Rodney Rice (12 October 1944 – 29 August 2021) was a

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

-born journalist and broadcaster who spent the majority of his career working with national broadcaster

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...

. He was regarded as "a pioneering journalist."

Career

Born in

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County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

, Northern Ireland, Rice studied

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

. After a period working with the ''

Belfast Telegraph The ''Belfast Telegraph'' is a daily newspaper published in Belfast, Northern Ireland, by Independent News & Media. Its editor is Eoin Brannigan. Reflecting its unionist tradition, the paper has historically been "favoured by the Protestant po ...

'', he joined

in 1968 at the age of 24, where he first reported on the television current affairs programme ''

7 Days Seven Days or 7 Days may refer to: * Week, an amount of time Film * ''7 Days'' (2010 film) (''Les 7 jours du talion''), Canadian thriller film * ''7 Days'' (2021 film), American romantic comedy film * ''Seven Days'' (1925 film), American silent ...

''. In 1972, Rice moved to radio and two years later he began presenting ''Here and Now'', a daily mid-morning news and current affairs programme which he anchored for nine years. In 1984, he moved to ''Saturday View'', a programme which he presented for 25 years and which developed into an arena for political debate which often featured the country's most senior politicians. Rice retired from broadcasting in 2009 but continued to support agencies who worked in the developing world such as

Trócaire Trócaire (, meaning "compassion") is the official overseas development agency of the Catholic Church in Ireland. History The roots of the charity lie in Pope Paul VI's 1967 encyclical ''Populorum Progressio'',

and

Action Aid ActionAid is an international non-governmental organization whose stated primary aim is to work against poverty and injustice worldwide. ActionAid is a federation of 45 country offices that works with communities, often via local partner organis ...

, where he served as chairman.

Death

Rice died on 29 August 2021, aged 76.

References

1944 births 2021 deaths Radio presenters from Northern Ireland People from County Antrim {{NorthernIreland-bio-stub