Former Irish Daily Star editor appointed Adjunct Professor of Journalism at UL

University of Limerick has appointed former editor and Managing Director of The Irish Daily Star, Ger Colleran as Adjunct Professor of Journalism.

Mr Colleran will give master classes to UL’s Journalism and New Media students as part of his new role.

“The one thing young student journalists need to set aside is the cloud of fear that has hit the media industry over the past 10-15 years because of the massive disruption caused by digital. Technology is merely a delivery vehicle; the basic human demand for stories doesn’t change at all,” he said.

“Whether it’s stone tablets from Mount Sinai; gossip at the end of the medieval village; print; telephone; television or digital; it is immaterial. People are still interested in stories about people and the world around them.

“The delivery vehicles may alter, but there are certain basic standards that need to be upheld: accuracy and integrity; and the need to challenge and question. That sort of rigour needs to be encouraged,” Mr Colleran continued.

“I would encourage students to be platform agnostic while constantly keeping an eye on the prize and the prize is a more decent, open, democratic living society, unafraid of vested interests, power centres and elites,” he added.

Mr Colleran is a graduate of University of Limerick where he received an MBA in 1993 and Harvard Business School in Boston. The well-known journalist and television presenter is currently in his second year of law studies at Kings Inns.

Mr Colleran co-authored a book on the Kerry babies case and previously worked as editor of The Kerryman newspaper.

A TV3 presenter and newspaper columnist Mr Colleran played a central role in the political negotiations on the new Defamation Act.

Speaking about his new appointment Mr Colleran, whose daughter is also a UL graduate, said he had "decades’-long admiration for the University of Limerick. I completed an MBA there and I have an association with the college through family”.

Professor Tom Lodge, Dean, Faculty of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Limerick said the appointment of Mr Colleran will significantly expand the range of experience that UL can offer its journalism students.

“We aim to prepare our students for careers in a field that has been changing more rapidly than almost any other kind of employment. Ger Colleran has been at the forefront of the struggle to maintain basic professional integrity in the industry’s efforts to embrace the changes that have been the consequence of new kinds of communication technology and we are delighted to welcome him to the faculty,” he said.

Mary Dundon, senior lecturer in Journalism at UL, has also welcomed the appointment.

“We are delighted that Mr Colleran has been appointed Adjunct Professor of Journalism at UL. He is one of Ireland’s most experienced national newspaper editors and he will bring a wealth of journalistic experience to the master classes he will deliver to our students,” she stated.

RTE presenter Bryan Dobson is a current Adjunct Professor of Broadcast Journalism at UL. Previous Adjunct Professors of Journalism include former Irish Times Editor Geraldine Kennedy and Sunday Times journalist Justine McCarthy.