Journalists at Independent Newspapers are seeking an explanation from the company about why executives moved to withdraw an article on the future control of the Dunnes Stores retail group from today's editions. Emmet Oliver reports.
Company sources confirmed yesterday evening the article was due to be withheld, but refused to comment on why. "The editor decides on all content," said a company spokesman.
The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) said it was concerned about the incident and it raised "serious issues about editorial control at the paper".
Among the topics covered in the piece was who would succeed Mrs Margaret Hefferenan at the head of the Dunnes Stores group. It was scheduled to be included in the weekend section of today's Irish Independent. But after discussions at a high level, a decision was taken to withhold it.
Late last night Independent executives were still discussing the decision.
It is understood Dunnes Stores places over €1 million of advertising with Independent titles annually and the impending publication of the article caused great concern in the Dunne family.
It is understood they believed the article would be upsetting.
Last night the NUJ chapel at Independent Newspapers said it would be seeking an explanation for what happened.
Mr Ben Dunne has now left the company and has devoted much of his time to a chain of health and leisure complexes, mainly located on the northside of Dublin.
Mrs Heffernan remains head of the Dunnes companies and is the leading figure in its retail operation, although several younger members of the family are also now involved.
The Independent Group has long argued that editorial independence is assured at all of its titles.
The executive chairman of the group, Sir Anthony O'Reilly, has repeatedly said that editors of his titles are free to edit their newspapers without commercial pressures being applied.