The third and fourth chapters study two national dailies, the Freeman's Journal the Irish Independent. These papers were widely read across the country and the chapters function as a case study of the nationalist press and its reactions to Dáil policies, IRA violence, Crown violence and British rule in Ireland during this time. These papers would play a vital role in Ireland during 1919-1921 and both, but especially the Freeman’s Journal, would regularly find themselves in confrontation with Dublin Castle and the Crown forces. These confrontations tell us much about British rule in Ireland and provide a fascinating study of how a government seeks to censor, manipulate and intimidate a hostile press.
In the ensuing chapters three newspapers, the Cork Examiner, The Irish Times and the The Times of London are studied. The Cork Examiner was the most widely read regional newspaper and it provides an example of how both the British and republicans tried to control the news. The paper was suppressed by the military and suffered the constrictions of Martial Law. It was a nationalist paper yet it was a constant critic of IRA violence. The Irish Times, the most famous and widely read Unionist newspaper, provided a window into the minds of the southern unionist establishment. The paper was completely opposed to the aims of Dáil Éireann but a detailed study of the paper's editorials and reports reveals why, by 1920, the paper carried an editorial line that was strongly critical of the Irish administration and the British Government. Indeed, by the end of that year The Irish Times had reversed its previous policy and began advocating Dominion Home Rule for Ireland.
The Times of London also plays an important part in the book. The hostility of papers such as the Daily Mail, Daily News and Manchester Guardian towards British actions in Ireland is already well known.The Times was one of the first English newspapers to grasp the importance of events in Ireland and it was The Times which was the first newspaper to advance detailed proposals for a settlement in Ireland. What was also interesting about The Times was that it was a long-time opponent of self-government for Ireland yet it completely reversed this policy during the War of Independence. Its reasons were not, initially, any new-found sense of affiliation with Ireland but a fear that Britain's standing would be damaged on the world stage, especially in the United States. Studying The Times also adds a wider dimension to the book in that English newspapers played a crucial role in Ireland during these years.
Ultimately, the newspapers were not merely recording events but were often active as participants, whether that was in their promotion of certain political agendas, their reporting of the key political and military issues or, as with the Freeman’s Journal and The Times of London, through their involvement in the political process that preceded the truce of July 1921. The Paper Wall explains the part played by the press in Ireland during a war in which it has been written that 'newspaper ink was spilled more freely than blood'. | 
