Member's statement: Stephen Walker
Member's statement by Mr Mike Nesbitt on .
- MLA
- Mr Mike Nesbitt
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 7 September 2026
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Stephen Walker
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5669587
Read the official Assembly record
Text
With the untimely passing of Stephen Walker, local journalism has lost a role model. With Stephen's untimely passing, society has lost a role model . For over three decades at the BBC, Stephen was a class act, demonstrating all the characteristics of an effective journalist. He was curious, courteous and bloody determined, and he was always fair. In return, he was trusted to reflect the intricacies of the most complex situations, not to put a spin on his reporting and not to make himself part of the story. Sometimes, I imagine him pinching himself because he could not quite believe that he was being allowed to report on incredibly important situations, such as the run-up to the 1998 agreement or Brexit in 2016. He was extremely talented but too modest to admit it.
I had left BBC Northern Ireland before he joined, so we were rivals rather than colleagues, but he had the kind of personality that made it easy to celebrate his successes with him. He had what many people have referred to since his passing as an endlessly sunny disposition.
Of course, Stephen was not just a cherished, celebrated and award-winning journalist; he was a highly successful author. He penned biographies of two of the central figures of the 1998 agreement: John Hume, without whom there would have been no process, and David Trimble, without whom there would have been no agreement. Again, people who contributed to those books trusted Stephen to accurately reflect their views. One of his closest friends was a former colleague, Mark Carruthers, who broke the news of Stephen's passing on social media. Mark wrote:
"He was a wonderful husband, father, brother and son, a fine journalist and author, and the very best of friends. We are all heartbroken, but grateful for his life so well and fully lived."
At just 61 years of age, Stephen had a lot more to offer to his family and to society. Stephen Walker, Stephen Grimason and Ken Reid were three of the most brilliant political journalists whom you could ever hope to meet or, indeed, call a friend. I send condolences to Stephen's many friends and admirers and, above all, to his wife, children and broader family. I also mention the passing of Sharon Bradford, also from the BBC newsroom, who, perhaps, did not have the same high profile as Stephen but was clearly equally beloved.
399 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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