James Dougal was a Northern Irish journalist, writer and broadcaster who had worked, from 1969 until shortly before his death for RTE, UTV and the BBC.
14 Facts About Jim Dougal
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Jim Dougal was said to have maintained a long friendship with Ian Paisley.
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Jim Dougal created a production company, Dougal Media, for which he made profiles of Paisley and Margaret Thatcher.
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Jim Dougal is survived by his wife, Deirdre, daughters Tara, Emma and Tina, a stepdaughter, Nicola, and a son, James.
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Jim Dougal worked at Ulster Television before taking up the post as Northern editor at RTE from 1974 to 1991.
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Jim Dougal returned to BBC Northern Ireland in 1991 as the station's political editor, replacing Denis Murray upon his promotion to Ireland Correspondent for the corporation's network news bulletins.
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In February 1996, Jim Dougal was appointed as the new co-presenter of BBC Northern Ireland's relaunched evening news programme Newsline 6.30.
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Jim Dougal stood down from presenting the programme after just two months to concentrate on reporting.
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Jim Dougal left the BBC in 1997 to take up a job for the European Union, initially based in Belfast.
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Jim Dougal later became the head of the European Commission for the United Kingdom until 2004.
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In 2006 Jim Dougal returned to broadcasting by presenting and producing The Eternal Optimist, a documentary about the former Church of Ireland Primate of All Ireland Robin Eames.
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Jim Dougal formed a part of UTV's presenting team for the station's coverage of that year's Northern Ireland Assembly election in March 2007.
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Jim Dougal continued to work as a broadcaster, writer and media affairs and public affairs consultant until his death on 15 October 2010 at the age of 65 from cancer.
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Jim Dougal was awarded an honorary doctorate from Queen's University, Belfast for services to the community in Northern Ireland.