[dropcap]F[/dropcap]ormer DCU journalism student Zainab Boladale has been named as a new presenter on RTÉ’s news2day program.
Boladale, who will graduate from her bachelor of arts degree in Journalism from Dublin City University in November, was named as the new presenter on RTÉ’s news service for a younger audience on the 5th of September.
She is joined as a presenter on news2day by current presenter Tommy Meskil who studied Communications Studies at DCU.
Boladale previously worked as a digital news reporter and was named Journalist of the Year at the 2017 DCU Hybrid Awards. She also covered the Dubin Tech Summit for RTÉ as part of a team of fellow journalism students from DCU.
Speaking to the Irish Times on the 8th of September, Zainab played down the significance of being the 1st Afro-Irish news presenter on RTÉ television, saying:
“I don’t see myself as a Nigerian woman who landed a TV role in RTÉ, I see myself as a woman who went for a position she really wanted and was thankfully chosen as the right fit.”
However, during the same interview, Boladale did say that diversity in the media was important: “I think personally, representation is important and I think, in general, media doesn’t have diverse representation, so I think it’s super important, especially for children to be like ‘oh my god, look at that person, they look like me and they are on TV’, so it’s an exciting time for me.”
“I believe that wherever I ended up working in media, I would still be the only young black woman working in an industry that is predominately white. What’s important to me is that when young children from any background see me on TV or meet me when I’m out reporting, they are inspired to aspire to their fullest potential regardless of what they look like or what their background is.”
Andrew Ryan