- Mayo Echo
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Mayo Echo Type Weekly newspaper Format Tabloid Owner We Shout Loudest Limited Editor Tony Geraghty Founded 2004 Headquarters Castlebar, County Mayo Official website www.mayoecho.com The Mayo Echo was a free, weekly tabloid newspaper circulated in County Mayo, Ireland. The paper was first published in 2004 and closed in April 2009. The paper claimed it had one of the largest distributions of the 'five county' newspapers "eventually reaching more than 24,000 copies every week." (from page 2 of the last online edition - edition 221, 15 April 2009). The paper was delivered door-to-door in Ballina, Castlebar, Westport and Claremorris and was also published online every week in PDF format.
The paper had a reputation for tackling controversial subjects using blunt language, and publishing articles criticising what it considered to be examples of corruption or malpractice in local government and other local organisations - in fact, the last online issue had an apology on the front cover relating to an earlier story (dated 30 April 2008) alleging that a local councillor acted improperly when handling planning matters relating to business premises.
As might be expected, the relationship between the Mayo Echo and the local council (Mayo County Council) was not amicable, and in the last online edition, editor Tony Geraghty stated that there had been a three-year boycott of the paper by the Council. It is understood that the Mayo Echo was not available in the Mayo County Library and the Council operated an advertising boycott.
Lough Lannagh article, May 2008
In May 2008, the Mayo Echo published an article about alleged homosexual activity at a local beauty spot in the town of Castlebar. The article sparked hot debate in the local and national press, on national radio and online forums - mainly over its use of the word 'pervert' in association with homosexuality, and the fact that photographs were printed of one person allegedly involved, with their vehicle number plate clearly visible. The editor of the Mayo Echo (Tony Geraghty) objected to some comments published on the regional bulletin board at http://www.castlebar.ie/ about the original article. He contacted the Web site requesting the comments be removed and an apology published. An apology was published and the comments were removed, but new ones appeared, including one allegedly threatening to burn down the Mayo Echo offices.[citation needed]. Tony Geraghty then issued a threat of legal action against the Web site and, as a result, the entire site was removed by the Site Managers and replaced with a commentary on the events. Mr Geraghty then demanded a list of the names of all the site moderators and contributors, but the Site Managers refused this request. In quick succession, a campaign Web site was set up (savecastlebarie.org - no longer online), and groups were formed on Facebook and Myspace. Eventually, Mr Geraghty dropped his threat of legal action and the full web site at http://www.castlebar.ie/ returned shortly afterward.
External links
- Mayo Echo — website of the newspaper
- Castlebar.ie web site (shut down as of 3 June 2008, reopen as of April 2009)
- Facebook group relating to the shut down of castlebar.ie
- MySpace group relating to the shut down of castlebar.ie
- RTE (Ireland's national radio broadcaster) podcast covering a broadcast about the controversial article published in the Mayo Echo in May 2008 (MP3) References to Web site shut down at 33:45 and 41:00
Categories:- Newspapers published in Ireland
- Media in County Mayo
- Publications established in 2004
- Publications disestablished in 2009
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