Newspapers are facing "significant challenges" which are threatening their ability to function, the Press Council has warned.
Newspaper production has almost halved in the last 10 years, according to the Council’s annual report.
There has been a sharp decline in advertising revenue and circulation of newspapers.
Chairman of the Press Council Sean Donlon said: “The drop in advertising revenue and in circulation are imminent threats to the financial stability of the industry. It is a sobering fact that newspaper circulation in Ireland has halved over the last decade.
“Revenue from advertising is also in sharp decline with a decline of 11% expected this year. Online advertising this year is projected to be at least five times that of the print sector.
“The shortage of funds has inevitably brought about a decline in investigative journalism, public interest reporting and coverage of the activities of local authorities and other public bodies.”
Donlon also described the Defamation Act 2009 as "the other major threat to press freedom in Ireland".
He said: “In the absence of a reform of the Act, newspapers are inhibited from investigating and publishing matters which the public has a right to know.
“Because of the exorbitant costs involved they are understandably reluctant to confront legal actions and threats of such actions, sometimes from individuals with deeper pockets than those of the papers themselves.”
He also said that a review which was announced in November 2016 is yet to be published.
Overall 464 complaints were received by the Press Council in 2018 which was an increase since 2017.
Press Ombudsman Peter Feeney said: “Given that 160 of the complaints received referred to a single cartoon published in the Sunday Independent and that Principle 8 was cited in all these complaints this spike in concerns about prejudice is likely to be regarded as a once-off.
“Only one complaint about the cartoon ended up in a formal decision by me. The complaint was not upheld.
“In my decision I noted that the Sunday Independent had published a large selection of letters, mostly critical, on the subject of the cartoon in its two editions following publication of the cartoon including a letter from the cartoonist explaining his reasoning behind his sketch.”
Feeney has also spoken of the shift to social media in the last 20 years and how it is stripping the resources of newspapers.
