Sinn Féin (newspaper)

Sinn Féin was a weekly Irish nationalist newspaper edited by the Dublin typesetter, journalist and political thinker Arthur Griffith. It was published by the Sinn Féin Printing & Publishing Company Ltd. (SFPP) between 1906 and 1914, and replaced an earlier newspaper called the United Irishman which was liquidated after a libel suit. The SFPP brought out the Sinn Féin Daily in 1909 but had to abandon it when it plunged the company into enormous debt. The Sinn Féin weekly and the SFPP both came to an end when they were suppressed by the British Government in 1914.

When the SFPP began to publish Sinn Féin in 1906 it was a large format (slightly larger than a modern broadsheet), 4-page newspaper with 7 columns per page.

Trained as he was in the graphic side of newspaper production, Arthur Griffith had both a professional interest in and a profound understanding of visual culture. An anonymous article on advertising in Leabhar na hÉireann (The Irish Yearbook), probably written by Grifith himself, explains the benefits of American-style advertising techniques for promoting Irish-made products. The use of typography and images is particularly praised:

The most useful and by far the most profitable method of attracting the attention is through the medium of an illustration. A good picture invariably captures the eye, and if it is of sufficient interest, may be relied upon to induce the reader to pursue the matter further.

He was also very much aware of how visual discourses could be used to defend the Irish nation against cultural Anglicisation. In his newspaper propaganda he continually promoted the use of such discourses to develop a strong brand awareness for the Irish nation.

The most important graphic element of the Sinn Féin newspaper was the Déanta i nÉirinn symbol. This distinctive logo was created by the Irish Industrial Development Association (IIDA). The text in Irish means "Made in Ireland". From the autumn of 1909, Griffith’s newspapers displayed it proudly and very prominently on their front page between the words ‘sinn’ and ‘féin’ in the title-piece. It could also frequently be seen in advertisements and cartoons throughout. Both a trade description and a statement of Sinn Féin’s industrial politics, this mark played a fundamental role in the newspaper propaganda published by the SFPP. Griffith felt it important to explain to his readers what the symbol meant in the context of Sinn Féinism and in relation to his newspaper:

Here Griffith blends Sinn Féin's industrial politics (buy Irish, provide employment, stop emigration) with a sales pitch for the new Sinn Féin Daily. While promoting his own newspaper at the expense of his competitors, Griffith highlights the existence of a native ink-making and paper-making industry. Other newspapers which purport to promote the national cause fall into the category of spurious. Their alleged nationalism is therefore extremely questionable.In his 1917 book Francis P. Jones, an American friend of Griffith's and historian of the early Sinn Féin movement explains the background to the creation of the trademark and the symbolism of its design. After outlining a major difficulty faced by Irish manufacturers, he describes the measures taken to protect them:

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