Noel Curran appointed new EBU Director General

The European Broadcasting Union has announced the appointment of Noel Curran (Ireland) to succeed Ingrid Deltenre as its new Director General. Curran is expected to take up the position at the beginning of September.

Noel Curran is the former DG, Managing Director of Television and Editor of Current Affairs of RTÉ, Ireland’s national television and radio broadcaster. As Director General, he radically restructured RTÉ following the financial crisis that began at the end of 2008 and successfully positioned RTÉ as a robust digital media organisation. A strong and long-time advocate of public service media, Curran is also an award winning investigative journalist and producer.

“We are delighted to welcome Noel Curran as the new Director General of the EBU”, said Jean-Paul Philippot, President of the EBU (RTBF/BE). “Noel was the candidate of choice in what was an extremely strong list of candidates. He impressed us with his sound public service values, his operational experience and his understanding of the public service media ecosystem within today’s rapidly evolving media environment. His leadership experience as Director General of RTÉ will be invaluable as the EBU moves towards the next chapter in its history. I am confident he will do a very good job for the EBU, for all our Members, and for public service media.”

Commenting on his new appointment, Curran said, “There is now, more than ever, a compelling case for what public service media does, and what the Members of the European Broadcasting Union do, day in, day out. The EBU represents some of the finest media organisations, content-makers and journalists in the world. The position of DG is a huge honour, and I will work with the membership to seize every opportunity and to move ahead with the changes necessary to secure the future of public service media. I look forward to working with Jean-Paul, with the EBU team and with our Members, from all regions in the EBU, to serve our audiences’ needs.”

Curran replaces Ingrid Deltenre, who has led the EBU since 2010, and who decided to step down this year to focus her attention on her Board responsibilities.