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Sat 10 Oct 2008A reflection on the times
HISTORY:The Irish Times: A Historyby Mark O'Brien, Four Courts Press, 320pp. €35 NEWSPAPERS ARE paradoxical institutions. On the one hand, they function within a context of constant flux, surf-riding, as the poet Hugh MacDiarmid put it, on the day's sensations. On the other, they are, for the most part, remarkably conservative.
Perhaps because they serve as markers of identity for their readers, they tend to retain their broad political stamp through the decades. Time and technology, social and political change, revolutions in design and distribution, all tend to leave their basic orientation intact.
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