Robert Shortt (born 1971) is an Irish former journalist with RTÃÂ, Ireland's national radio and television station, where he currently serves as its company secretary since January 2024. He previously held a number of roles with RTÃÂ News, most recently as Economics Correspondent from 2019 to 2024. As a current affairs broadcaster, he worked as a reporter with RTÃÂ's flagship programme Prime Time.
Shortt began his journalistic career with Nihon Keizai Shimbun and BBC News before joining RTÃÂ in 1998, working on radio as a reporter on RTÃÂ News at One before being appointed RTÃÂ News Business Correspondent in 2001. In that role he created and co-presented The Business Programme on RTÃÂ Radio 1. From 2005 to 2008, Shortt was based in the United States as RTÃÂ's Washington correspondent. He covered stories such as Hurricane Katrina and the 2008 United States presidential election. Since returning to Ireland, he worked as a reporter on Prime Time, winning a Smurfit Business Journalist Award for his documentary on Ireland's economic collapse.
In May 2018, Shortt was appointed to the RTÃÂ Board as the staff representative. Much of his period on the board came under scrutiny due to the governance of the company under then Director General Dee Forbes and Chair Moya Doherty.
In January 2024, Shortt resigned his role in the RTÃÂ newsroom and his position as staff representative on the RTÃÂ Board to take up the position of RTÃÂ company secretary, responsible for advising the board on governance, procedures and ensuring that proper rules and procedures at board and sub-committee meetings are followed.