Journalists at the Clare Champion newspaper in Ennis staged a three-hour stoppage yesterday in what they said was a dispute over editorial independence.
Industrial action had earlier been sanctioned by the National Union of Journalists, which warned that further stoppages could take place this week.
The dispute is over the decision of the newspaper's owner, Mr John Galvin, to appoint himself as managing editor with, said an NUJ statement, "extensive powers of veto over the editor".
It follows a row over a decision by the editor, Mr Gerry Collison, to publish a news picture taken at a charity ball.
According to the NUJ, Mr Galvin said the event should not have been given publicity because it had been in competition with a charity ball promoted by the Clare Champion. Mr Collison was issued with a verbal warning by Mr Galvin as a result of his decision to publish the picture, the NUJ statement said.
The union's Irish secretary, Mr Séamus Dooley, accused the newspaper of acting in a manner "appropriate to Hall's Pictorial Weekly".
However, Mr Galvin said the NUJ's "inflammatory statement" could only serve to prejudice attempts to resolve the dispute.
"All I can say at this point is that, earlier this week, a meeting between the Clare Champion, the NUJ, the Regional Newspapers Association of Ireland and IBEC was confirmed to take place on this coming Friday to discuss the real issues behind this dispute.
"Therefore, we are perplexed as to why the NUJ chose to pre-empt the normal industrial relations procedures by issuing a news release," Mr Galvin said.
Yesterday's stoppage took the form of a three-hour "mandatory meeting" of NUJ members. In its statement, the union said it was demanding the withdrawal of the warning issued to Mr Collison following his decision to publish the charity ball picture. Mr Dooley claimed the incident underlined the "dangers" inherent in Mr Galvin's appointment as managing editor.
Mr Collison, he said, had decided to publish a picture of community interest. The warning issued to Mr Collison was "a disciplinary measure with potentially serious consequences".
