is originally from Killiney in County Dublin, and was educated at Sandford Park School in Dublin and studied English and French at Trinity College, Dublin to undergraduate...
, publisher of VIP Magazine
VIP (magazine)
VIP is both the title of a magazine and a publishing group owned by the Irish publisher Michael O'Doherty. It was launched in 1999, the second of O'Doherty's business ventures with his friend and business partner John Ryan, following Magill and before TV Now...
. Its editors in its second incarnation included John Ryan
John Ryan (publisher)
John Ryan is an Irish former publishing tycoon-turned comic actor/writer. He is best known for his publishing empire which included the magazine New York Dog and the website blogorrah.com, he did achieve success with magazines such as VIP with former business partner, Michael O'Doherty...
, Emily O'Reilly
Emily O'Reilly
Emily O'Reilly is an author and former journalist and broadcaster who became Ireland's first female Ombudsman in 2003, succeeding Kevin Murphy....
, Kevin Rafter
Kevin Rafter
Kevin Rafter is an Irish journalist and academic.He is an academic member of staff at the School of Communications, DCU, Glasnevin.He is former Political Editor and Assistant Editor of the Sunday Tribune newspaper in Dublin, political reporter with The Irish Times, political correspondent with the...
and Niall Stanage
Niall Stanage
Niall Stanage is a journalist from Belfast, Northern Ireland.Stanage was born in 1974[3] and attended Carryduff Primary School and Methodist College Belfast, in Northern Ireland. He went on to read English at St Edmund Hall, Oxford University...
.
Closures and relaunches in November 2004 and 2009
The magazine was sold by Browne in the early 2000s. It was acquired by Ian Hyland who had previously acquired Business & FinanceBusiness & Finance
Business & Finance is an Irish business magazine that was established by Hugh McLaughlin in September 1964.. It provides news, comment and analysis on Irish and international news stories...
.http://www.businessandfinance.ie/aboutus
The title was re-opened under a new editor (author and former diplomat
Diplomat
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
) Eamon Delaney
Eamon Delaney
Eamon Delaney is an Irish author, journalist and former diplomat.Delaney was a student in University College Dublin . He was Auditor of the Literary and Historical Society from 1985 to 1986. On leaving college he became an Irish diplomat. Having left the Irish diplomatic corp, he became a fulltime...
and deputy editor Andrew Lynch in November 2004. Whereas the earlier Magill was famously populist and leaned to the left, often carrying photographs of politicians with accusatory banner headlines, the new Magill published reviews, commentaries, analysis, book reviews and business reports as well as a broader range of articles than were found in Browne's fortnightly version. The new magazine was more right-of-centre than earlier versions.
Having dropped to an officially bi-monthly (and increasingly erratic) publication schedule in 2008, the magazine once again ceased publication in mid-2009 due to a lack of advertising as a result of the recession. It now seems unlikely that Magill will reappear.
Contributors
Many staff and freelance writers from newspapers contribute to the magazine including the Sunday IndependentSunday Independent
The Sunday Independent is a broadsheet Sunday newspaper published in Ireland by Independent News and Media plc. The newspaper is edited by Aengus Fanning, and is the biggest selling Irish Sunday newspaper by a large margin ; average circulation of 291,323 between June 2004 and January 2005,...
s political commentator John Drennan, The Irish Times
The Irish Times
The Irish Times is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Kevin O'Sullivan who succeeded Geraldine Kennedy in 2011; the deputy editor is Paul O'Neill. The Irish Times is considered to be Ireland's newspaper of record, and is published every day except Sundays...
contributor Jim Duffy
Jim Duffy (author)
Jim Duffy is an Irish historian, political commentator, and served as a policy advisor to then Irish leader of the Opposition, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny prior to the 2011 general election...
(who ceased his column when he became an advisor to the Leader of the Opposition in 2007) and an Irish government special adviser writing under the pseudonym Sean Sexton. Other people who have contributed to the new Magill include Fine Gael
Fine Gael
Fine Gael is a centre-right to centrist political party in the Republic of Ireland. It is the single largest party in Ireland in the Oireachtas, in local government, and in terms of Members of the European Parliament. The party has a membership of over 35,000...
deputy leader Richard Bruton
Richard Bruton
Richard Bruton is an Irish Fine Gael politician and has been a Teachta Dála for the Dublin North Central constituency since 1982. He was appointed as Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation on 9 March 2011...
, former Labour deputy leader Liz McManus
Liz McManus
Elizabeth "Liz" McManus is a former Irish politician. She served as a Teachta Dála for the Wicklow constituency from 1992 to 2011.-Personal life:...
, former British Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
minister Jonathan Aitken
Jonathan Aitken
Jonathan William Patrick Aitken is a former Conservative Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom, and British government minister. He was convicted of perjury in 1999 and received an 18-month prison sentence, of which he served seven months...
, right wing retired United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
diplomat George Dempsey and BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Foreign Affairs Editor John Simpson. The legendary Wigmore column from the magazine's past incarnations also features.
The last incarnation of Magill was designed by Cobalt Design to make use of commissioned artwork as an important tool of communication. Issues feature several of Ireland's most established editorial illustrators, with work by Jon Berkeley
Jon Berkeley
Jon Berkeley is a Dublin-born illustrator and children's author.- Background :He travelled widely in the 1980s, working freelance in London, Sydney and Hong Kong before returning to Dublin in 1992, where he formed a loose coalition known as Baggot Street Central with other leading Irish...
; David Rooney; Kevin McSherry; Fintan Taite and Joven Kerekes.
Its December 2005 edition carried an exclusive interview with Taoiseach
Taoiseach
The Taoiseach is the head of government or prime minister of Ireland. The Taoiseach is appointed by the President upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas , and must, in order to remain in office, retain the support of a majority in the Dáil.The current Taoiseach is...
Bertie Ahern
Bertie Ahern
Patrick Bartholomew "Bertie" Ahern is a former Irish politician who served as Taoiseach of Ireland from 26 June 1997 to 7 May 2008....
.