Diana Rusk
Political correspondent with the Irish News, Diana Rusk has had a “baptism of fire” since she took up the post in January this year. She joined the Irish News as a full-time news reporter in 2007 after a stint as a freelancer for them. Prior to that, Diana began her career in the Impartial Reporter in 2005, following a journalism degree in DCU.
How did you get started in journalism?
I was perhaps around eight years old when I began thinking about my career. A bit of a daydreamer, I spent many an afternoon creating my own fictional radio show. I was its presenter, newsreader, entertainment, and, fortunately for everyone else, its audience.
Whether that showed an early interest in media or an embryonic ego essential for the job, I’m not sure.
Later I studied a bachelor of arts degree in journalism at Dublin City University.
I remember the thrill of my first by-line as a teenager when the County Fermanagh newspaper, the Impartial Reporter published my review of a school production of Brian Friel’s ‘Philadelphia, Here I Come’.
The editor, Denzil McDaniel, later gave me my first summer job as a reporter and then my first staff job.
I worked on a freelance basis for the Irish News and after making myself available for every shift possible; I eventually landed a job as a news reporter.
This January I was promoted to the role of political correspondent.
Please describe the transition from weekly to daily newspapers.
I can’t say I noticed the transition because I was essentially working for both at the same time, working shifts in the Irish News or sending copy from interesting court cases and inquests.
I’m glad I started off at a weekly, provincial title because I developed contacts in the area that have stayed with me ever since. It also gave me my first taste of politics through covering Fermanagh District Council meetings.
Now, I bump into some of the same council faces in Stormont such as Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster and senior Ulster Unionist figure Tom Elliott.
What are the main challenges and most enjoyable aspects of being a political correspondent?
I began work as a political correspondent during the week that the shocked eyes of the world were transfixed on Stormont and more directly, on the First Minister’s wife, Iris Robinson.
Days into the job I was door-stepping her former 19-year-old lover, Kirk McCambley, and interviewing her husband Peter Robinson as his career and marriage hung in the balance.
The next few weeks were spent camped out at Hillsborough Castle for the policing and justice talks involving then British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Irish Taoiseach Brian Cowen.
Then it was an interview with Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams where I asked him if he had any involvement in the murder and disappearance of Jean McConville weeks before an explosive book published the claims he denies.
Finally it was on to an election that culminated in one of those ‘I was there’ moments when I watched in Ards Leisure Centre as Peter Robinson lost his East Belfast Westminster seat after over three decades in the role.
The words baptism and fire have often been directed my way but if I coped with those challenges, I suppose I’ll be able to deal with whatever else is sent my way.
What is the most memorable event from your career so far?
Can I say all of the above? Also meeting Seamus Heaney and Michael Longley, both heroes of mine from my A-level English literature days. And the many, many brave families whom I have met and interviewed as a news reporter during their dark days of tragedy.
How would you describe the political outlook of the Irish News?
The editorial outlook is broadly nationalist with a strong sense of promoting and encouraging reconciliation and extending the hand of friendship to unionism. When it comes to news and political coverage, the Irish News insists on balanced and impartial coverage.
As a political correspondent, I treat all parties equally and try to develop contacts within the five main parties.
Outside work, how do you like to relax?
Spending time with my lovely family (I’m one of seven children), cooking with friends, reading, theatre, and recently, training for a 400km cycle across India.
I’ve taken up the challenge, which includes cycling across part of the inhospitable Great Indian Desert, to raise money for a charity called Regain that helps athletes who have been left paralysed from sporting accidents.
