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This chapter posits an overlapping sense of alienation among Southern Protestants and Irish intellectuals during the 1930s and 1940s, as both groups found themselves out of step with the pieties of the Catholic nationalist culture predominant at the time. It identifies secular Catholic intellectuals Seán O'Faoláin and Owen Sheehy Skeffington as central figures in Irish society and the importance of the journal The Bell. It evaluates Butler's attempts to frame his notions of communal belonging in philosophical terms, placing his writings in the context of his own wide reading, the ideas of George W. Russell, and the influence of Catholic Vocationalism in 1930s Ireland. It introduces his fascination with various social utopian experiments from history, analyses his attitude to his own Christian inheritance, and evaluates his essentially secular brand of Protestantism. It notes the evolution of traditionally Protestant institutions such as the Irish Times and Trinity College Dublin in accommodating social change.

The ‘war of words’ over Irish neutrality actually began in 1937 when the Free State adopted the Irish word for Ireland and officially became ‘Eire’. Taking the name ‘Eire’ was the Free State making a symbolic claim to all of Ireland; declaring itself a neutral state was drawing a line between Ireland and Great Britain. The Gaelic American added sympathy for Germany to its vituperative commentary on England – all to further the cause of Irish nationalism. The Irish Press was the primary press supporter of the neutrality policy; the pro-British Irish Times argued that it was unrealistic. Propaganda channels included broadcasting. Cinema was likewise an effective propaganda channel. In September 1939, the United States was also neutral, and the British Ministry of Information was far removed from being in a position to disseminate much of anything resembling propaganda in Eire.

This chapter examines the impact that the arrival of television had on journalism. It argues that Section 18 of the Broadcasting Authority Act had a profound influence on the trajectory of journalism. This section required RTÉ to be ‘fair and impartial’ in its news and current affairs – a very different requirement to that which had previously informed journalism. This inevitably put pressure on other media outlets to distance themselves from their political allegiances and give journalists greater autonomy. The chapter examines how, in a decade of unprecedented social change, this new dynamic in journalism took root and looks at the clashes that erupted between journalists and institutions that had, up to then, had it all their own way.

First published in March 1859 and established by former conservative MP, Lawrence E. Knox, The Irish Times was aimed at Dublin’s mercantile and administrative class, which was predominantly Protestant and unionist. It articulated a belief that Ireland functioned best as part of the British Empire. In line with its conservative ethos it believed the position of the established (minority) church should be ‘left undisturbed’ and was opposed to the concept of the secret ballot, which had ‘been overrated by its promoters’. It did, however, recognise the need for land reform. Following Knox’s death in 1873 the title was purchased by Scottish businessman Sir John Arnott. As a philanthropist, Arnott was sympathetic to the objectives – though not the tactics – of the Land League. Home Rule, however, was a different issue: despite Arnott being sympathetic to the demands for Home Rule, TheIrish Times consistently and vehemently editorialised against it in 1886 and 1892. This strain of thinking was to continue through to the early twentieth century, when in an independent Ireland, nationalists were often quick to point to the title’s heritage as proof of its where its real, supposedly pro-British, sympathies lay.