If thy right hand offend thee...

Colm Toibin looks at the Sunday Independent in the light of Michael Hand's recent resignation as editor
In November 1982 when the Sunday Tribune had folded Conor Brady, who had edited the paper, approached Tony O'Reilly and proposed to him that he should buy the title of the Sunday Tribune, subsume it into the Sunday Independent and employ several of the journalists who had worked on the paper on the Sunday Independent. O'Reilly rejected the suggestion but only after his manageement team had actually discussed

whether they should fire Michael Hand, the editor of the Sunday Independent, and replace him with Conor Brady.

Hand resisted any efforts to do this both within the Independent among his colleagues who put pressure on management and among the staff of the Tribune whom Conor Brady was proposing that O'Reilly should employ. One of these people was visited perrsonally by Michael Hand at his home.

Hand made his position very clear about Conor Brady's offer to O'Reilly. He wanted to stay as editor.

Hand survived until November this year when he announced his resiggnation. O'Reilfy, when he was refusing Conor Brady's offer, made it clear to Brady, it is reported, that if something came up in Independent House he would consider him and contact him. There is no evidence that Brady and O'Reilly met since then, although Brady attended a party in O'Reilly's house this summer.

Brady was in Leinster House on the night word got around that Michael Hand had resigned as editor of the Sunday Independent. Those to whom he spoke were surprised when he innsisted that he had not as yet been offered the job as editor of the Sunday Independent. Word coming from Indeependent House suggested that he had.

Some days later Brady was seen having drinks with Joe Hayes, Managing Director of Independent Newspapers, in Mooney's in Phibsboro, by a memmber of the staff of the Evening Herald. It was later confirmed that Brady had been offered the job as editor of the Sunday Independent .

When the old Tribune folded Brady went back to the Irish Times where he is assistant editor with responsibiility for Development. No one in the paper is really quite sure what this means, although Brady is now .connsidered the front-runner for the job of editor if that position became vacant. After he had spoken to Hayes he spoke to Douglas Gageby and Major McDowell in the Irish Times, accorrding to sources there. There was connsiderable pressure on him to stay on in the Irish Times. Brady, according to sources in the Irish Times, had had only vague conversations with Hayes and was encouraged by Gageby to go back and talk to Hayes again before he made up his mind.

On Friday 25 November he met Joe Hayes again. This time Hayes was in the Gresham Hotel in the company of Bartle Pitcher, Chief Executive of Independent Newspapers. Brady told them he was considering turning the offer down. He confirmed his refusal to Hayes later. One of those who was involved in the discussions over who the new editor should be, said he believed that Hayes had perrsonally never wanted Brady and was relieved when he refused.

In July 1980 when Joe Hayes had been at Independent Newspapers for over a year he prepared "Strategic Reviews" of the three newspapers. "We have done some research on the Sunday Independent with a view to exploring areas of opportunity and weakness," it began. "There is sponntaneous demand for a Sunday Irish Times," Hayes went on, "there is a high penetration of UK Sunday papers, there is spontaneous criticism of all Irish Sunday papers and of our paper in particular ... more is expected 'if the UK papers can do it properly why can't they' and 'damn it they have a week to put the thing together properly'. These two expressions typify the underlying attitude which exists among particularly ABC I (upmarket) readers. Clearly many of the Irish Sunday papers are being bought by default, by that I mean, many feel they must have one and then it beecomes a question of which one."

Hayes continued his report with an attack on the journalists on the Sunday Independent. "Many of the Sunday Independent journalists" he wrote, "have attempted to become Hugh Leonards in their own right. Many have adopted a lazy introverted role within the paper which cannot be tolerated. Without putting too fine a point upon it the [John] Devines, Jackie [sic] Dunnes, [Fraser] MeeMillans of this world must be directed and controlled to produce to an overrall consumer package specification and they must not be allowed to su bmit irrelevant, unresearched, uninformaative 'articles'." [Hayes's inverted commmas.]

Twice in his report on the Sunday Independent Hayes says "Munster must have the dog results."

The front pages "must have single decisive heading". Book reviews are "desirable". "If we must have Ulick O'Connor," Hayes writes, "he must write to our specification - not indulge himself - preferably he should be removed." On Des Hickey, Hayes wrote "excesses of indulgence need to be controlled. [Trevor] Danker does not produce an adequate Diary. The content lacks presentation style - and should clearly focus on upmarket wealth and glamour - vis the £25,000 a year merchants are not news. It's the private jets, the high life in the O'Reilly, Niarchos style that is of in terest."

Hayes believes that Father Cleary should be out in the magazine section and Mary Kenny should be "directed". Both, he thought, had a good followwing. "When Mary wants to navel gaze she should be spiked, or if it's a women's interest issue it can be assoociated with the Woman's Page," conntinues Hayes.

"The business page" he writes, "should be more reflective in content. We can look to Business and Finance and Irish Business for ideas."

"The TV and TV Extra pages must focus on the popular. [Ciaran ] Carty should be kept away from this area, and [Fraser] McMillan and others should write to this brief and avoid navel. gazing or being overly intellecctual or specialised in their content."

"The leader page should be further developed," wrote Hayes of the Sunday Independent, "to carry at least two leaders per week. They should speak out on relevant current issues nationally and internationally. This page should carry an 'in depth' welllresearched background story. This will often arise out of one of the leaders, and may have a team of people contriibuting to it."

Joe Hayes is the real editor of the three newspapers which are prooduced in Independent House. The three editors are constantly subject to Hayes. As can be seen from the above quoted remarks on the Sunday Independent, Hayes has very partiicular ideas about how the papers should be run and what should be in them. At the moment he feels that law and order, high taxes and the extent and cost of the public service are the issues and he instructs the editors to deal with thein.

He also believes that the papers should be lending moral assistance to the business world, as does O'Reilly. This leads to constant clashes with Colm Rapple, Business Editor.

[Indeed so great is the impression that the paper is run by people other than its editor that last year when one of the reporters had a story about Sean Doherty spiked by Michael Hand he telephoned Tony O'Reilly directly in Pittsburg to ask him to put the story back in the paper and then went, on a Saturday night, to see Garret Fitz Gerald who also telephoned O'Reilly in Pittsburg and asked him to put the story in.]

Every Tuesday Joe Hayes meets the men from Hunters advertising agency and they decide, more or less between them, what the lead feature story on the Sunday Independent will be. The editor goes then to produce the story to suit the ad which is broaddcast all day Saturday.

Hayes often goes through an article with an editor sentence by sentence asking what the journalist who wrote it meant.

One of the senior journalists in Independent House comments on the future of the Sunday Independent:

"They want to produce the Irish Times on Sunday with the staff of the Beano." Joe Hayes himself put it more gently: "We'd love to buy a Rolls Royce for the price of a Mini." However it is put, it is true that Michael Hand has, over his eight years as editor of the Sunday Independent, asked for more staff and more money to be made available for the editorial content of the paper. This was always refused. There is no reason to believe that it will be granted to any other editor. It can be argued that Hand, within the limits in which he has worked, has been remarkably successsful as editor of the Sunday Indepenndent.

It is reported that O'Reilly wants to own at least one paper of which he can be proud. He has identified this paper as the Sunday Indepenndent. He wants it to be like the Irish Times which is why he wanted Conor Brady to edit it. There is also, as Joe Hayes was well aware in 1980 when he wrote his report, a market for an irish quality Sunday newspaper. Added to this the Sunday Tribune represents a danger to the Sunday Independent, although the Independent doesn't beelieve that the Tribune has been as successful either editorially or commerrcially as the Tribune believes it has.

It is believed in Independent House that the paper should go upmarket. Hayes, according to one close observer of that building, wants "an upmarket lapdog" to come in and edit the paper under his direction. Hand was too down-market, it was said. Hayes also wants to become Chief Executive of the paper when Bartle Pitcher retires next year. There is talk that he will face strong competition from John Meagher of Irish Marketing Surveys and from Gerry McGuinness of the Sunday World. O'Reilly is reported not to be too enamoured of Hayes these days and has made remarks about Hayes never having read a book in his life.

Nicholas Leonard, the London editor, has made it clear that he is not interested in the job as editor. Three of the journalists in Independent House are being considered for the job: Aengus Fanning, Michael Brophy and Michael Deniefe. It is said, howwever, that the last two are not in with much of a chance. One other staff member, who initially seems very unlikely, is also being seriously connsidered for the job. And only one outsider remains on the short-list.