The Phoenix (magazine)
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October 2005 cover
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| Type | Magazine |
|---|---|
| Format |
Current affairs Satire |
| Owner(s) | Penfield Enterprises Ltd. |
| Editor | Paddy Prendeville |
| Founded | 1983 |
| Political alignment | Left |
| Headquarters | 44 Lower Baggot Street Dublin 2 Ireland |
| Website | Official Website |
The Phoenix is an Irish political and current affairs magazine established in 1983. Inspired by the British magazine Private Eye it was edited for thirty years by Paddy Prendeville. The publication is generally fortnightly, with a larger annual issue each December.
The magazine was launched in January 1983 and is published by Penfield Enterprises Ltd. The magazine was established by John Mulcahy, who remains the owner. It had an ABC-audited circulation of 19,014 for 2004 and 18,268 in 2007. The current editor is Paddy Prendiville, editor since about a year after the magazine was started.
The name Phoenix is a reference to its "emergence from the ashes" of two of Mulcahy's previous publications. These were the republican political magazine Hibernia, which ceased publishing in 1980 after a libel action, and the Sunday Tribune newspaper, which first collapsed financially in 1982.
The magazine secures much of its material from "insider" sources, and promotes contact with its Goldhawk phone line.
Features in the magazine include a news column; detailed profiles ("Pillars of Society" and "The Young Bloods"); "Affairs of the Nation", which looks at political scandals; "Bog Cuttings" which consists of humorous and unusual events outside Dublin (often bizarre court cases), "Hush Hush" and "On the beat", which deals with security and intelligence matters; and a satirical section, "Craic and Codology". It also has an extensive financial column, "Moneybags".
Like Private Eye, the cover features a photo montage with a speech bubble, putting ironic or humorous comments into the mouths of the famous in response to topical events. Other features include an "Apology" section (where the magazine offers an ersatz apology for the failings or success of some person or event), "That Menu in Full", the use of ("That's enough of this. -Ed" type interjections) and their derivatives, and the Christmas Gift lists, where implausible gifts with ridiculous features are offered for sale.
In contrast to Private Eye, the Phoenix is printed on magazine stock rather than newsprint, and uses colour, including photography, quite extensively.
A fixture in The Phoenix magazine is a full-page parody of the Taoiseach of the day, always located in the "Craic and Codology" section:
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Wikipedia