Sir Anthony honoured with award

Local & National

Sir Anthony O'Reilly: a formidable personality with a diverse career

I am extremely honoured to join such an extraordinary group of people who have made an enormous contribution to the world of media

Telegraph owner O'Reilly lands top media accolade

Monday, May 12, 2008

By Maureen Coleman

Sir Anthony O'Reilly, chief executive of Independent News and Media PLC, which owns the Belfast Telegraph, Sunday Life and Community Telegraph titles, was today being honoured with a prestigious award at the 55th Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.

Sir Anthony was named the Media Person of the Year — an award which has been won in previous years by Lachlan Murdoch, deputy chief operating officer of News Corporation, Arnaud Lagardere, chairman and CEO of Lagardere Group, Gerald Levin, CEO of AOL Time Warner , and Italian Prime Minister and media magnate Silvio Berlusconi.

The award, which pays tribute to a prominent personality from the worldwide media industry, is given in recognition of Sir Anthony's leadership, since the early 1970s, of the fast-growing international media and communications group Independent News and Media PLC, based in Dublin.

With interests worldwide, Sir Anthony has built a geographically unique and diverse portfolio of market-leading brands spanning four continents.

The company owns and publishes more than 200 newspapers and magazine titles delivering a combined weekly circulation of over 32 million copies with a weekly audience of over 100 million readers, with market-leading newspaper positions in Australia, India, Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa.

Titles include the UK national daily newspaper The Independent, The Irish Independent, The Belfast Telegraph, Sunday Life and Community Telegraph and the world's most read newspaper Dainik Jagran in India.

INM is the largest radio operator in Australasia with more than 130 radio stations.

Terry Savage, chairman of the festival, said: "The prestigious Media Person of the Year Award is being presented this year to one of the world's top media leaders. We are delighted to honour Sir Anthony, a formidable personality with a diverse career, in recognition of his business proficiency and leadership skills of a top international media organisation."

Sir Anthony, a former rugby player for Ireland, the British and Irish Lions and the Barbarians, said he was delighted with the award.

"I am extremely honoured to join such an extraordinary group of people who have made an enormous contribution to the world of media," he said.