Canada’s oldest and most celebrated television network, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, is marking its golden anniversary with a series of special broadcasts on air, on-line and in various communities across the nation. With 50 years of powerful journalism behind them, a small part of this milestone will be shared with the Concordia University community.
CBC Montreal will be taping a panel discussion about the network’s run at the Loyola Campus’s Oscar Peterson Concert Hall on Sept. 26.
Dennis Trudeau, who joined the CBC in 1979, will host the one-hour show. Invited journalists include: David Halton, one of Canada’s most acclaimed in the field; Doreen Kays, who stood feet away from Anwar Sadat when the Egyptian President was assassinated in 1981; Mark Kelley, whose educational roots lie at Concordia; Wendy Mesley, a Gemini Award winner; and Lynne Robson, a key player in CBC Quebec’s coverage of the 1995 referendum and the Saguenay floods.
Although the reporters seem to be from across the journalistic spectrum, they all have one thing in common: each has passed through the CBC newsroom in Montreal.
Not only will the guests discuss their own career in the profession, but they will also share their personal stories of reporting in Montreal, which according to Julie Chamberland, a researcher on the project, “is the greatest city to be a journalist [in].”
Luise Massari, a graduate of communication studies at Concordia and an integral part of the CBC since 1985, will head the production of the show, which will air that same night at 7:00 p.m on CBC. Massari promises a great discussion as “Montreal has made a difference in [all the guests’] lives.” She went on to explain that the “two-cultures make [the city] a challenge to work [in]. If you can make it [here], you can make it anywhere.”
Taped testimonials from former Montreal journalists like Bill Cunningham, Tom Harrington and Brian Stewart, among others, will also be included in the discussion.
The filming starts at 9:00 a.m. on Sept. 26. Concordia students are encouraged to attend and are recommended to arrive at the Oscar Peterson Concert Hall by 8:30 a.m.
