Editing Irish Independent (section)

===Murphy and family (1905–1973)===
[[File:FJmasthead.JPG|thumb|Masthead of the ''Freeman's Journal'', founded 1763, which merged with the ''Irish Independent'' in 1924]]
[[File:Captions Please... (6880132787).jpg|thumb|Independent Newspapers in January 1935]]

The ''Irish Independent'' was formed in 1905 as the direct successor to ''The Irish Daily Independent and Daily Nation'', an 1890s' pro-[[Charles Stewart Parnell|Parnellite]] newspaper. It was launched by [[William Martin Murphy]], a controversial Irish nationalist businessman, staunch anti-[[Charles Stewart Parnell|Parnellite]] and fellow townsman of Parnell's most venomous opponent, [[Timothy Michael Healy]] from Bantry.<ref>Andy Bielenberg, ''Entrepreneurship, Power, and Public Opinion in Ireland: The career of William Martin Murphy''.</ref> The first issue of the ''Irish Independent'', published 2 January 1905, was marked as "Vol. 14. No. 1".

During the [[Dublin Lockout|1913 Lockout]] of workers, in which Murphy was the leading figure among the employers, the ''Irish Independent'' vigorously sided with its owner's interests, publishing news reports and opinion pieces hostile to the strikers, expressing confidence in the unions' defeat and launching personal attacks on the leader of the strikers, [[James Larkin]]. ''The Irish Independent'' described the [[Easter Rising|1916 Easter Rising]] as "insane and criminal" and famously called for the shooting of its leaders.<ref name=easter_rising>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/easterrising/newspapers/index.shtml Easter Rising newspaper archive] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160409132357/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/easterrising/newspapers/index.shtml |date=9 April 2016 }}—from the [[BBC]] History website</ref> In December 1919, during the [[Irish War of Independence]], a group of twenty [[Irish Republican Army|IRA]] men destroyed the printing works of the paper, angered at its criticism of the [[Irish Republican Army]]'s attacks on members of the [[Dublin Metropolitan Police]] and British government officials.<ref>"Following a report on the assassination of the Lord Lieutenant&nbsp;... the IRA attacked the offices of the (Irish Independent) the following day". Ian Kenneally, ''The Paper Wall: Newspapers and Propaganda in Ireland 1919–1921''. Dublin, Collins Press. 2008, {{ISBN|1905172583}} (p. 105).</ref> In 1924, the traditional nationalist newspaper, the ''[[Freeman's Journal]]'', merged with the ''Irish Independent''. Until October 1986 the paper's masthead over the editorial contained the words "incorporating the Freeman's Journal".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/Olive/APA/INA/Default.aspx#panel=document|title=Irish Independent masthead containing 'Incorporating the Freeman's Journal'|work=[[IrishNewsArchive.com]]|url-access=subscription|access-date=25 November 2015}} {{Dead link|fix-attempted=yes|reason=All archived copies on archive.org redirect to a useless login page, not the content|date=November 2021}}</ref>

For most of its history, the ''Irish Independent'' (also called simply the ''Independent'' or more colloquially, the ''Indo'') was seen as a nationalist, Catholic, [[anti-Communist]], newspaper,<ref name="fm">"During the Free State Period, the ''Independent'' was characterised by a triumphalist strain of Catholicism, virulent anti-Communism and support for the Pro-Treaty Party." [[Fearghal McGarry]], "Irish Newspapers and the Spanish Civil War", ''Irish Historical Studies'', Vol. 33, No. 129 (May 2002), pp. 68–90.</ref> which gave its political allegiance to the [[Irish Civil War|Pro-Treaty]] party [[Cumann na nGaedheal]] and later its successor party, [[Fine Gael]].<ref name="fm" /> During the Spanish Civil War, the ''Irish Independent''{{'}}s coverage was strongly pro-[[Francisco Franco|Franco]]: the paper criticised the De Valera government for not intervening on behalf of the [[Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War)|Spanish Nationalists]].<ref>Fearghal McGarry, "Irish Newspapers and the Spanish Civil War", ''Irish Historical Studies'', Vol. 33, No. 129 (May 2002), pp. 68–90.</ref>

In 1961, the [[harp]] became a symbol of the ''Irish Independent''. It originally appeared in black but was changed to green in 1972.