The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
AN Ennis woman has become the newest face of RTÉ TV news. First-time television presenter Zainab Boladale is the latest addition to the news2day team. Following a call-out to media and journalism graduates across the country, and a comprehensive audition process, Zainab was chosen to join the team and began broadcasting live this week on RTÉ Two and RTÉ News Now.
News2day is RTÉ’s news service designed specifically for children, featuring Irish and international news of interest to a young audience.
Zainab studied journalism in Dublin City University (DCU) and has previously worked as a digital news reporter. In 2017, she was named Journalist of the Year at the DCU Hybrid Awards and was nominated in the same category in the Union of Students in Ireland Achievement Awards.
Zainab was born in Lagos, Nigeria but has lived in Ennis since she was four-years-old.
The 20-year-old went to primary school in Scoil Chríost Rí, Cloughleigh and spent the first three years of secondary school in Gaelcholáiste an Chláir, Ennis, where she became a gaeilgeoir.
Zainab loves cooking, photography, travelling, visiting galleries and museums. She has performed in spoken word poetry competitions. She’s a Scoil Chríost Rí, Cloughleighfan and loves watching sci-fi.
Zainab joins current news2day presenter Tommy Meskil, also from Clare. He studied Communications Studies at DCU and interned with Clare FM during his studies. After completing his degree, he worked as a newsreader with Spirit Radio, East Coast FM and then became a reporter at Dublin station FM104, before joining RTÉ News.
News2day is broadcast Monday to Friday at 4.20pm on RTÉ Two and RTÉ News Now. In addition to young viewers tuning in at home, it is also watched online in many classrooms throughout the country and used as a teaching tool.
