RTÉ's head of news scoops the July Cork person of month award

A Douglas native who is the head of news at the national broadcaster has been named Cork Person of the Month for July.

Deirdre McCarthy was appointed RTÉ’s managing director for news and current affairs in 2022, becoming the first woman to occupy the role.

Serving as part of RTÉ’s senior management team and sitting on the State broadcaster’s executive board, Ms McCarthy has responsibility for programmes such as Morning Ireland, Six One News, and Prime Time.

An active champion of initiatives promoting media literacy and fostering informed public discourse, Ms McCarthy was instrumental in launching RTÉ’s Clarity initiative, which aims to demystify complicated issues, debunk attempts to distort reality, detail how online discourse impacts democracy, and explain how RTÉ verifies its journalism.

Ms McCarthy has held a number of positions in RTÉ across three decades, among them stints as a TV and radio journalist, contributing to RTÉ’s flagship programmes such as Six One News and Nationwide.

She also worked as editor of The Week In Politics, and political coverage editor of RTÉ’s news and current affairs output.

Speaking as he presented Ms McCarthy with the Cork Person of the Month award for July, awards founder and organiser Manus O’Callaghan said she was a proud native of Douglas whose exceptional talent, unwavering dedication, and insightful leadership had been instrumental in shaping RTÉ’s news and current affairs output.

“Deirdre’s appointment as managing director of news and current affairs at RTÉ is a tremendous achievement, honour and responsibility,” he said.

“In a world where ‘Fake News’ has entered the lexicon, trust in who supplies our news is all important, and RTÉ News under Deirdre’s guidance tops all the surveys which measure trust in media organisations.”

Ms McCarthy’s name will now be put forward for consideration as Cork Person of the Year, alongside the other monthly award recipients, at the annual gala awards lunch, which will be held in January 2026.