RTÉ News: Nine O'Clock

RTÉ News: Nine O'Clock

On-screen logo 2009
Format News, Business, Sport, Weather
Presented by Eileen Dunne
Country of origin Republic of Ireland
Language(s) English
Production
Location(s) Donnybrook, Dublin
Camera setup Multi-camera
Running time 30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel RTÉ One
Original run December 31, 1961 – Present
Chronology
Related shows RTÉ News: Six One
RTÉ News on Two
External links
Website

RTÉ News: Nine O'Clock (also known as the Nine O'Clock News) is the flagship evening news programme of Irish television station RTÉ One. The programme is broadcast on Sunday - Friday evenings at 9pm and covers the day's Irish, national and international news. On Saturday, the main evening news is broadcast at a different timeslot to accommodate other programmes.

Contents

[hide]

Early history

In the early years of RTE Television, the main evening bulletin was broadcast on the half-hour, at 9:30pm, as were the station's radio bulletins, where were broadcast at 1:30pm and 6:30pm. By 1974, the main television bulletin of the day was moved to 9pm. The main radio bulletins were also moved, in stages, with the last to move, the 6:30pm news, not being moved until 1990.[1]

RTÉ followed the BBC in having its news bulletins presented by a newsreader, (ie, professional readers, often actors) who took no part on news gathering but simply read a script presented to them.

Among the most prominent readers of the 9:30pm bulletins were Charles Mitchel and Maurice O'Doherty. Later presenters of the Nine O'Clock News included Don Cockburn and Derek Davis. RTÉ journalists were eventually introduced as news presenters including Bryan Dobson and Anne Doyle.

Current programme

The bulletin usually runs for 30 minutes, including an advertising break which divides the broadcast in two. RTÉ's news format is heavily modelled on the BBC - it places less emphasis on set and graphics than bulletins on ITV News or Sky News.

Traditionally three separate elements were incorporated within the programme: news, sports results and the weather forecast. The weather forecast was subsequently separated and is now broadcast directly after the programme. There is usually no sports mentioned unless a major event is occurring with the main night sports bulletin being broadcast on RTÉ News on Two instead. [2]

Controversy

On Sunday January 7, 2007, the programme was embroiled in controversy after reporting that Northern Irish politician David Ervine had died following complications from a heart attack. His death was given extensive coverage on RTÉ News: Nine O' Clock that night, with newsreader Anne Doyle going so far as to say he had just died as she was reading the headlines, and tributes beginning to pour in from RTÉ's Northern Editor Tommie Gorman, but this was retracted at the end of the bulletin. Whether he was alive or dead was to be disputed as confusion and panic arose following the broadcast, prompting Anne Doyle to state that she could neither confirm nor deny his death. He then died the following day.[3]

References

External links