Deirdre McCarthy Named Cork Person of the Month for July
Deirdre McCarthy has been named Cork Person of the Month for July in recognition of her groundbreaking role as Managing Director, News & Current Affairs at RTÉ over recent years. This prestigious role marks a significant milestone, as Deirdre becomes the first woman to lead the national broadcaster’s news and current affairs division.
Through this role Deirdre forms part of the senior management team at RTÉ and sits on their Executive Board. With top RTÉ shows such as Morning Ireland, Six One News and Prime Time under her remit, she holds significant responsibility for the public broadcasters’ most watched programmes .
A proud native of Douglas in Cork City, this news boss role is a testament to her exceptional talent, unwavering dedication, and insightful leadership. Throughout her accomplished tenure at RTÉ, she has consistently demonstrated a keen understanding of the evolving media landscape and a strong commitment to journalistic integrity. Her strategic vision and collaborative approach have been instrumental in shaping RTÉ’s news and current affairs output.
Deirdre is an active champion of initiatives promoting media literacy and fostering informed public discourse. Her commitment to fair and balanced reporting has been a hallmark of her career, ensuring that diverse voices are heard and critical issues are examined with rigour and accuracy.
This is epitomised in her work launching RTÉ’s Clarity initiative, which aims to demystify complicated issues, debunk deliberate attempts to distort reality, detail how online discourse impacts democracy, and explain exactly how RTÉ verifies its quality journalism.
Deirdre brings a significant breadth of experience into this Managing Director role, having held a number of positions in RTÉ across three decades. These include stints as a TV and radio journalist, contributing to RTÉ’s flagship programmes such as the Six One News and Nationwide; Editor of the Week In Politics; and Political Coverage Editor of RTÉ’s News and Current Affairs Output.
Speaking as he presented Deirdre with her award, Awards Founder and Organiser Manus O’Callaghan said, “Deirdre’s appointment as Managing Director of News & Current Affairs at RTÉ is a tremendous achievement, honour and responsibility. In a world where Fake News has entered the lexicon,” Trust” in who supplies our news is all important, and RTE News under Deirdre’s guidance tops all the surveys which measures trust in media organisations.”
Deirdre’s name will now be put forward for consideration as Cork Person of the Year at the annual Gala Awards Lunch in January 2026, alongside the other monthly award recipients.
