Ken Reid: Former UTV political editor dies

Mr Reid’s coverage of politics for UTV began in 1994, the year of the IRA and loyalist ceasefires.

After the 1998 agreement, he reported on the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to David Trimble and John Hume.

He then reported on the start of power-sharing at Stormont.

As devolution rose and fell, he was a permanent fixture on the UTV evening news programme.

He reported every year from the St Patrick’s Day receptions at the White House in Washington, and was a frequent visitor to Brussels, especially before and after the Brexit vote in 2016.

His long career in journalism began in newspapers, at the News Letter in the late 1970s and then as sports editor of the now-defunct Sunday News in the mid-1980s. He later became the overall editor of the paper.

He was an avid supporter of Everton, his local football club Cliftonville and Ballymena rugby club.

Despite his early stint in sports journalism, he once said: “Sport is my hobby and keeps me sane. I didn’t want it to be my job. I always wanted sport to just be sport.”

In 1987, Mr Reid moved south of the border to the Cork Examiner, where he built up good contacts with Irish politicians.

This stood him in good stead when he moved to UTV to front its political coverage at a crucial stage in the peace process in the mid-1990s.

Mr Reid was born in 1955 and was brought up in north Belfast.

He went to school at Methodist College, and then studied at the University of Hull.