'Sunday Independent' editor Aengus Fanning dies aged 69

AENGUS FANNING, who edited the Sunday Independentsince 1984, died yesterday at St Vincent's hospital in Dublin at the age of 69 after an illness.

His death from cancer was announced to staff yesterday morning. Though he had been ill for some time, staff were shocked at hearing that his condition had deteriorated so quickly.

Independent TD Shane Ross, who was the paper’s business editor until recently, said Fanning was an “instinctive” journalist who knew the “heart of the people” better than any other journalist in Ireland. “He was so far ahead of all the other media, which is why the paper was such a stunning success over 20 years. He had unerring instincts.”

Mr Ross described Fanning’s greatest talent as an editor of being “utterly brave”, particularly in going after the “sacred cows” of Irish life.

He acknowledged that mistakes had been made during his tenure as a result of his fearlessness, but “the plus side of that is far bigger than the minus. Aengus would be the first to acknowledge that mistakes were made, but he’d say ‘We’re a newspaper, we’re not politicians – on to the next business.’”

Journalist and broadcaster Sam Smyth described Fanning as a “totally instinctive journalist” who understood his readers.

“It came to him naturally,” Smyth said. “Everything that went into that newspaper was either his own taste or his own thought. If he believed something was right he followed it. He understood middle Ireland,” he added.

Smyth said the Sunday Independent's notorious attack on John Hume at the start of the peace process amounted to a journalistic "drive-by shooting", but Fanning had a stubborn streak and would stand by his newspaper even if that clashed with management.

He described his world view as “anti-Provo and pro-business”.

Independent News and Media chief executive Gavin O'Reilly said Fanning had challenged many of the "major pillars of Irish life, uncomfortably so" and though he had done some things wrong "on balance a million people read the Sunday Independentevery week and he got it right most of the time".

Mr O'Reilly told RTÉ's Drivetimeprogramme: "He was able to spot talent and he was able to mirror that talent to issues that needed to be debated in Irish society."

Mr O’Reilly said he cared more for his relationship with his readers than he did for either himself or his father, Tony O’Reilly, and had frequently clashes with management over resources.

Press Ombudsman John Horgan said Fanning had "flair and intuition . . . in spades". The "robust success" of the Sunday Independentwas proof of his talents.

Fanning was born in Tralee, Co Kerry, but his journalistic career started with the Midland Tribune in Birr, owned by his uncle, Jimmy Fanning. He joined the Irish Independentas a reporter in 1969 and subsequently worked as agriculture correspondent.

When he took over as editor of the Sunday Independentthe circulation was in the order of 220,000. Within 10 years it had risen to almost 350,000, commanding half of the Sunday market.

It has since fallen back to 255,806 according to the last ABC figures, albeit in a declining market for all newspapers.

President Michael D Higgins said Fanning was “a very committed journalist and editor”.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny, whose Government has been the subject of trenchant criticism recently from the newspaper, described Fanning as a “charismatic and significant media figure”.

Bernie Guerin, the mother of murdered Sunday Independentjournalist Veronica Guerin, said she would remember Fanning "with affection and respect for him as a journalist, as her editor and as a friend". She said that after Veronica's death he remained a friend of hers. "I couldn't speak highly enough of him."

Irish secretary of the National Union of Journalists Seamus Dooley said Fanning brought “unique style and colour” to his job as editor.

Fanning is survived by his wife, the paper’s deputy editor Anne Harris, and his sons from his first marriage, Dion, Evan and Stephen. He was predeceased by his first wife Mary.