John Ryan is an Irish journalist and publisher. He is a former editor of ''

Magill ''Magill'' was an Irish politics and current affairs magazine founded by Vincent Browne and others in 1977. ''Magill'' specialised in investigative articles and colourful reportage by journalists such as Eamonn McCann (who wrote its anonymous ...

'' and '' In Dublin''. His publications include the magazines VIP and New York Dog (both with former business partner, Michael O'Doherty) and the websites blogorrah.com, and Broadsheet.ie. In 2009 Ryan also created and starred in a

RTÉ Two (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Republic of Ireland, Irish Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, television, RT� ...

comedy television show '' This is Nightlive'', which mimicked the antics of Ireland's newscasters and other newsroom members.

Early life

Ryan grew up in

Monkstown, Dublin Monkstown (), historically known as ''Carrickbrennan'' (), is a suburb on the southside of Dublin, Ireland, located in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. It is on the coast, between Blackrock and Dún Laoghaire while also bordering Sallynoggin and Dea ...

and was educated at C.B.C. Monkstown. A number of his relatives, including his father John Ryan Snr, were well known in the arts scene in Dublin. His grandfather,

Séamus Ryan Séamus Ryan (2 December 1893 – 30 June 1933) was a member of the Seanad Éireann from 1931 to 1933 representing the Fianna Fáil party. Early life He was born at the family farm in the townland of Deerpark in the County Tipperary Parish of ...

, was a Senator in the Irish Parliament whilst his aunt

Kathleen Ryan Kathleen Ryan (8 September 1922 – 11 December 1985) was an Irish actress. She was born in Dublin, Ireland of Tipperary parentage and appeared in British and Hollywood films between 1947 and 1957. In 2020, she was listed as number 40 on ''Th ...

was an actress.

Career

Early work

Ryan started his career in journalism with a local newspaper in north London, ''The Hornsey Journal''. Ryan served as a war correspondent during his early years, reporting from Bosnia, Rwanda an
apartheid South Africa
He was also editor of ''

'' magazine and ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' Culture section in addition to journalism with the '' Sunday Independent''.

Breaking the Charlie Haughey and Terry Keane affair

In 1999 whilst editing the Culture section and working as a journalist at ''

'', Ryan broke the story of the long-time affair between the former Taoiseach and

Terry Keane Terry Keane (1939 – 31 May 2008), born in Guildford, England, was an Irish social columnist and fashion journalist. Life Born Ann Teresa O'Donnell in Guildford, Surrey, UK in 1939, Keane studied medicine at Trinity College, Dublin. She dro ...

, a columnist of ''The Keane Edge'' at ''The Sunday Independent''. Keane had left ''The Sunday Independent'' on bad terms and Ryan, who had worked with her at ''The Sunday Independent'', approached her to sell her story to ''The Times''.

''The Sunday Supplement''

Ryan briefly hosted a Sunday morning current affairs show on Radio Ireland (later

Today FM Today FM is an Irish commercial FM radio station, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio Ireland Limited. Broadcasting since 17 March 1997, it broadcasts mostly music, with a daily news and current affairs programme. Today FM holds a licen ...

) entitled ''The Sunday Supplement''. Ryan was succeeded as host by journalist Sam Smyth.

Publishing

Ryan co-founded ''

VIP A very important person (VIP or V.I.P.) or personage is a person who is accorded special privileges due to their high social rank, status, influence, or importance. The term was not common until sometime after World War II when it was populari ...

'' with former business partner Michael O'Doherty. In 2001 Ryan launched ''GI'' magazine, Ireland's first gay lifestyle glossy. The magazine, which struggled to find advertisers and was closed in 2003, was notable for a billboard campaign depicting two footballers wearing opposing GAA colours and French kissing one another. Ryan's publishing company also owned the publishing venture '' Stars on Sunday'' which folded following failure to meet projected circulation figures. He then set up the ''New York Dog'' magazine, which he promoted on '' The Late Late Show'', and a

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

-based website, blogorrah.com, which was described by the ''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray backgrou ...

'' as "a sort of '' Phoenix'' without portfolio". The site was edited by Derek O'Connor but stopped filing new posts in July 2007.

''This is Nightlive''

Ryan returned to Ireland in 2008 to pitch his idea for a new television show to

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

. The show, ''This is Nightlive'', launched in January 2009. It was satirical in nature and parodied a typical newsroom fronted by the fictional anchorman Johnny Hansom. Hansom (played by Ryan) and his team who present a Lifestyle News show on which they claim that "they are the news". Ryan modelled his show on ''

The Colbert Report ''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late night television, late-night Late-night talk show, talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December ...

'', a show with a cult following on

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

cable television.

''Broadsheet.ie''

In June 2010 Ryan and writer Niall Murphy launched Broadsheet.ie as a "news source for the bewildered," combining news, satire, music, art, and missing dogs/cats/bikes. It was voted Best Web-Only Publication in the Realex Fire Web Awards 2014. Ryan posted under the pseudonym "Bodger" as well as under his real name on the site. In June 2022, Broadsheet announced that it was ending its operations; many commenters on the website attributed its demise to alienating readers through the prominence it gave to

conspiracy theories A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * ...

around

Covid-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

's 2022 war against

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

References

External links

*
''This is Nightlive'' site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, John 1967 births Living people Broadcasters from County Dublin Irish magazine editors Irish publishers (people) Magill people People educated at C.B.C. Monkstown People from Monkstown, Dublin Today FM presenters Writers from County Dublin