Irish television news programme
RTE News: Six One
is
RTE
's evening news programme broadcast on the Irish television channel
RTE One
and simulcast on the
RTE News channel
at 6:01pm. The bulletin airs until 7pm on Monday to Friday and until 6:30pm on Saturday and Sunday, when it is styled as
RTE News and Sport
.
Six One
airs after
Nuacht RTE
(news in Irish), which airs at 5:40pm, and
The Angelus
at 6pm.
[1]
It is co-presented by
Sharon Tobin
and
David McCullagh
, the former co-presenter of current affairs programme
Prime Time
.
[2]
[3]
The programme is produced by
RTE News and Current Affairs
, a division of
Raidio Teilifis Eireann
.
History
[
edit
]
Teilifis Eireann made its first news broadcast at 6:00pm on 1 January 1962,
[
citation needed
]
the first day of full programming for the new television station. The ten-minute bulletin was read by
Charles Mitchel
, who remained as RTE's chief television newsreader until his retirement in 1984. He was accompanied in the early years by
Andy O'Mahony
and, from 1966, by
Maurice O'Doherty
.
A year after its launch, the early evening bulletin was moved to 5.50
pm to accommodate a new weeknight current affairs programme called
Broadsheet
, which provided more detailed analysis and reportage on the issues of the day. In September 1964, the 5.50
pm news became part of a new 40-minute magazine programme called
Newsbeat
, which featured a greater emphasis on off-beat regional stories and satire.
Newsbeat
was quickly reduced to 30 minutes but remained in an early evening slot shortly after 6
pm. By 1967, the early evening bulletin reverted to a separate programme.
Newsbeat
was broadcast for the final time on 11 June 1971 with
News
returned to its original 6
pm slot but reduced to a short five-minute bulletin. The early evening bulletin expanded to 15 minutes in October 1972 and change timeslots on several occasions to suit various programming. In January 1975, RTE introduced a news summary for the deaf and hard of hearing to the early evening bulletin.
January 1980 saw the early evening news extended to a 25?40 minute slot, returned to 6
pm and relaunched as
Newstime
, incorporating more regional news coverage, alongside a regular
Countryside
feature and the deaf news summary. A separate early evening news at 5.45
pm was reintroduced in January 1987.
On Monday 3 October 1988, RTE launched its first hour-long news programme
Six One News
, a new format incorporating national, international and regional news as well as live interviews and sports coverage. The programme's first anchors were former political correspondent
Sean Duignan
and long-standing newsreader
Eileen Dunne
(replaced two years later by
Anne Doyle
).
Six One
established its own place in Irish television and politics when the expected winner of the
1990 presidential election
campaign,
Tanaiste
Brian Lenihan
delivered what was universally accepted to be a disastrous live response to a crisis in his campaign. Seeking to deny that he had ever been part of unsuccessful efforts to force
President Hillery
to refuse a parliamentary dissolution in a way that would help Lenihan's party get back into power (claims he himself had made in an on-the-record taped interview recorded some months earlier), Lenihan tried to stare into the camera and told viewers that "on mature recollection" his earlier version was wrong and that he had made no phone calls to the presidential residence to put pressure on the President. The appearance on
Six One
effectively ended Lenihan's presidential campaign.
The programme is also considered
[
by whom?
]
to have ended the domestic political career of then Foreign Minister
Gerry Collins
. On 7 November 1991, in response to a leadership struggle in his party, an overly-emotional, tearful Collins pleaded with the man challenging for the leadership,
Albert Reynolds
, not to "wreck our party right down the centre" and "burst up government". Collins's own chances of leadership were perceived
[
by whom?
]
to have been destroyed by his overly-emotional performance.
In 1992, Duignan left his position as presenter to become government press secretary under
Albert Reynolds
.
Eamonn Lawlor
was appointed as his successor and remained until 1996, when he became a presenter of the current affairs programme
Prime Time
.
His replacement was
Bryan Dobson
, who had been presenting the
One O'Clock News
for several years. In 1997,
Anne Doyle
left to become presenter of the
Nine O'Clock News
. She was replaced by
Una O'Hagan
, who continued until 2005, she decided to concentrate on radio broadcasting and late night bulletins. A number of newsreaders partnered Dobson before
Sharon Ni Bheolain
became permanent co-presenter.
In September 2017, it was announced that Dobson would leave his position as co-presenter. Following the announcement, it also became clear that Ni Bheolain would also leave her position. Dobson left his position as on 25 October 2017 to move to early morning radio on
Morning Ireland
.
[4]
Ni Bheolain left her position in December 2017 to become a rotating presenter on the
Nine O'Clock News
.
On Monday 8 January 2018,
Caitriona Perry
and
Keelin Shanley
began presenting the programme for the first time, with minor formatting changes.
[5]
This continued until Shanley took leave in mid-2019.
Ray Kennedy
frequently took her place and continued her job after she died in February 2020.
David McCullagh
took on Kennedy's role on Monday 31 August 2020, with Perry continuing to be co-anchor.
[2]
[3]
In May 2023, Perry announced that she would be leaving RTE to take up a new international role with the
BBC
based in Washington.
[6]
Sharon Tobin
took on Perry's role on Monday 4 September 2023, with McCullagh continuing to be co-anchor.
[7]
Format
[
edit
]
The programme usually begins with the two presenters in the middle of the studio welcoming the viewer to the program and introducing the main headlines. The opening theme then plays and the program is begun by one of the presenters. Either one of the co-presenters normally sits down at the desk, while the other stands over at a large screen and presents the main story from there.
After the first commercial break there is typically an interview with a person connected with the main news story. This interview often takes place in studio. This is followed by shorter, more off-beat, or regional reports. The final part of the programme includes a sports summary (with a separate presenter).
At weekends the programme is styled as
RTE News and Sport
and lasts for half-an-hour. The programme features a single presenter and greater emphasis is given to sports news.
The programme is usually reduced to a half-hour news bulletin for the month of August.
Naming
[
edit
]
Since 1950, RTE has broadcast a one-minute period of silence except for the ringing of a church bell linked to
The Angelus
, a
Catholic
prayer, at 12
pm and 6
pm. Though periodic calls have been made for its removal, a number of non-Catholic faiths, notably the
Church of Ireland
, have called for its continuation, regarding the minute as offering a chance for reflection amid a busy television schedule.
[8]
(The broadcast no longer carries Catholic imagery, and instead focuses on images of people contemplating.)
[
citation needed
]
Because of this, the radio and television news bulletins start at 6.01
pm, hence the name.
Some critics have campaigned to abolish the Angelus on RTE, sometimes in newspaper letters pages,
[9]
despite the Angelus at 6
pm being one of RTE's most popular television programmes and is Ireland's most-watched religious programme with an average of 433,000 viewers per day.
[10]
It is unknown if
RTE
would move its bulletin back one minute to 6
pm when the programme would compete for viewers at the same time as other stations.
[
citation needed
]
Presenters
[
edit
]
Current
[
edit
]
Former presenters
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
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]
External links
[
edit
]