The Mayo News is a weekly regional paper founded in 1892 in Westport, County Mayo, in the West of Ireland. The paper was established by brothers William and Patrick Doris, who were both active in the Land Reform movement but held different opinions regarding Irish independence. Under William’s guidance, the paper took on a nationalist tone around the time of the 1916 Uprising and advocated Irish independence. 

The paper appears to have remained within the Doris family until 1947, when it was acquired by a newly incorporated company from  Westport company Foilseacháin Náisiúnta Teoranta (FNT / National Publications Ltd.) 

FNT’s primary interest in the Mayo News was its printing press. One of FNT’s founders, Proinsias Mac an Bheatha, was involved (along with journalist Ciarán Ó Nualláin, the brother of Brien O’Nolan aka “Mykes na gCopaleen”)  in the establishment of “Inniu”, the Irish-language newspaper which ran from 1943 until 1984. The acquisition of the Mayo News printing press secured the capacity to print the weekly editions of Inniu, but the Mayo News paper was maintained alongside FNT’s activities as a publisher of Irish-language periodicals and books. 

FNT later went into liquidation in 1988, at which point Joe Berry, who had founded an independent printing company in Westport in 1964, acquired the Mayo News. On Joe Berrry’s passing in 2004, his son Dermot took over the paper.

In June 2008, as the economic recession began to bite, Dermot Berry put the title on the market through Raglan Capital. Two bidders came forward were apparently seriously considered before Berry had a change of heart and took the title off the market again. 

The Mayo News was finally purchased by Iconic Media from the Berry Family in 2022. It was one of the last family-owned newspapers in Ireland at the time of purchase. The paper is now operated by Formpress Publishing Ltd., which is owned by Iconic Media, whose parent company is Media Concierge (Holdings) Limited. Media Concierge is wholly owned by The Denmark Family, with UK businessman Malcolm Denmark as the controlling shareholder.

The Mayo News has one of the largest print circulations of Ireland’s provincial papers at approximately 10,000 copies. The paper also operates the online site, Mayo Live, which mostly publishes stories that also appear in its print edition. According to its website, the Mayo News reaches 20,000 weekly customers across print and digital.  

In recent years, the Mayo News has been publicly commended for the quality of its journalism. In 2014, the News was named European Local Newspaper of the Year. It also won three design and layout awards at the European Newspaper Awards in 2019.