Leitrimlive

Leitrimlive is a news website populated by content from The Leitrim Observer newspaper, as well as stories from other newspapers in the Iconic Newspapers media network. The Leitrim Observer was founded by the local Mulvey family in 1889. Leitrimlive was launched in 2022, with leadership calling it a ‘new chapter in our 133-year history’.

The decision to move the Leitrim Observer under the Leitrimlive website was made by the paper's owner, Iconic Newspapers. Iconic Newspapers purchased a number of Irish papers in the 2010s and immediately set about modernising and digitising those operations. All Iconic news websites include 'live' at the end of their URLs. News content appearing on Louthlive is free to access. However, access to the Leitrim Observer e-paper requires a subscription.

Iconic's push for centralised news sites aligns with broader 'digital first' trends in the Irish news industry. Newspaper owners are increasingly reducing staff numbers through voluntary redundancies and layoffs in Ireland. Some owners (such as Mediahuis) are planning to phase out print publications altogether due to declining print circulation and increasing costs. The collection of local news sites under a single banner also represents another layer of de-localisation in the Irish news industry. Irish newspaper ownership has become increasingly concentrated in the 21st century, and Iconic (Media Concierge) is now Ireland's largest holder of local and regional papers, with 18 titles. The impact of the combined concentration in ownership and web presence is that traditionally hyper-local titles such as the Leitrim Observer now share regional and national content.

It is important to note that there is a degree of opacity concerning how content on Laoislive is curated. Laoislive is only served by one paper, which means that editorial decisions are more easily traced than in the case of Iconic's 'Live' news sites that are served by multiple newspapers (e.g., Donegallive). However, there does not appear to be a dedicated editorial staff for the website itself, and information on website content decisions is not provided. This lack of editorial transparency becomes more problematic when considering that the broader network of Iconic newspapers supplies a significant volume of Laoislive’s content; it also raises the question of whether Ireland's growing online news ecosystem will adhere to the same level of editorial transparency as has historically been the case with print.

The Leitrim Observer was purchased from Johnstown Press by Iconic Newspapers in a 2014 acquisition. The Observer (and Leitrimlive) is operated by Form Press Publishing Limited, which is owned by Iconic Newspapers. Iconic is owned by Media Concierge (Holdings) Limited, which is in turn owned by The Denmark Family, with UK businessman Malcolm Denmark as the controlling shareholder.

Key Facts

Audience Share	Missing Data
Ownership Type	Private
Geographic Coverage	Local
Content Type	Mixed
Data Publicly Available	ownership data is easily available from other sources, e. g. public registries etc.
Operating Company	Form Press Publishing Identifier: Limited Liability Company, Companies Registration Office (CRO) Company Number: IE538870

Ownership

Ownership Structure	Leitrimlive and the Leitrim Observer are operated by Formpress Publishing Limited, which is owned by Iconic Newspapers Limited. The parent organisation of Iconic Newspapers Limited is Media Concierge (Holdings) Limited (previously Mediaforce (Holdings) Limited). The Denmark Family is the sole owner of the media group. Malcolm Denmark, who owns 75% of shares, is identified as the controlling shareholder in accounts filed with Companies House in the UK for Media Concierge (Holdings) Limited. The remaining company shares are owned by C.N. Denmark (15%), T.C. Denmark (9%), and V.M. Denmark (0.76%).
Voting Rights	Malcolm (M.C.) Denmark is identified as the controlling shareholder in accounts filed with Companies House in the UK for Media Concierge (Holdings) Limited.
Individual Owner	Denmark Family 100

Operating Company

Media Concierge (Holdings) Ltd.
100%

Facts

Founding Year	2022
Founder	Missing Data Iconic Newspapers (owned by Media Concierge Holdings Ltd., previously known as Mediaforce) owns 18 newspaper titles throughout the Republic of Ireland. Iconic purchased 14 of these papers, including The Leitrim Observer, from Johnstown Press in a 2014 acquisition. Iconic has especially focused on modernising and digitising its Irish newspaper stable by providing news sites for all papers, sometimes consolidating regional papers under a single site (e.g., Donegallive.ie). All Iconic news websites include 'live' at the end of their URLs. News content appearing on these websites is free to access, though the e-paper versions of the local papers require a subscription. Unlike Mediahuis, Iconic has not publicly stated that it is phasing out print newspapers in favour of news sites.
CEO	Malcolm Denmark Malcolm Denmark is an advertising executive who established Mediaforce UK in 1985, an advertising agency which represented media owners to advertising agencies. At the time, Mediaforce focused mainly on regional outlets across the UK. However, the business now includes the production and distribution of inserts in local and national titles. It has also expanded into print and online outlet ownership through an aggressive acquisition policy focusing on regional and local media publishers in the UK and Ireland. Since the establishment of Mediaforce, Malcolm Denmark’s business interests have expanded in this sector. He has established Media Concierge (Holdings) Ltd., which includes several subsidiaries, including Mediaforce. Denmark has also ventured into business activities that encompass a full range of advertising services such as representation, marketing, publishing, and distribution for Iconic Media in Ireland (Mediaforce Ireland/Formpress), which is the news publishing section of his business. In addition to media businesses, Malcolm Denmark also holds significant property interests and is the owner of multiple race horses. Malcolm Denmark owns 75.2% of Media Concierge, alongside his son Callum Nicolas Denmark’s 15%, his daughter Tara Clare Denmark’s 9% and Valerie Mary Denmark (born 1957) 0.76%.
Editor-In-Chief	David Power David Power is the Acting Managing Editor of the Leitrim Observer. He previously worked as a content editor for the Irish Independent and editor for the Leinster Leader. He studied English literature, history and psychology at Maynooth University. His political and religious affiliations (if any) are unknown.
Contact	Carrick-on-Shannon Co. Leitrim Ireland news@leitrimlive.ie +353 (0) 71-9620025 www.leitrimobserver.ie/

Revenue	Missing Data
Operating Profit	Missing Data
Advertising (in % of total funding)	Missing Data
Market Share	Missing Data

Headlines	Change is here... Introducing Leitrim Live (2022), Leitrimlive, Accessed 22 February 2026 Johnston Press sells Irish regional papers to Iconic Newspapers (2014), RTE, Accessed 3 March 2026 Censorship: The voice of Leitrim burned by Crown Forces in 1920 (2019), Leitrim Observer, Accessed 22 February 2026 New look Leitrim Observer in shops tomorrow (2019), leitrimlive.ie, Accessed 29 July 2025 Scots buy Leitrim Observer for £1m (1998), Irish Independent, Accessed 29 July 2025 David Power from the Leitrim Observer (2024), RTE, Accessed 29 July 2025
Meta Data	Historical Information about the Leitrim Observer from the paper’s website, as well as from the Irish Newspaper Archives. Information about circulation was gathered from www.medialive.ie. Ownership and financial information was gathered from the FAME Database (Moody’s) regarding Formpress Publishing Limited, Iconic Newspapers Limited, and Media Concierge (Holdings) Limited. Information regarding acting managing editor, David Power, was sourced from his LinkedIn profile and Muck Rack and confirmed by phone. Accurate estimation of outlet market share was not possible because reporting on income levels in Ireland is typically done at the group level rather than the individual title level. Additionally, overall revenue details for the market as a whole are not available. Accurate estimation of audience share of news sites is not possible. Although Kantar collects publicly available figures on readership for national print titles, parallel figures are not available for regional and local newspapers and their websites. Furthermore, the ‘advertise with use’ sections of Iconic’s ‘Live’ websites do not provide information on page visits and only present consolidated readership numbers across print, website and social media.
Sources	Companies register office, Accessed on 16 June 2025 FAME Database Formpress Publishing Profile, Accessed on 30 June 2025 David Power, Muck Rack, Accessed 29 July 2025 David Power, LinkedIn, Accessed 29 July 2025
Documents (PDF)	Compiled Financial Data Formpress Publishing Limited Link File Financial Statement Formpress Publishing Limited (2023) Link File