RTÉ has announced Upfront with Katie Hannon, a brand-new current affairs strand across television, digital and social media, beginning January 2023.
The new strand will include a new hour-long Monday night audience-centred live television programme, podcasts and authored online articles by the award-winning journalist and broadcaster Katie Hannon.
Each Monday night at 10.35pm on RTÉ One (and streaming on the RTÉ Player), Katie will moderate a live programme where the public come face to face with the people whose decisions impact directly on their lives.
The programme will take audiences beyond the headlines of the big stories of the day to those who are living that story. As well as a live studio audience, there will be a wider social audience, where the public can directly engage with the programme live on air.
In tandem with this, Katie will engage throughout the week in a social conversation across digital platforms, where the public can drive the issues that matter to them and the people they would like to see answer their questions.
The series will also take to the road with special programmes from across the country.
Katie Hannon said: "'I've had the privilege of telling people's stories in print, on television and on radio over many years now. But I have long believed that the most powerful journalism is where people are allowed to tell their own stories.
"This is about creating a platform where this can happen and where those whose decisions impact on all of our lives are asked to listen; to account for themselves and persuade us that they deserve our trust and support.
"It will be a place everyone will be given the space to have their say. I can’t wait."
Meanwhile, from December, Colm Ó Mongáin will present RTÉ Radio 1's political radio programmes, Late Debate and Saturday with Colm Ó Mongáin.
Currently Deputy Foreign Editor of RTÉ News, he is also the producer and co-host of RTÉ's Brexit Republic podcast, and produced and presented the Pandemic podcast, a daily half-hour podcast on the Covid-19 crisis
Colm Ó Mongáin said: "I’m delighted to be getting the opportunity to get behind the mic again and work with the Late Debate and Saturday teams.
"It’s a great time to be covering politics in Ireland and further afield and I can’t wait to bring listeners analysis and debate on the issues that affect them."
