Tony Burman

Tony Burman (born 13 June 1948) is the managing director of Al Jazeera English.He was the editor in chief of CBC News from 2002-2007. On June 19, 2007, he announced his retirement from the CBC after a 35 year career, effective July 13. On 14 May 2008 it was announced that Tony Burman was appointed as the Managing Director of Al Jazeera English based in Doha, Qatar. [http://www.qatarliving.com/news/107195/tony-burman-appointed-as-managing-director-at-al-jazeera-english]

In October 2007, he received the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television's Gordon Sinclair Award for lifetime achievement in broadcast journalism. [http://www.geminiawards.ca/gemini22/specialsGS.cfm]

Career

Print

As a student in the 1960s, Burman edited two school newspapers, one of which was the Loyola News (of what is now Concordia University). In that role, most notably, he was called upon by the Canadian University Press to investigate the circumstances surrounding the resignations of the editors of the University of Windsor's student paper, the Lance, [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/pdfs/ubyssey/UBYSSEY_1968_01_12.pdf] who had reprinted a controversial essay comparing the status of students at California State University and the status of African Americans in society. His commission concluded the university administration had interfered with the independence of the newspaper and forced the editors out: "the concept of freedom of the press at Windsor is very much in doubt." [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/pdfs/ubyssey/UBYSSEY_1968_01_23.pdf] His arguments in the official report, filed at the CUP office in Ottawa, later became encapsulated as the exemplar case in defending the underground journalism movement; the Canadian counterpart to a larger debate regarding the treatment of a now-classic civil rights essay, "The Student as Nigger", as well as other related forms of "challenging" social commentary.

Burman's first professional role was as an Education Reporter at his father's newspaper, the Montreal Star, in the late 1960s. He then spent several years as a freelancer, including a stint in South America, where he found his first big story: Vilcabamba, often called the "valley of longevity" and reputed to be one of the sources for modern fountain of youth mythologies.

Radio

Burman joined the CBC in 1971 or 1972. He worked for CBC Radio in Montreal as a contributing producer to "As It Happens" and, later, as executive producer of "Cross Country Checkup".

Television

After working in Montreal as a current affairs story editor with the nightly news program "City At Six" he moved to Toronto, where he ultimately landed as senior writer on "The National" under the guidance of Lloyd Robertson (1975-76), Peter Kent (1976-78), and Knowlton Nash (1978-88).

From 1980-82, Burman was executive producer of "The National" and created the redesign of the newscast when it moved in 1982 to its new prime-time slot at 10 p.m. After this, he spent three years based in London (1982-85) for CBC Television news. In London, he and correspondent Brian Stewart were the first North American journalists on the ground to cover the 1984 - 1985 famine in Ethiopia, where they found Birhan Woldu (the "face of famine" that inspired both Live Aid and Live 8). [http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/ethiopia/index.html]

Burman produced many documentaries during his five year tenure with "The Journal" (1985-90). These included "Mandela", the first television biography of Nelson and Winnie Mandela; "Human Tragedy in the Sudan" (Michener citation 1989) [http://michenerawards.ca/english/winaward1989.htm] ; "The Last Great Cause" (Gemini Award 1988), a look back at the Spanish Civil War on its 50th anniversary; and "" (Gemini Award 1990; UDNA Prize, Monte Carlo Festival 1991), an inside look at the kidnapping of children as part of the second Sudanese civil war. [http://www.publicairwaves.ca/printer.php?page=683]

From 1990-93, Burman was chief news editor of CBC Television. In 1993, he returned to "The National" as executive producer, creating the current hour-long format and successfully addressing management concerns regarding the show's flagging ratings.

Management

Before returning to produce "The National" in 1993, Burman spent a year as managing director of CBC's all-news network, CBC Newsworld.

Since his return to management in 1998, Burman has been head of CBC Newsworld. In addition, Burman has also been in charge of all journalistic programming since February 2000. [http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2000/01/27/burman000127.html]

Online

In early 2006, Burman launched a new column at CBC.ca. He discusses current events, journalistic policy, and provides an indication as to the future of news and current affairs coverage at CBC. In May 2007, in a move to improve interaction between the audience and "insiders," version 2.0 was launched. This blog -- entitled [http://www.cbc.ca/news/inside-media/2007/05/post.html CBC Inside Media] -- also serves as a launching pad for live chats with CBC correspondents and decision makers.

ervice

Burman has served on the boards of several charitable organizations. He also travels widely in support of public broadcasting, speaking at universities and conferences around the world (e.g., at [http://www.yorku.ca/osgoode/wallenberg/wallenberg_2005proceedings.htm#_Toc94947411 Osgoode Hall Law School] ).

Thoughts on Journalism

*Accountability: "We are not only the national public broadcaster but we are [also] a large news organisation... and we have an obligation to try to set and keep high standards.... Our 'bible' is a handbook of CBC "Journalistic Standards and Practices". It's a large and detailed policy book that outlines the CBC practice on a wide range of journalistic issues. It is to these policies that anyone in the public can hold CBC journalists accountable" (speech to the Empire Club of Canada, 25 Feb 1999). [http://empireclubfoundation.com/details.asp?SpeechID=573&FT=yes]
*Credibility: "Every news organization has only its credibility and reputation to rely on" (qtd. in Globe & Mail, 16 October 2001). [http://209.47.161.50/articles/GlobeandMail/globe011017.htm]
*Supporting Democracy: "We believe that informed citizenship benefits from the expression of the fullest range of responsible opinion on important issues, rather than artificially limiting the spectrum of debate to favour one particular perspective -- however apparently right and justified it may be. At the end of the day, we trust our [audiences] to draw their own conclusions" (National Post, 25 June 2003). [http://www.friends.ca/News/Friends_News/archives/articles06250301.asp]
*New Trends: "In the days ahead... the challenge for established newspapers, broadcast networks and websites is to come up with ways of harnessing the power and wisdom of the audience in a way that adheres to professional ethics and accepted journalistic policy. In other words, a genuine partnership -- and one that is more methodical than simply tossing people small cameras or microphones and then wishing for the best" (column, 3 April 2006). [http://www.cbc.ca/news/about/burman/20060403.html]
*New Trends: "More than ever, audiences are determining how the media will evolve. They want news, information and much of their media "on their terms" on a variety of platforms -- whether TV, radio, newspapers, laptops, personal organizers, cellphones or iPods. And they want a genuine two-way relationship with their content-providers that is more than simply sitting back and absorbing.... They want to respond, engage and create -- to be contributors, not merely consumers" (column, 18 April 2006). [http://www.cbc.ca/news/about/burman/20060418.html]
*Credibility: "Credibility cannot be achieved overnight. But public broadcasters must conduct journalism in an open and accountable way.... If you find that the news is only gossip and irrelevant to public interest, avoid going into it" (qtd. in Taipei Times, 11 May 2006, page 4). [http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2006/05/11/2003307331]
*Supporting Democracy: "There is no more important contribution that we can make to society than strong, publicly-spirited investigative journalism" (qtd. in Canadian Association of Journalists newsletter, May 2006, p.2). [http://www.caj.ca/newsletter/the_wire_2006_spring.pdf]
*In a Crisis: "the role of the media... is to try to separate fact from fiction, to help our audiences understand what is happening and why — and to respond to the unfolding drama, as best we can under the circumstances, in a way that makes sense of it all.... To connect the dots, knowing full well that horrific events are rarely random" (column, 14 September 2006). [http://www.cbc.ca/news/about/burman/20060914.html]
*New Trends: "We're heading into a world where we're all going to become content providers, not TV stations, not newspapers, not radio stations.... Our reporters will no longer be radio reporters or TV reporters — that particular T-shirt will be put aside and there will be far more contributions to the web, far more mixing and movement among the various networks and platforms" (qtd. in member papers of the Canadian Press, including the Toronto Star [http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&pubid=968163964505&cid=1164927010764] and the Globe & Mail [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061130.wcbccsi1130/BNStory/Entertainment/home] , 30 November 2006).
*Sensationalism: "It was appalling that various networks indulged in this orgy of useless crap.... This kind of coverage [http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=69111 does] trigger copycat killings and it's my personal fear that there will be another event [like the Virginia Tech massacre] .... [Widespread play of the video] was exactly what this deranged killer wanted." (qtd. in the Globe & Mail, 20 April 2007). [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070420.SHOOTINGMEDIA20/TPStory/TPInternational/Television/]

External links

* [http://www.cbc.ca/news/about/burman/letters/ Burman's column at cbc.ca]
* [http://www.empireclubfoundation.com/details.asp?SpeechID=573&FT=yes Full text of speech] to the Empire Club of Canada on "Privacy and the Media", as part of a two-part presentation with Bob Rae, 25 February 1999.
* [http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/mmnr/cjf_awards_2004/ Video of acceptance speech] for Excellence in Journalism Award, recognizing the quality of CBC's coverage of the Iraq War. See details [http://www.investors.com/breakingnews.asp?journalid=21551429&brk=1 here] .
* [http://www.broadcastermagazine.com/issues/ISArticle.asp?id=26917&PubCode=BM&issue=02042004 Broadcaster Magazine] article announcing Burman's receipt of the 2004 RTNDA Canada President's Award, "presented annually to honour individuals, stations, companies or groups who have brought distinction to, or have made major contributions to, broadcast journalism."
* [http://www.cbc.ca/clips/mov/burman-invu070620.mov Television] and [http://www.insidethecbc.com/burmanexit blogger] interviews following the announcement of his retirement in 2007, reviewing his career and discussing the challenges of public broadcasting. (See also: [http://www.broadcastermagazine.com/issues/ISArticle.asp?id=70365&issue=06192007 Broadcaster Magazine] , [http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/227265 Toronto Star] , [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070620.BURMAN20/TPStory/TPEntertainment/Television/ Globe & Mail] , and [http://www.friends.ca/News/Friends_News/archives/articles06200703.asp National Post] .)

References

* [http://www.cbc.ca/news/about/editor-in-chief.html Official bio] at CBC
* [http://www.publicairwaves.ca/printer.php?page=683 Biographical profile] by Megan Griffith-Greene
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