WIT News
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WIT fellowship conferred on RTÉ presenter Michael Ryan Posted: Mon, March 8, 2010 |
Waterford Institute of Technology has conferred an honorary fellowship on Michael Ryan, the presenter of Nationwide, the thrice-weekly RTÉ television programme that regularly attracts an audience of over 470,000 viewers.
Michael, who lives near New Ross, Co Wexford, has worked with the national broadcaster for more than 40 years having begun his career in journalism with the Irish Independent.
At RTÉ, he first worked on a television programme called ‘Newsbeat’ as a features reporter. He subsequently won a Jacobs Award for ‘Enterprise’, a business and economics programme.
Michael later worked on current affairs television programmes including ‘Seven Days’ and ‘Frontline’ as well as on a number of well-received documentaries.
In the 1980s, he moved to Co Wexford and took up the position of southeast correspondent with RTÉ News.
In the early 1990s, he proposed ‘Nationwide’ and the programme was born out of the broadcaster’s Waterford studios before later relocating to the larger facilities at RTÉ Cork as the programme’s content and frequency increased.
Conferring the honorary fellowship on its 12th recipient, Prof Kieran R Byrne, President, Waterford Institute of Technology said: “Michael has made a rich contribution to Irish broadcasting over a sustained period. Nationwide, which he both edited and presented for many years and which he continues to present, consistently appears in the top 20 most popular television programmes broadcast in Ireland with an audience share of over 30 per cent.
“To carve out and retain such a substantial audience is a signal achievement in this age of unprecedented choice across the broadcast spectrum,” he continued. “The continuing popularity of Nationwide underlines the appetite that exists for programming showcasing some of what is best and unique about this country. The programme shines a light on otherwise unsung local heroes and brings community life to a large national audience. It also reminds us that – even now - there is more to Ireland than negative equity, NAMA, redundancies, gangland crime, child abuse scandals and other social and economic crises.
“In his previous role as southeast correspondent with RTÉ News, Michael championed regional news content and worked hard to ensure that Waterford and the southeast captured a fair share of national airtime. This exposure for the region was important and remains so. In conferring the honorary fellowship on Michael Ryan, the Institute community acknowledges the contribution made to Irish life by him and his colleagues in the print, broadcast and – nowadays - online media.”
Accepting the fellowship, Michael Ryan said the conferring was a humbling occasion. “It’s almost a cliché on these occasions to speak of being humbled but I genuinely am delighted to receive this honour from this higher education institution having seen it grow steadily over the last 40 years. Under Prof Byrne’s leadership and with solid stewardship at governing body level, it has achieved far beyond what might legitimately have been expected at its commencement so that it is today a major driver of economic growth and social development.”
Michael Ryan joins previously conferred Fellows Beatrice Barry-Murphy; Ken Bond; Sister Consilio; Sahar Hashemi; Redmond O’Donoghue; Alan G Hassenfeld; Frank O’Conor; Pádraig Ó Fainín; John Treacy; The Hon Danny Williams and Brendan Rowe RIP.
