Michael Burns MBE (17 January 1937 – 27 February 2021) was a British-born Irish journalist who spent the majority of his career working with national broadcaster

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, ...

. He has been described as "one of the most significant journalists in the history of Irish broadcasting."

Career

Burns began his journalism career with the '' Sunday Independent'', before joining

a year after the television service began. He began writing for the

RTÉ Guide The ''RTÉ Guide'' is a television and radio listings magazine in Ireland published by RTÉ Commercial Enterprises Ltd, a subsidiary of Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). The magazine offers detailed programme listings for RTÉ channels, as w ...

, but soon moved to the newsroom. Burns became RTÉ’s first Editor of News Features, launching the '' News at 1.30'', '' World Report'' and ''

This Week This Week may refer to: * ''This Week'' (1956 TV programme), a 1956–1992 British current affairs television programme broadcast on ITV * ''This Week'' (2003 TV programme), a weekly British political discussion television programme that aired on ...

''. By the time of his retirement he had moved to London and was working as RTÉ's London Editor. In 2004 Burns received an MBE in acknowledgment of his services to UK-Irish relations throughout his career.

References

1937 births 2021 deaths English emigrants to Ireland Irish radio presenters Irish reporters and correspondents RTÉ newsreaders and journalists Members of the Order of the British Empire Sunday Independent (Ireland) people {{Ireland-journalist-stub