{"id":675631,"date":"2026-09-06T17:36:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T17:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/675631\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T17:36:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T17:36:18","slug":"stephen-walker-tributes-to-fine-journalist-and-the-very-best-of-friends-following-death-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/675631\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen Walker: Tributes to \u2018fine journalist and the very best of friends\u2019 following death \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tributes have been paid to the former BBC NI journalist<\/a> and author Stephen Walker<\/a> following his death at the age of 61 on Sunday. <\/p>\n

Mr Walker, who was born in England but was brought up in Ballymena, was a well-known voice and face to many across his three-decade long career<\/a> at BBC Northern Ireland..<\/p>\n

Announcing his death on social media, friend and host of BBC NI\u2019s The View, Mark Carruthers<\/a>, said: \u201cSo sorry to be the bearer of such bad news, but the Walker family \u2013 Katrin, Grace, ack and Gabriel \u2013 have asked me to let people know that Stephen passed away at home this morning surrounded by people he loved and who loved him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a wonderful husband, father, brother and son, a fine journalist and author, and the very best of friends.<\/p>\n

\"Concern<\/a>\"Stephen<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are all heartbroken, but grateful for his life so well and fully lived.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"StephenMr Walker was also an acclaimed author <\/p>\n

Mr Walker joined BBC Northern Ireland in 1991 and began working as a news reporter for Radio Ulster, before venturing into TV reporting in 1993.<\/p>\n

During his time at the broadcaster, he held a variety of roles, including London correspondent, political reporter and later political correspondent.<\/p>\n

While working as a journalist, he published his first book in 2007, which covered the story of 28 Irish soldiers who were executed by the British Army during the First World War. <\/p>\n

His five published works also included acclaimed biographies on both John Hume and David Trimble. <\/p>\n

Among those paying tribute to Mr Walker on Sunday were Alliance leader Naomi Long, who said that she was \u201cso very sorry\u201d to learn of his death, and that he will be \u201csorely missed\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cStephen was such a talented journalist and a real gentleman. Thoughts with his family, friends and former colleagues,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Former UUP leader and UTV journalist Mike Nesbitt said that he was \u201csaddened to the core\u201d to hear of his passing.<\/p>\n

\u201cStephen was a gent, who had a lot more to give, to his family and society,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

SDLP leader Claire Hanna MP said that Mr Walker was \u201can outstanding journalist and writer who chronicled some of the most significant chapters in our recent history with intelligence, curiosity and great humanity\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe brought warmth and good humour to his work and to those around him, and his contribution to how we understand and tell the story of this place will endure for years to come,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy deepest sympathies are with his family and friends, and with his many colleagues at the BBC and across journalism.\u201d<\/p>\n

DUP leader Gavin Robinson MP said that Mr Walker was a \u201chighly respected journalist and gifted author whose work helped audiences understand Northern Ireland\u2019s politics through some of its most momentous decades\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a genuine interest in people and this was reflected in the time he spent building relationships when he worked as the Westminster correspondent for BBC NI.<\/p>\n

\u201cPersonally, we were in regular contact through the good times and the bad. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was as privileged to join him and his family for the launch of his biography on David Trimble as I was for more private and reflective conversations during his ill-health. <\/p>\n

\u201cOnly two weeks ago, we were in touch; recognising his health was low but still with a sense of hope.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tributes have been paid to the former BBC NI journalist and author Stephen Walker following his death at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":675632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[41],"tags":[3412,9,10,9413,13,14,6,11,12,15,16,5,7,8,45229,65,66,67],"class_list":["post-675631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-bbc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-death","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-headlines","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-tribute","tag-world","tag-world-news","tag-worldnews"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117225311393768337","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=675631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/675632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=675631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=675631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=675631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}