The former UTV political editor Ken Reid has died.
Mr Reid, 69, reported on key moments in the peace process during almost three decades on screen.
In 2017, he revealed he had been diagnosed with a form of leukaemia. He was also diabetic but continued to work until his retirement from UTV in 2021.
A well-known figure in Northern Ireland, he was honoured by Queen’s University earlier this year for his contribution to journalism.
He regularly interviewed Prime Minister Tony Blair before and after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
Among his political scoops was breaking the news in 2008 that the then DUP leader Ian Paisley was to step down as first minister and party leader.
First Minister Michelle O'Neill said that Mr Reid was "a true giant in local journalism, and an all-round gentleman".
The Sinn Féin deputy leader added that his "strength and courage in the face of illness served as an inspiration to many, as he became a powerful advocate for raising awareness of cancer".
"We mourn the loss of a dear friend, and a remarkable man," she said.
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Gavin Robinson described Mr Reid as a “colossus is his field”.
“Ken was a special journalist in Northern Ireland as someone who managed to get to the heart of all the major political stories and cover the difficult issues whilst remaining the respect, admiration and affection of representatives from all political opinions”, Robinson said.
ITV's news director Michael Jermey described him as "a towering figure in broadcasting in Northern Ireland".
"He will be enormously missed by colleagues in UTV and right across the wider ITV," Mr Jeremy said.
He added: "Ken was a wonderful journalist. Well informed, intelligent and always utterly impartial in his approach to reporting.
"He had a ringside seat at some of the most significant moments of modern history - perhaps most notably the signing of the Good Friday Agreement."
Mr Reid's coverage of politics for UTV began in 1994, the year of the IRA and loyalist ceasefires.
After the 1998 agreement, he reported on the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to David Trimble and John Hume.
He then reported on the start of power-sharing at Stormont.
As devolution rose and fell, he was a permanent fixture on the UTV evening news programme.
He reported every year from the St Patrick’s Day receptions at the White House in Washington, and was a frequent visitor to Brussels, especially before and after the Brexit vote in 2016.
His long career in journalism began in newspapers, at the News Letter in the late 1970s and then as sports editor of the now-defunct Sunday News in the mid-1980s. He later became the overall editor of the paper.
He was an avid supporter of Everton, his local football club Cliftonville and Ballymena rugby club.
Despite his early stint in sports journalism, he once said: "Sport is my hobby and keeps me sane. I didn't want it to be my job. I always wanted sport to just be sport."
In 1987, Mr Reid moved south of the border to the Cork Examiner, where he built up good contacts with Irish politicians.
This stood him in good stead when he moved to UTV to front its political coverage at a crucial stage in the peace process in the mid-1990s.
Mr Reid was born in 1955 and was brought up in north Belfast.
He went to school at Methodist College, and then studied at the University of Hull.