A day or two after the count in the February election, the Irish Times produced a supplement giving all the constituency results, along with analysis and profiles of every one of the 166 TDs elected, in a creatively designed package, writes Vincent Browne.

It prompted me to e-mail Geraldine Kennedy, the then editor of the Times complimenting her on the publication.

Kennedy replied that it was the only compliment I had ever paid her in all the years we had known each other (about 35).

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Geraldine Kennedy's retirement as editor of the Irish Times last Thursday, 23 June - to be replaced in that role by Kevin O'Sullivan - along with the loss of another female editor, NoirIn Hegarty, with closure of the Sunday Tribune earlier this year, has brought into focus the dearth of women in senior editorial positions in the Irish print media. What does the loss of two prominent women editors mean for Irish newspapers? Do women have different ideas about what constitutes news? And why is it that women find it difficult to succeed to editorial positions in Ireland? Christina Finn investigates.

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The Press Ombudsman has upheld a complaint by a coalition of national and international drug services against the Irish Independent for a column by Ian O’Doherty which described drug users as “vermin”, “feral, worthless scumbags” and which proclaimed that “if every junkie in this country were to die tomorrow I would cheer”.

The complaint was filed jointly by Harm Reduction International (aka International Harm Reduction Association), the Irish Needle Exchange Forum and the CityWide Drugs Crisis Campaign, and was supported by approximately thirty Irish drugs services and professionals.

The Ombudsman found that the column, titled Sterilising junkies may seem harsh, but it does make sense* (18 February 2011) “was likely to cause grave offence to or stir up hatred against individuals or groups addicted to drugs on the basis of their illness.”

The column was found in violation of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines, specifically of Principle 8 on Prejudice, which states:

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The government might tax all media - that means websites and radio too - in its campaign to fight our yawning debt. Angela Long considers the possibility.

With water tax and property tax and whatever else the government can think of about to afflict us, something else said to be under consideration is a sort of media tax. This would augment or replace the TV licence (how expensive WAS that advertising campaign – and what results did it get?). And, crucially, it would drag into the net the estimated 20 per cent who watch their laptop and don’t have or don’t bother with TV.

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In the rush to report the news as it happens, there's little time for considered comment and analysis. By Colin Murphy.

The Irish media now is hyperactive. No sooner has one of the "establishment" outlets published a story, than The Journal.ie has republished it, more sharply and accessibly. Breaking news is tweeted so quickly, and thoroughly, that the social media effectively becomes the distribution outlet for the story, rather than simply a commentary on it. The only way for professional media outlets to justify themselves (seemingly) is to stay ahead of the game - to be constantly seeking out a new story, or a new angle on the story.

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On World Press Freedom Day, we should be grateful for our licence,taken for granted, to say what we think. In Sri Lanka, it's not the case. Angela Long attends a thought-provoking lecture

A free press is something we enjoy in Ireland. According to world surveys, the Irish media is luxuriously unfettered by global standards. You might not be conscious of it, but robust criticism of government policies and personalities, the uncomplimentary analysis of Vincent Browne and others, is something that could not happen, unmolested, in many countries.

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A MILDLY salacious scandal across the way brings up questions of privacy, prurience and media attitudes when their own ‘go rogue’. By Angela Long.

Andrew Marr, the lean and hyperactive BBC frontman, has a distinguished career in print and broadcast behind him. He’s also at the centre of a story both extraordinary and mundane. It’s extraordinary because he, a ‘serious journalist’, sought a gagging order from the British High Court on stories about him; and mundane because it is about that most common of misbehaviour, an extra-marital affair.

Marr has revealed that he sought a ‘super-injunction’ in 2008. The matter he wanted suppressed was reporting of his relationship with a woman journalist, and a child she bore which he believed was his. Justification for the gag was the privacy of his family, he said.

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Paywalls are creeping in . The New York Times has one, the Vatican newspaper is building one, and Slovakian media are huddling behind one, en masse. Don't worry. Politico has no wall looming. Angela Long reports

Slovakia’s attempt to put all its mainstream print media behind the same paywall is an interesting experiment. The Slovakians are ensuring a level playing field for their competing news organisations. This is being done by a common front paywall – so once you’re inside, you can choose which digital news platform to read.

There will be a two-week free period, then consumers will have to pay €2.90 a month for access most of the nine main media organisations (all nine were originally supposed to go behind the wall, but four appear to have opted out). This starts on May 2.

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