Madam, - The findings of the report of the Democracy Commission ("Concerns over paper ownership", Oct. 27th) contained serious inaccuracies on the structure of the Irish newspaper market.
The report states that "around 80 per cent of Irish newspapers sold in Ireland in 2001 were sold by companies which are fully or partially owned by Independent newspapers". This statement is based either on a deliberate distortion or a fundamental misunderstanding of what constitutes the newspaper market in Ireland. On a weekly basis, there are 15 daily titles and 17 Sunday titles competing for readers and advertisers. That is the true market.
The Democracy Commission's misleading information led The Irish Times to inaccurately report that Independent News and Media Plc controls "80 per cent of daily newspaper sales" and that this raises "legitimate concerns on the impartiality of Irish media in their examination of Government and big business".
As marketing director I would be delighted to claim a figure as high as 80 per cent, but as the readily available ABC audited circulation figures state, the Independent's market share of the daily newspaper market is actually 40 per cent.
It is somewhat surprising that the Irish Times journalist and sub-editors were either unaware of or failed to check this most rudimentary information.
The Democracy Commission goes on to cite the 1996 Commission on the Newspaper Industry which warned about the concentration of ownership.
As is well recognised in the industry, this report was wholly incomplete and contained serious factual inaccuracies. It failed in the main to include Irish editions of UK newspapers - all of which are edited, printed and sold in Ireland. It was also written nearly 10 years ago - and how the market has changed over these past 10 years! It has become acutely more competitive, with new title launches and new market entrants.
The Irish newspaper industry is the most competitive and dynamic in the world and for us to achieve the market share we command is a significant achievement and a credit to all who work diligently to make our titles relevant to readers.
While Independent News & Media Plc has indeed prospered over these past 10 years, our real expansion has been centred in international markets such as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom and most recently, India. I am sure that your readers would like - and indeed expect - that the real facts should be presented to them rather than the surprisingly inaccurate figures which formed the basis for last Thursday's Editorial. - Yours, etc,
BARRY L BRENNAN,
Group Marketing Director - Ireland,
Independent News & Media,
Talbot Street,
Dublin.