Ruadhán Jones
The number of Irish journalists declaring no religious affiliation is four times higher than the general population, a new study has shown.
Some 55% of Irish journalists said they have no affiliation to a particular religion, considerably higher than the 14% among Irish people more generally, a Dublin City University study found.
Just 35% declared they do have a religious affiliation, with the vast majority (89%) identifying as Catholic and 4% as Church of Ireland. Non-denominational Christianity, Quaker, Hindu and Buddhist were also noted by a small number.
‘Religious groups and institutions’ are considered the least influential factor/source for Irish journalists, with just 1% saying they are ‘very/extremely influential’, 17% saying ‘slightly/moderately influential’, and 48% saying ‘not influential’.
The remaining 34% of respondents said they were not relevant to their work or did not answer, the study ‘Irish Journalists at Work’ shows.
The study also shows that Irish journalists are overwhelmingly left-leaning in their political outlook, with 61% of journalists identifying as ‘fairly/very’ left wing or ‘slightly’ left of centre.