I've always wanted the job of editor at GCN and I was delighted when I got it in March last year. I'd been involved with Gay Community News since 1996. Shortly after joining, I was made news editor on the paper, but to gain some more experience I worked on another magazine for a couple of years. I am really happy to be back here in this job.

GCN was set up in 1988 and developed as the newspaper of the National Lesbian and Gay Federation. The organisation was based in the Hirschfield Centre in Temple Bar, Dublin -named after Magnus Hirschfield, who was one of the early gay rights activists. The first few issues were done on a completely voluntary basis and had only about 20 pages. We have expanded and developed enormously since then and a lot of that was down to the funding we received from FAS. It's very interesting when you read some of the international gay guides to Dublin because they will say Gay Community News and then they'll say "funded by the State". That is pretty unique worldwide, that gay and lesbian news in Ireland is published using State funding. The FAS community employment scheme is still going strong in our office and a lot of journalists have started out here. We have a circulation of about 30,000 throughout Ireland, north and south.

The whole aim or ethos of the paper is to reflect and represent the views of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people in Ireland. Our readership is concentrated around the east coast and Dublin urban area - that is primarily because most of our distribution is through clubs and venues here - but we do have an uptake in rural areas and Northern Ireland. Readers cover all age ranges.

Such a broad readership makes it very difficult to represent and please everyone with each issue, but it is certainly something I bear in mind.

We receive plenty of critical appraisal from our readers, which is very useful for highlighting areas or issues that people want explored. We are basically a voluntary organisation, so we rely heavily on a strong network of voluntary contributors. They are so important for making the paper accessible to the community.

My working day starts around 10 a.m. I check my diary for meetings, for instance Pride Week is happening from June 18th, so last week I met someone from the Project Arts Centre to look at visuals for an exhibition they are putting on called "Out Art". I may have meetings about funding issues. Many businesses in Europe recognise the value of the "pink pound", but that hasn't really been the case in Ireland so far. We are looking at this issue to see how we can increase advertising revenue or sponsorship. Unfortunately, we're suffering from the Tiger economy like everyone else and we can't find staff for our advertising area.

We may be moving from our current offices. GCN's board of directors meet monthly, and they all give their time voluntarily. Because of the planned move, we have had to have a lot more meetings in the evenings. We have a three-week production schedule for our monthly paper, then it goes to the Meath Chronicle for printing. Like any publication, the mad scramble happens in the last week when we are trying to get all the copy organised.

GCN is currently based at 6 South William Street, Dublin 2. You can e- mail Stephen or the newspaper at gcn@eircom.net or visit their website at www.gcn.ie

In conversation with Janet Stafford