If you are reading this and you are not one of our much-appreciated digital subscribers, then it is likely you are holding the new printed version of the Ireland edition of The Times in your hands.
If so, then welcome along and we hope you have enjoyed what you have read. As a reader of the editorial pages we do not need to tell you that it is unbecoming of journalists or media outlets to state their own importance, and we would never deign to. But if you could humour us just this once, there is a promise we would like to make.
Fake news played an influential role in the Brexit vote and the US election. Of course “real news” did as well, whether published online by click-chasing media companies or on the side of buses by vote-chasing politicians. Ireland, too, has not been immune to such a phenomenon. It is not as though a print edition’s first editorial is likely to say otherwise but traditional media organisations, imperfect though we may be, remain the best deterrent against the loosening of what passes for debate and what passes for truth.
Like other established media groups, The Times is proud of its long tradition of independent reporting and analysis, both in the UK and more recently in this country.
The public is accessing its news from a huge number of sources. Many people, particularly younger age groups, are eschewing traditional media outlets which, notwithstanding their faults, do engage in fact-checking and the substantiating of stories before running them. Others are muddying the waters on purpose by maliciously sharing information they know to be false.
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In such an environment the need for proper journalism cannot be overstated. Take, for example, the two highest-profile newspapers in the US: The Washington Post and The New York Times. They have been doing a better job in recent weeks of holding the Trump administration to account than the Democrats or the Houses of Congress.
Today’s edition does not merely represent an investment in our country — though that is important — it is also a further investment in the journalistic values that are the bedrock of every functioning democracy. The need for such values has never been greater, and we promise to do everything we can to maintain them.