Expert Experience | Media Training and Public Relations in Belfast, Northern Ireland

irwin armstrong

Member of Royal Television Society, Director of Visionworks Television Ltd
Irwin Armstrong began his career over 15 years ago as a professional cameraman filming
mainly news assignments for local and national broadcasters such as BBC, TV am, TG4.
Associated Press and others. Irwin has vast experience of working both on hard news and
documentary pieces during the Gulf Wars, Sudan, Nepal and Kosovo as well as here in
Northern Ireland.

Irwin continues to work on documentary and programme work as well as commercial
production. His working knowledge of filming live and pre recorded interviews for
broadcast adds exceptional value to the Channel56 team delivery.

our people

Alan Morton

Maggie Lavery

Irwin Armstrong


Malachi O'Doherty	Dr Paul Moorcraft Centre for foreign policy analysis	Dr Margaret McAliskey

alan morton

Director of Visionworks Television Ltd
Alan Morton is considered one of Northern Ireland’s leading media trainers. Since 2000, he has delivered numerous broadcast, print media and crisis management training programmes.
His career in the media industry began 20 years ago as a freelance reporter, producer and media consultant.
Alan is currently the Irish reporter for Associated Press Television News and has worked with the BBC, TVam, WTM and others as well as being a producer on short dramas, documentaries and corporate commercials.

maggie lavery

Maggie is the Channel56 manager and has over 15 years experience within training and development sector and has a background in management. Maggie organises every aspect of our courses and writes many of the bespoke training programmes for delivery.

For most clients Maggie represents the first point of contact. Her understanding of the media business means that she is well equipped to deal with your company’s needs and decide upon your next step with a minimum of fuss.

malachi o'doherty

Key Associate
Malachi O’Doherty is one of the most distinctive voices in Northern Ireland. He is a regular commentator on political and social affairs through his columns and features in newspapers, radio and television.
He writes a weekly talk slot on the BBC’s flagship Talkback Programme and appears regularly as a witty and acerbic analyst on Hearts and Minds. (BBC Northern Ireland).
In addition, he writes on Northern Irish affairs for The Irish Times and has published two books (The Trouble With Guns 1998, I Was A Teenage Catholic 2003) with a third, The Telling Year, to be published in the spring of 2007.
He is also a widely experienced trainer in media skills, writing and political awareness.
Malachi reports with Visionworks and is regular ‘trainer’ in our ongoing media training courses. He also assists with writing bespoke training scenarios.

professor paul moorcraft

Key Associate

Professor Paul Moorcraft has worked for ‘Time’ magazine, the BBC and most of the Western TV networks as a freelance producer/foreign correspondent. He has considerable relevant experience having lectured full-time at ten major universities in journalism, politics and international relations. He is a visiting professor in Cardiff University’s School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies, Europe’s leading journalism department.

He is the founder and director of the Centre for Foreign Policy Analysis, London. The centre is dedicated to confl ict resolution. Recently he has been working in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine/Israel, Sudan and Nepal advising on the development of an eff ective media policy. He has also worked recently in China on improving Beijing’s policy on Darfur. A current project of the Centre is the role of the International Criminal Court in Africa, compared with African models, such as South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Process. The Centre is co-sponsoring, with the Royal United Services Institute, an international conference on justice and reconciliation in Africa in Whitehall on 26 November 2007.

real working practitioners

All of the Channel56 teams are experts, with over 20 years of experience working within the media industry both at national and international level.

dr margaret mcaliskey

Key Associate

Dr Margaret McAliskey is Ireland's number one leading voice coach and voice health care expert as well as having national and international experience of media and communications training.
Widely recognised as an inspirational leader, teacher and communicator, she has over 15 years' experience in speech analysis, individual and group coaching, vocal optimisation and course design.
She has lectured in Trinity College Dublin on under and post graduate communication and linguistic based programmes.
She has also lectured for the University of Ulster, Aston University, Sheffield and Nottingham Universities respectively.
Dr McAliskey is currently the Media and Cultural lecturer for the Institute for Education and is the International Moderator for speech, drama and communications examinations for Trinity Guildhall London.

In her private practice, Dr McAliskey has an extremely successful track record of working with private clients from the world of broadcasting, politics, journalism and business sectors throughout Ireland, the UK and abroad.