The Village
Village is a politics and current affairs magazine known for its investigative reporting, which was founded by Irish journalist Vincent Brown in 2004, who served as the editor in chief until 2008. In 2008, after difficulties keeping the publication financially viable, the magazine was sold to Ormond Quay Publishing Ltd., who relaunched it under the ownership and editorial supervision of Michael Smith. During this time, the magazine switched from a weekly format, to publishing 10 issues per year, with a circulation of ~17,500 copies per issue.
Village is a left-leaning publication, who in their About Us state “Village promotes in its columns the fair distribution of resources, welfare, respect and opportunity by the investigation and analysis of inequalities, unsustainable development and corruption, and the media’s role in their perpetuation; and by acute cultural analysis”.
The publication is also notable for having broken a number of high-profile stories, including a redacted version of the Ansbacher dossier published in 2014. This dossier was the basis for a 2002 investigation alleging a long-standing cover up of ownership of offshore bank accounts by senior public figures and politicians. In 2020, Village published an article alleging that Tánaiste Leo Varadkar had leaked controversial documents, in violation of the Criminal Justice (Corruption Offences) Act 2018, the Official Secrets Act 1963, which lead to an investigation by the Director of Public Prosecutions, calls for his resignation, and the hashtags #LeoGate and #LeoTheLeak trending on social media.
More recently, on 17 July 2021 Village, published the name of "Soldier F", the British Army soldier accused by the Saville Inquiry of shooting multiple unarmed civilians during Bloody Sunday (1972).
Audience Share
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Ownership Type
Private
Geographic Coverage
National
Content Type
Paid content
Media Companies / Groups
Ormond Quay Publishing Ltd.
Ownership Structure
Village Magazine is owned by Ormond Quay Publishing, which is wholly owned by Michael Smith.
Some records show Desmond Joseph Kearney to be the Global Ultimate Owner of Ormond Quay Publishing. However, Desmond Joseph Kearney is the director of Kearney Curran & Company unlimited Company, a company that provides legal and corporate services. One such service is “company formation”, which requires Desmond or others at the company to act as the director of a newly formed company for one day, before handing it over to their clients. As a result, Desmond and others at Kearney Curran and Company Ltd. appear on paper to be involved with hundreds of companies, which in reality, they have no current involvement in. This includes Ormond Quay Publishing.
Voting Rights
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Individual Owner
General Information
Founding Year
2004
Affiliated Interests Founder
Born on July 17, 1944, in Tullamore, County Offaly Vincent Browne is a prominent Irish journalist, commentator, and television presenter known for his outspoken style. His journalism often focuses on social issues, corruption, and political reform.
Browne's career began in the 1960s as a reporter for several Irish newspapers, including The Irish Times, where he gained a reputation for his deep insights into Irish politics. He also briefly worked for RTE’s The Late Late Show from 1967-1968, and edited monthly news magazine Nusight from 1969-1970.
In September 1977, Browne founded "Magill", a monthly political and current affairs magazine. The publication quickly gained a reputation for its in-depth analysis and willingness to tackle controversial subjects. In 1983 Browne left Magill to join the relaunch of The Sunday Tribune, where he remained as editor until 1994.
Browne has hosted several talk shows on television, most notably "The Vincent Browne Show," which aired on TV3 (now Virgin Media One) from 2007 to 2017. Known for his confrontational interviewing style, the show frequently produced viral moments shared across social media, in which Browne held politicians and other public figures to account for their actions and policies.
Affiliated Interests Editor-In-Chief
Became the sole owner and editor of Village Magazine in 2008. Prior to this he was involved in cultural and heritage conservation issues, amongst others as the CEO and Chairperson of Irish Heritage group An Taisce. Furthermore, he was on the board of the Irish chapter of anti-corruption NGO Transparency International. Michael Smith has previously been a director at Ormond Wine Bar Ltd., Urban Green Developments Ltd., and Sixdegreesofheat, Ltd..
Contact
Ormond Quay Publishing,
6 Ormond Quay Upper,
Dublin 7
Telephone: +353 (0) 1 873 5824
Website: www.villagemagazine.ie
Email: editor@villagemagazine.ie
Financial Information
Revenue (in Mill. $)
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Operating Profit (in Mill. $)
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Advertising (in % of total funding)
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Market Share
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Further Information
Headlines
Meta Data
Audience share data taken from Medialive.
It is difficult to calculate “Audience share” as a percentage, as the magazine only publishes ten issues per year.
Within the media industry in Ireland reporting on income levels are generally at group level rather than individual title level. On top of this, overall revenue details for the market as a whole are unavailable. Due to these factors it is not possible to report accurately on market share for individual titles or groups.
There is currently no standard audience measurement available for print and online news titles in Ireland. Individual titles publish data on readership or users but measurement parameters and sources vary between organisations, therefore it is not possible to report an accurate audience share for the purposes of this project.
