The Herald

The Herald is a daily newspaper, which although primarily focused on Dublin issues, is circulated nationally, with just over 21,000 daily readers (2020). As a mid-market, tabloid newspaper, content of the Herald combines news and entertainment coverage, with a particular focus on politics, crime and local interest stories for the Dublin area.

First published as The Evening Herald on the 19th December 1891, one day after the launch of the Irish Daily Independent,the paper proclaimed itself as a voice in the fight for the independence of Irish men and women. The newspaper was created to promote a pro-Parnellite position following a split in the Irish Parliamentary Party, at a time when the countries leading newspaper was the anti-Parnellite Freeman’s Journal

The paper existed as an evening broadsheet paper for 91 years, before transitioning to a tabloid format in 1982. In March 2013 The Evening Herald became the Herald, adjusting its publishing schedule and becoming a morning paper. In March 2017, it was announced that owners Independent News Media (INM) were merging the Sunday World and The Herald newsrooms, although both publications kept their branding. This merger occurred as part of a broader strategy to pivot away from print content, and to produce more digital output. This strategy, which led to a number of job losses for INM editorial staff, was condemned by the National Union of Journalists.

Today, The Herald is owned by Mediahuis Ireland, a subsidiary of Mediahuis NV, whose shareholders comprise Mediahuis Partners NV (50.6%), Concentra (32.7%) and VP Exploitatie (16.7%).

In 2023, following the removal of the Herald.ie, and an assessment that print papers will have largely disappeared by 2030, Mediahuis Ireland CEO Peter Vandersmeersch stated that they would no longer be investing in the paper, and that the paper would have to “sink or swim”.