{"id":13722,"date":"2022-06-07T17:38:18","date_gmt":"2022-06-07T16:38:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/?p=13722"},"modified":"2022-06-07T17:38:18","modified_gmt":"2022-06-07T16:38:18","slug":"writing-against-the-grain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/2022\/06\/07\/writing-against-the-grain\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing Against the Grain"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the first of two articles occasioned by the recent publication of Periodicals and Journalism in Twentieth-Century Ireland 2: A Variety of Voices<\/strong><\/a><\/span>, edited by Mark O\u2019Brien & Felix M. Larkin and published by the Four Court Press in Dublin. Here, Frank Armstrong reviews the first instalment in this illuminating study, Periodicals and Journalism in Twentieth Century Ireland: Writing Against the Grain <\/strong><\/a><\/span>(2014) edited by the same authors.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

In their introduction to the first volume the editors stress the importance of what were often minority publications \u2013 generally with brief lifespans \u2013 to cultural and political developments in the Irish State and beyond; describing them as \u2018the fulcrum on which the intellectual foundations of Irish society moved \u2013 slowly, but irrevocably.\u2019 Their contents often anticipated ideas and movements that would go on to gain greater popular adherence, and their varied approaches remain an inspiration to contemporary journalists.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Movable Type.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMore formidable than a thousand bayonets\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Most of those living through a Print Revolution in Europe after 1450 were unlikely to have been awake to seismic changes occurring in how information was being distributed and absorbed. Johannes Gutenberg\u2019s invention, the first of its kind in Europe, as well as increased availability of paper, foregrounded the Renaissance and Reformation; increasing literacy levels and consolidating a few dominant vernacular languages through new literary forms, especially the novel and then, increasingly, newspapers, magazines and periodicals.<\/p>\n

From as early as the seventeenth century newspapers, magazines and periodicals were being published. A newspaper is printed matter acknowledging \u2013 unlike haughty books \u2013 its obsolescence \u2018on the morrow of its publication\u2019[i]<\/a>, as Benedict Anderson put it. Ireland\u2019s first newspaper, devoted to foreign affairs and political intelligence, The News-Letter<\/em><\/a><\/span> was published in Dublin in 1685.<\/p>\n

By the early nineteenth, Napoleon described a journalist as \u2018a grumbler, a censurer, a giver of advice, a regent of sovereigns, a tutor of nations,\u2019 concluding that \u2018four hostile newspapers are more formidable than a thousand bayonets.\u2019 Newspapers were crucial to directing or even forging collective identities such as the nation.<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, therefore, the powerful \u2013 whether state bureaucracies or dominant corporations \u2013 have long sought to control their offerings, and by extension journalism itself, through the carrot of patronage and advertising, and the stick of censorship and outright suppression.<\/p>\n

Traditional newspapers are also tangible products to be sold. Thus, proprietors stimulate demand especially through headlines demanding attention. The daily cry of the newspaper boy summoned a new scare or disaster \u2013 yellow journalism has long antecedents \u2013 downplaying or ignoring certain facts, while amplifying or even inventing others; often preying on fears and prejudices, just as click bait does today.<\/p>\n

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Becoming a Thing<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Alongside meretriciousness and outright propaganda journalism provides an opportunity for visionary \u2013 or delusional depending on your outlook \u2013 editors and writers who believe in the capacity of collections of regularly published print materials \u2013 generally containing short form articles aimed at the general public \u2013 \u2018to speak truth to power\u2019, \u2018move hearts and minds\u2019 and expose hypocrisy and corruption.<\/p>\n

This form of idealistic journalism most frequently appears in magazines or periodicals that may succeed in eschewing obsolescence, even if it is \u2018printed on lavatory paper with ink made of soot\u2019, as Sean O\u2019Faolain the former editor of the Bell<\/em> memorably described the low-cost approach of his publishers.<\/p>\n

With a longer shelf life, the magazine or periodical falls somewhere between the immediacy of the contents of newspapers and the greater durability of ideas contained within books. As Joe Breen puts in his article on Hot Press<\/em>: \u2018One of the great strengths of periodicals is that by operating outside the routines and demands of 24\/7 news-flow, they are afforded the space and grace to react thoughtfully to events.\u2019<\/p>\n

To succeed, such publications usually require the guiding hand of a charismatic, single-minded and tireless personality as editor. The social historian Edward Hyams once observed how:<\/p>\n

When a journal is started, a number of minds combine under the dominion of one, the editor\u2019s, to bring it into existence \u2026 What the editor and his colleagues have to do is contrive to make such disparate materials as news, views, fiction, criticism, poetry, even competitive word-games, jell into coherence \u2026 if this be done successfully then, after\u2026 a certain number of issues, the new paper takes on a quality, which is indefinable, and which is apparent, for example, in a work of art or well-designed machine \u2026 At that point the paper, to exaggerate a little, becomes a thing\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Thus, in their introduction to the first volume of Periodicals and Journalism in Twentieth Century Ireland<\/em> the editors observe of their subject matters covered: \u2018The most obvious common feature is the omnipresence within each of them of a dominant personality, or two \u2013 as editor and\/or proprietor.\u2019 The problem with such an approach is that if the guiding hand is lost these publications may struggle to endure.<\/p>\n

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The failure of the #JustSociety<\/a> movement within #FineGael<\/a> was a turning point in Irish history. David Langwallner recalls the contradictory career of Declan Costello.https:\/\/t.co\/RdNsjfXqJX<\/a>@broadsheet_ie<\/a> @ConorBlenner @vincentbrowne<\/a> @LumberBob<\/a> @KevinHIpoet1967<\/a> @liamherrick<\/p>\n

— CassandraVoices (@VoicesCassandra) May 11, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n