Carole Coleman on swapping the newsroom for a new path

For years, Carole Coleman was a familiar face on Irish screens, reporting from Washington and holding world leaders to account. Now, the former RTÉ correspondent is taking on a different challenge: teaching the next generation of journalists at the University of Galway. 

Carole Coleman has never been one to shy away from tough questions. The Leitrim-born broadcaster spent decades at RTÉ, rising through the ranks to become Washington Correspondent at a time when the world was changing by the hour.

Just nine months into her U.S. posting, the Twin Towers fell. “I couldn’t believe time had moved on despite what had happened,” she recalls. “Nearly 3,000 people were killed.” 

But it was in 2004 that her name truly went global — when she challenged President George W. Bush in a rare one-on-one interview. Calm, direct, and unapologetic, she refused to let the leader steer the narrative. “They have this whole team of people there… it can be a little bit scary. But I just went to ask my questions,” she says.

Now, Coleman has traded Washington for Galway. After decades on air, she’s taken up a teaching role at the University of Galway, helping shape the next generation of journalists in an era dominated by algorithms, comment sections, and budget cuts.

“Journalism today is faster, meaner, and more precarious,” she says. “Would I recommend it to a young person? It’s hard. But there’s still room for serious journalism — the problem is who pays for it?”

She encourages students to be bold. “Always ask for what you want. Nobody hands you anything.”

Even with a legacy of interviews that includes Hillary Clinton, Colin Powell and Bono, one of her most memorable was closer to home — with Irish survivor Lavinia Kerwick. “She became the voice of women who didn’t get justice,” Coleman says. “That conversation has stayed with me.”

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