Veteran broadcaster Eamonn Mallie receives honorary doctorate from Ulster University
Veteran broadcaster Eamonn Mallie receives honorary doctorate from Ulster University
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00:00It's very strange, you know, it's not something to which I ever aspired. I was sort of shocked and surprised, I suppose,
00:08when I got a correspondence about it, but
00:11my family were clearly very delighted and
00:15that's nice. It's nice for my wife, who has tolerated so much from me during my life, because I was addicted to journalism.
00:22Addicted to journalism, and it meant that I was away from home for such long periods.
00:28When the Ballykelley bombing happened, I went out the door and I wasn't home for 17 hours.
00:34I went to Gibraltar to cover the IRA inquest. I was there for nearly three weeks. I went to the White House
00:42when Clinton was there each year.
00:45I was in Ethiopia. I was in Syria.
00:48So, like, I was away from home an awful lot. I lived in a very selfish industry. I suppose I was selfish myself.
00:55So,
00:57that's my big warning to young journalists, aspiring journalists. Don't let the job own you.
01:05Don't let the job own you. It's addictive. Our profession is addictive, and
01:11I
01:12want to warn young journalists against
01:15the job owning them, as opposed to the family. Like, my family lost out, because I was always away.
01:22Well, the fun factor with Clinton was quite remarkable. He was just
01:27so unpredictable.
01:29Very entertaining, but incredibly bright.
01:32But the the best story I ever covered was the most unusual story.
01:37There was nobody available, and the news desk called me and asked me where to go up to the Royal. There was a press conference.
01:44There was a woman from Tyrone. I'd given birth to six children, and
01:49I went up there, and there were two professionals. One was a
01:54obstetrician-gynecologist, and the other was a
01:57paediatrician,
01:59treating the babies after they were born. And quite factually, neither of them could string two words together.
02:05And there was a bank of nurses sitting there. I just said,
02:09may I ask the nurses a question?
02:12Was there any of you nurses, one who's a mother, and two who's a grandmother?
02:19Were you present when these babies were born?
02:21Were you present when these babies were born? And this lady put up her finger, and she said,
02:25I was there, and I'm grandmother, and I'm mother, Patricia Denver. I said, could you come to the microphone?
02:31And she gave a beautiful interview.
02:33It's a beautiful story. And
02:35about two years ago, I was in Belfast City Centre. We were making a program on Eamonn Holmes,
02:41and the family of five and the parents turned up
02:45and introduced Eamonn to them. So it was a lovely reunion for us, you know.
02:50So that was a great, great story.
02:53Humane story.
02:54And I really enjoyed that.
02:56And just one final one, then obviously we'll talk about news and current news, just obviously off the back of a general election.
03:03Obviously, as a journalist, is it still something, you know, that
03:07gets a bit of a buzz? Do you still like, you know, watching the election coverage?
03:11I told you,
03:13this profession is addictive.
03:15As a colleague of mine said, you don't ever get cured.
03:19Thank you very much.
03:49Thank you.