{"id":415785,"date":"2026-04-24T20:38:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T20:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/415785\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T20:38:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T20:38:09","slug":"powerhouse-journalist-jim-mcdowell-remembered-after-death-aged-76","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/415785\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Powerhouse\u2019 journalist Jim McDowell remembered after death aged 76"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Tributes have been paid to \u201cpowerhouse\u201d journalist Jim McDowell, who has died aged 76.<\/p>\n<p>McDowell was northern editor of the Sunday World for 25 years, and worked in journalism in Northern Ireland for nearly half a century.<\/p>\n<p>He was a lead campaigner for justice in the case of Martin O\u2019Hagan, a Sunday World reporter who was shot dead by loyalists in Lurgan, Co Armagh, in September 2001; and McDowell himself also received death threats from loyalist paramilitaries.<\/p>\n<p>His funeral notice read: \u201cUntil the end, you were the bravest of the brave. Legend.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" height=\"459\" width=\"640\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/powerhouse-journalist-jim-mcdowell-remembered-after-death-aged-76.jpg\" alt=\"Martin O\u2019Hagan Inquest\" data-title=\"Martin O\u2019Hagan Inquest\" data-copyright-holder=\"PA Archive\" data-copyright-notice=\"PA Archive\/PA Images\" data-credit=\"Paul Faith\" data-usage-terms=\"\"\/>Sunday World northern editor Jim McDowell (Paul Faith\/PA)<\/p>\n<p>Patrick Corrigan, head of nations &amp; regions at AmnestyUK, shared a picture of McDowell taken in the Duke of York pub in Belfast, a bar known for its link to journalists.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c(McDowell) shared the traumatic night of the murder of his friend and Sunday World colleague Martin O\u2019Hagan, and the many times they were attacked and threatened,\u201d Corrigan wrote on X.<\/p>\n<p>BBC community correspondent Mark Simpson said on social media: \u201cI looked up to Jim McDowell. In every way. Brave. Brilliant. Best of Belfast. He loved the city.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFirst met him at CIYMS rugby club (he used to say CIYMS stood for Come In Your Ma\u2019s Shouting). Learned from him at City Hall (Dome of Delight) Belfast has lost a giant of journalism.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>BBC radio presenter Stephen Nolan described McDowell as \u201ca powerhouse of personality and integrity\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am so sad to hear we have lost one of Northern Ireland\u2019s best, and most colourful journalists,\u201d he posted on X.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" height=\"462\" width=\"640\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1777063089_829_powerhouse-journalist-jim-mcdowell-remembered-after-death-aged-76.jpg\" alt=\"Belfast Ulster Secretary John Reid (R)\" data-title=\"Belfast Ulster Secretary John Reid (R)\" data-copyright-holder=\"PA Archive\" data-copyright-notice=\"PA Archive\/PA Images\" data-credit=\"Paul Faith\" data-usage-terms=\"\"\/>McDowell was northern editor of the Sunday World for 25 years (Paul Faith\/PA)<\/p>\n<p>BBC producer and journalist Karen English wrote: \u201cJim was a unique one of a kind\u00a0journalism powerhouse. A towering personality, his impact and influence resonated far and wide.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThinking of his wife Lindy, daughter Faye and sons Jamie and Micah.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McDowell\u2019s funeral service will be held on May 2nd at St George\u2019s Church in Belfast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tributes have been paid to \u201cpowerhouse\u201d journalist Jim McDowell, who has died aged 76. McDowell was northern editor&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-415785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}