James Dougal (19 March 1945 – 15 October 2010) was a

Northern Irish The people of Northern Ireland are all people born in Northern Ireland and having, at the time of their birth, at least one parent who is a British Nationality Law, British citizen, an Irish nationality law, Irish citizen or is otherwis ...

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

and broadcaster who had worked, from 1969 until shortly before his death for

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, ...

, UTV and the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. He was said to have maintained a long friendship with

Ian Paisley Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, (6 April 1926 – 12 September 2014) was a loyalist politician and Protestant religious leader from Northern Ireland who served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 1971 to 2008 and ...

. He created a production company, Dougal Media, for which he made profiles of Paisley and Margaret Thatcher. His greatest passion, though, was his family. He is survived by his wife, Deirdre, daughters Tara, Emma and Tina, a stepdaughter, Nicola, and a son, James.

Journalism

An alumnus of St Mary's Christian Brothers' Grammar School, Belfast and a former civil servant, Dougal's career as a journalist began at

BBC Northern Ireland BBC Northern Ireland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Northern Ireland. It is widely available across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. BBC Northern Ireland is one of the four BB ...

as a general reporter. He also worked at Ulster Television before taking up the post as Northern editor at RTÉ from 1974 to 1991. Dougal returned to BBC Northern Ireland in 1991 as the station's political editor, replacing Denis Murray upon his promotion to Ireland Correspondent for the corporation's network news bulletins. Dougal's reports were featured on ''Inside Ulster'' and '' Newsline''. In February 1996, Dougal was appointed as the new co-presenter of BBC Northern Ireland's relaunched evening news programm
''Newsline 6.30''
Dougal stood down from presenting the programme after just two months to concentrate on reporting."Present twists on Newsline's presentation"
belfasttelegraph.co.uk; 6 May 1996; accessed 17 June 2008.

European Commission

Dougal left the BBC in 1997 to take up a job for the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

, initially based in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

. He later became the head of the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

for the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

until 2004.

Return to journalism

In 2006 Dougal returned to broadcasting by presenting and producing ''The Eternal Optimist'', a documentary about the former

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...

Primate of All Ireland The Primacy of Ireland belongs to the diocesan bishop of the Irish diocese with highest precedence. The Archbishop of Armagh is titled Primate of All Ireland and the Archbishop of Dublin Primate of Ireland, signifying that they are the senior ...

Robin Eames Robert Henry Alexander Eames, Baron Eames (born 27 April 1936) is an Anglican bishop and life peer, who served as Primate of All Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh from 1986 to 2006. Early life and education Eames was born in 1936, the son of ...

. He formed a part of UTV's presenting team for the station's coverage of that year's

Northern Ireland Assembly The Northern Ireland Assembly (; ), often referred to by the metonym ''Stormont'', is the devolved unicameral legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliam ...

election in March 2007. Dougal, who ran his own broadcast company Dougal Media, also presented and produced a UTV documentary entitled ''Paisley, from Protest to Power'' charting the life of Northern Ireland's

First Minister A first minister is any of a variety of leaders of government cabinets. The term literally has the same meaning as "prime minister" but is typically chosen to distinguish the office-holder from a superior prime minister. Currently the title of ' ...

– the programme aired on the day Paisley took up office in Northern Ireland alongside Deputy First Minister

Martin McGuinness James Martin Pacelli McGuinness (; 23 May 1950 – 21 March 2017) was an Irish republican politician and statesman for Sinn Féin and a leader within the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) during The Troubles. He was the deputy First Minist ...

. He continued to work as a broadcaster, writer and media affairs and public affairs consultant until his death on 15 October 2010 at the age of 65 from cancer.

Honours

Dougal was awarded an honorary doctorate from

Queen's University, Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

for services to the community in Northern Ireland.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dougal, Jim 1945 births 2010 deaths BBC newsreaders and journalists Deaths from cancer in Northern Ireland Irish journalists Journalists from Northern Ireland Writers from Belfast RTÉ newsreaders and journalists Television presenters from Northern Ireland UTV (TV channel) people People educated at St. Mary's Christian Brothers' Grammar School, Belfast Male non-fiction writers from Northern Ireland Broadcasters from Belfast