History and Function of the Irish Echo

RESISTING THE MELTING POT THROUGH ETHNIC NEWSPAPERS: HISTORY AND FUNCTION OF THE IRISH ECHO ______________________________________ A Dissertation Submitted to The Temple University Graduate Board _________________________________________ in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ___________________________________________ by James V. O’Connor August 2008 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 1 II. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE .............................................................. 5 Function of the Press......................................................................... 5 Function of the Ethnic Press.............................................................. 7 Ethnic Cultural Identity and Social Memory...................................... 22 The Irish Experience.......................................................................... 30 Conclusions and Discussion............................................................... 38 The Research Questions..................................................................... 41 III. METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................ 42 Case Study.......................................................................................... 43 Oral History........................................................................................ 45 Examples of Relevant Oral Histories................................................. 53 Archival Research.............................................................................. 56 Research Plan: Background............................................................... 64 Study Parameters............................................................................... 65 Conclusion......................................................................................... 74 IV. RESULTS…………………….. ................................................................... 75 V. WORK ROUTINES………………………………………………………. 81 Introduction……………………………………………………….. 81 Getting Hired.......…………………………………………………. 81 Production…………………………………………………………. 85 Competition………………………………………………………... 87 Finding Stories…...………………………………………………… 89 Connecting to the Readers…..……………………………………... 99 Summary…………………………………………………………… 104 VI. GUIDANCE………………………………………………………………. 106 Introduction……………………………………………………….. 106 Seeking Advice…...………………………………………………... 106 Socialization………………………………………………………... 114 Assistance and the Second Generation……..……………………… 119 Life Skills and Education……………..…………………………… 121 Models of Success………………………………………………….. 124 Civic Responsibility………………………………………………… 126 Summary……………………………………………………………. 128 iii VII. IMMIGRATION………………………………………………………….. 130 Introduction………………………………………………………... 130 Historical Background…....………………………………………... 130 Immigration Drives Circulation…..………………………………… 152 Doing Tolerably Well in America………………………………….. 154 Going Back…………………………………………………………. 158 The Invisible Irish..………………………………………………… 159 Alpha Immigrants………………………………………………….. 164 The New Irish Immigrant.................................................................. 167 Summary…………………………………………………………... 169 VIII. IRISH CIVIL WAR……………………………………………………….. 171 Introduction……………………………………………………….. 171 Historical Background...................................................................... 171 Smash the Border………………………………………………….. 191 IRA Men in America...…………………………………..………... 194 Schism Over Tactics...……..…………………………………....... 197 The Troubles………………………………………………………. 202 An Anti-Violence Commitment…………………………………... 205 The Irish Peace Process…………………………………………… 211 Summary………………………………………………………….. 216 IX. IRISH ETHNIC IDENTITY……………………………………………… 218 Introduction……………………………………………………….. 218 Nostalgia…………………………………………………………... 219 Explosion of Everything Irish………..…………………………….. 223 Longing For the Green………………………………………….... 227 John F. Kennedy…………………………………………………. 231 America…………………………………………………………... 232 The Church………………………………………………………… 234 Summary…………………………………………………………... 236 CONCLUSIONS…………………………………………………………. 238 Introduction……………………………………………………….. 238 Bonding…………………………………………………………… 238 Bridging…………………………………………………………… 243 Opportunities for Future Research…..…………………………….. 246 REFERENCES CITED................................................................................................. 248 APPENDICES A. QUESTIONAIRE……………………………………………………………….... 276 B. LIST OF INTERVIEWEES………………………………………………………. 281 C. IRISH ECHO TIME LINE……………………………………………………..…. 288 D. SELECTED FRONT PAGES FROM THE IRISH ECHO……………………..… 289 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Ethnic newspapers represent an enormous area of potential for communication researchers. The ethnic press creates a written record that is reflective of the functional needs of the underlying community. There are hundreds of ethnic newspapers publishing in the United States and ethnic news circulation has grown twenty-four percent in the last ten years (Ford Foundation, 2004, p. 4). This is in sharp contrast to a ten percent decline for mainstream American newspapers during that same period (Journalism.org, 2004). In a nation of immigrants where the expectation of assimilation is strong, the ethnic news has served a dual purpose of assisting new arrivals in acculturation while allowing them to maintain cultural ties to their native country. The ethnic press was viewed by early American leaders as a divisive agent in the development of a young nation. That distrust reemerged after September 11, 2001, with the fear that religious and cultural newspapers were incubating anti-American violence (Kugel, p. 6). But American politicians saw the potential of the ethnic press to mobilize and deliver large blocks of voters. The editorial office of the Irish Echo, in New York City, which is the subject of this dissertation, has always been a scheduled stop for anyone running for political office in New York State. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when many immigrants arrived illiterate and unsophisticated in the ways of American politics, the editorial position of the trusted ethnic newspaper was a vote delivery machine. Despite the hundreds of cultures and languages that they represent, ethnic newspapers share a great deal in common. Ethnic newspapers practice a sharp edged 2 form of advocacy journalism. They provide the community with news from the homeland and act as interpreters of events in the United States (Paul, 1970, p. 525). Most ethnic newspapers fight against discrimination and advocate for immigrants on issues of employment, healthcare, housing, and fair treatment by the law, which tended to run roughshod over fearful ethnics. They serve an education function, advising readers to shed their “backward” ways, seek education and job training, and to learn to speak English (Vecoli, p. 422). Ethnic newspapers are also businesses and operate with the intent of making a profit. Immigrant communities have always been incubators of new businesses to serve special cultural needs and the ethnic press delivers a ready market of consumers. Ethnic newspapers are founded with a combination of intent: profit, community service, and a sounding board for vocal community leaders. All three of these motives contributed to the founding of the Irish Echo (O’Hanlon, p. 154). The Irish Echo was founded in 1928 in Harlem by Charles Connolly. The newspaper was delivered by a horse-drawn cart to the newsstands within the predominantly Irish neighborhoods of upper Manhattan, the Lower East Side, and the Bronx. Its circulation has always been driven by a steady stream of immigrants fleeing the ubiquitous poverty of Ireland. The newspaper has survived several circulation wars over its three quarters of a century existence, most of the time in a cutthroat battle with the Irish Voice, which has quietly accepted its position as the number two Irish newspaper in New York. The Echo has had a predominantly Catholic, working class, Democratic readership who resided in the Irish neighborhoods of the five boroughs of New York. But the Irish assimilated rapidly, educated themselves, joined the Republican Party and moved to the suburbs of Long Island, Westchester, and Rockland Counties in 3 pursuit of suburban home ownership. The Echo followed the migration by mail or to the suburban newsstands in the larger Irish communities like Yonkers, Pearl River, Mahopac, and Mastic Beach. The Echo is read by the second generation but it is heavily dependent on Irish immigration which has slowed to a trickle in the last ten years due to the booming Irish economy. In the past, Ireland made it a policy of encouraging emigration to alleviate poverty. In 2004, it became the fastest growing economy in the European Union, and for the first time it became a net importer of labor. The Internet has also created a threat to the Echo’s traditional readership because getting news from Ireland is much easier. Both the decline of immigration and easy availability of Irish newspapers online have presented real challenges for the Echo. The newspaper has responded by launching its own online newspaper and in 2005 it began to sell the Echo in Ireland for reverse immigrants interested in news of the New York Irish community. The purpose of this case study of the Irish Echo is to identify how the newspaper functions to serve the needs of the underlying New York-Irish community and how this function has changed over time. The intention

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