The view: a window on Mark Carruthers
Mark Carruthers occupies a prominent position as one of the most identifiable faces of current affairs coverage in the North. The award-winning broadcaster speaks with agendaNi’s Ciarán Galway.
The face of several BBC Northern Ireland programmes, Carruthers currently presents Stormont Today, Sunday Politics as well as flagship production The View.
Born in Derry city, Carruthers spent much of his early life in Limavady and attended school in Coleraine. It was, in his words, “a very typical, rural, small-town childhood”. Though it is unsurprising, perhaps, that Carruthers’ home environment stimulated his political consciousness. “I was definitely aware of what was happening from a very young age. We would, as a family, have watched the news, listened to the radio and read the newspapers.” He adds: “Politics was talked about a lot. My dad was always very interested in politics and history and so were his friends.”
Carruthers’ own interest was borne out academically when he twice became a graduate of Queen’s University Belfast, first from a political science undergraduate degree and then from a Master’s in Irish politics. “Part of me would have loved to have gone to Trinity, but it’s always been a bit of a challenge. I’m glad I studied politics at Queen’s, [it] worked and I was very happy.”
As a self-proclaimed anorak, avoiding the development of some measure of personal ideology would be highly improbable. When probed on the matter, Carruthers speaks candidly: “I couldn’t put myself on a political map. I can always see virtue in an argument, but I can equally always find a question to challenge.” Recognising the potential for a significant conflict of interest which could emanate from the espousal of a rigid political stance, Carruthers contends: “I think that the worst thing you could do in this job is to have a fixed position. It’s not that I don’t have views, but in terms of party politics, I wouldn’t really fit in any pigeon hole.” He continues: “I’m never fully persuaded by anything. I think that works very well when I do the job. I’m a natural devil’s advocate.”
Acknowledging the complexity surrounding some of the recent topics of debate which have arisen in the local collective consciousness, Carruthers is unequivocal: “We all live in this country, we have all had experiences, we are all shaped and influenced by what has happened to us. We all have an identity, but you cannot articulate your own personal view when you’re in that situation [as an objective journalist].
“In those very difficult social and moral issues you have got to be very sensitive. If I articulate an argument, it is not my personal view. It is an argument that is equal and opposite to what is being put forward by someone who is sitting opposite me in the studio.”
Paying tribute to his wider production unit, Carruthers stresses: “I’m only one member of a very large team. I don’t just appear out of nowhere and have conversations with people. There are hours and days of preparation going into all those interviews where there are maybe half a dozen people sitting around a table discussing how we approach something. So while I might be the person who is articulating a position in an interview, it is informed by lots of other people who are themselves very diverse.”
“I’m never fully persuaded by anything. I think that works very well when I do the job. I’m a natural devil’s advocate.”
The journalistic spark
Journalism, however, was not the experienced presenter’s initial career plan. “When I was in my teens I genuinely wanted to be an actor. I recall a conversation with my father when he said, as all fathers do, “well that’s fine, but I think you should probably get a real job”. I did look at studying law and that is what I was going to do. I always thought I might be a barrister and I always loved the idea of the cross-examination and the drama of the courtroom.”
The spark which would ignite a broadcast career, spanning from 1989 until the present, came during a joint Queen’s-UCD Irish politics excursion in Dublin. “There was a guy called Brian Farrell who was the major current affairs presenter on RTÉ. For years, he presented a programme called Today Tonight which became Prime Time. He did all their election coverage and he was somebody I had watched on television and I thought he was great. Then, all of a sudden, he was hosting us on this trip in Dublin, took us into RTÉ and took us on a tour of the studios. I got chatting to him and that was the moment when I got bitten by the bug and I really knew that this is what I want to do. I just loved that buzz of the studios and that little bit of excitement, being in and around the television studio has never left me. I still absolutely love that.”
Freelancing before even completing his Master’s thesis, he worked hard to make a foray into the BBC. “I wrote for The Gown and I did these interviews that were recorded for a programme called The Bottom Line, which was produced by a great guy called Davy Sims who was very supportive. It was presented by Mike Edgar. It was a young peoples’ programme with lots of music, chat and so forth. So I did interviews that were about theatre or film or about politics.”
Speaking about the opportunities he received, Carruthers is also keen to acknowledge Cherrie McIlwaine, with whom he worked with on an initial three-month contract at the end of 1988. “I got that job with Cherrie, she was a great mentor and gave me a real opportunity as well. When I got my toe in the door I then approached a guy called Rowan Hand who was the editor of radio current affairs. I remember ringing him up, which is quite a thing to do when you’re 20-something, to say “could I come and talk to you, please, about the possibility of doing some freelance work”. I just remember him saying “talk to me now”! Of course I hadn’t prepared at all. I started talking and whatever happened, he said “right, come in and see me and we’ll see what you can do”. I came in for a day and a day became a week and a week became a month and 27 years later I’m still coming in. It’s a funny situation, but that’s what happens.”
Ambition
In what has been an illustrious career, Carruthers has also delved into the literary world. This contribution bore fruit with the publication of two books. Stepping Stones is a comment on artistic achievement amidst the background of the conflict while Alternative Ulsters is an exploration of identity presented in the format of a series of conversations with prominent public figures.
In response to a query relating to the future, he states: “I suppose the first ambition is to keep going. You can’t ever take anything for granted. Somebody once said to me, you’re only as good as your last bad programme. Which, if you think about it that way, you need to stay on your toes. I absolutely love politics, so working in the politics unit and presenting our politics programmes is exactly what I want to do. I have had a lot of other opportunities to do other things. I did a lot of arts broadcasting quite a few years ago. I wouldn’t mind doing more of that. I have been lucky enough to do programmes like Good Morning Ulster, Newsline, but actually, at the minute, and I’ve said this before, if I had to design a job for me, I honestly would design this job. So I feel very fortunate.”
Discussing the nature of politics here, Carruthers’ radiates a vivid sense of enthralment. “In one respect things move at a snail’s pace, it’s almost glacial, but then when you stand back and look at it with a bit of perspective; you realise how far those tectonic plates have shifted. I think what is really interesting, from our point of view, is that you can have a slow day at Stormont, then, all of a sudden, something blows out of the water. Something happens.
“I feel very fortunate because I’ve got a ringside seat. I’m right there, talking to people at the heart of it. I just don’t buy for one second that [local politics] is boring and that nothing happens. If you think that then you’re not really paying attention.”
Carruthers’ passion for politics naturally extends beyond Stormont. “I’m obviously very interested in the politics of the Republic. You have to be. If you’re interested in northern politics, you have to be interested in southern politics, particularly as we move forward to discuss Brexit over the next number of years. Scottish politics is fascinating at the moment. Westminster politics is never dull. Then you look at Europe. The American political thing is just jaw dropping.
He resumes: “You can’t really look at Northern Ireland politics in isolation. If you’re serious about studying politics and serious about discussing politics, then you have to look at it in its broadest possible context.”
The arts
Alongside politics, Carruthers’ simultaneous obsession is with the arts. After 14 years on the board of the Lyric theatre, eight as its chairman, Carruthers stood down in January 2015. He remains, however, an eminent advocate of the local arts scene. Pressed on the perception, among some quarters, that the arts are a reserve of the middle class, Carruthers is adamant: “Nobody ever produces any evidence for it. Certainly when we were involved with the Lyric, it was a very big issue for us. If we were going to spend a lot of money, private and public, to build a new theatre, then that theatre had to be for everybody. Now, you can’t make people go to the theatre if they don’t want to, but you have to make it as attractive as possible. I do think it’s the mark of a civilised society to have theatres, galleries, cinemas, concert halls.”
Carruthers emphasises that the arts are not a narrow monolith. “I think from a position of ignorance, it’s very easy to argue against the arts. Look at this part of the world, look at who has been produced from here. Whether it’s Liam Neeson, Ken Branagh or Van Morrison, Gary Lightbody, The Undertones, the list is endless. That’s what we’re talking about here. We’re not talking about some kind of very elitist group of individuals. When we talk about the arts; that’s what we’re talking about. So how come we produce those guys and we export them onto a global stage and then, whenever we’re having a conversation with ourselves, we say we’re not interested in the arts? Of course we’re interested in the arts and we’re very good at it too. We just need to realise that.
Carruthers also discusses the often intertwined relationship between the arts and the political sphere. “I have a large admiration for politicians, but it is appropriate for them to be asked difficult questions and be held to account. We do that as journalists, but I think that the arts world does that as well. I think that theatre does it, but I also think novelists do it, poets do it and playwrights are particularly good at it. If you look at a playwright from here that I really admire called Stewart Parker, he asked awkward questions about politics, life and society in Northern Ireland. But he did it with a sense of hope as well. Yes, you hold a mirror up to society. You ask difficult questions. Maybe there is a little sense of the anti-establishment in it. But that’s not a bad thing. In fact, it’s a really good thing. Different playwrights will have different perspectives. They will ask different questions and that is what it is all about. The more you go to theatre, the more you get out of it. The more you like it, the more you know what you don’t like. It’s a process of education.”
He concludes: “It’s not only useful, it’s absolutely essential.”
