John Sawatsky

John Sawatsky, born Ferdinand John Sawatzky in Winkler, Manitoba, Canada in 1948, is an award-winning author, journalist and expert on interviewing techniques.

Early career

Sawatsky, a 1960s Simon Fraser University graduate in political science, started his career as an investigative reporter. In the 1970s, while working as the Ottawa correspondent for the Vancouver Sun, he published a series of articles on misdeeds of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police which, at the time, was trying to subvert various communist organizations in Canada. [http://www.sirc-csars.gc.ca/reflections/sec2a_e.html] He received the 1976 Michener Award for his work [http://www.michenerawards.ca/english/winaward1976.htm] and later wrote a number of books on the RCMP.

He quit daily journalism in 1979 [http://www.caj.ca/events/montreal-writers-2002.html#sawatsky] and wrote a number of books, including a biography of Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney published 1991.

Academic career

In 1982, Sawatsky started teaching classes in investigative journalism at various Canadian universities [http://www.ajr.org/article.asp?id=676] and has been an adjunct professor of journalism at Carleton University's School of Journalism since 1991. Sawatsky also works as a consultant in the art of interviewing and has been involved in interview training for Canada’s television network CBC since 1991. He has taught interviewing techniques to television anchors, reporters and print journalists in many parts of the world, including Singapore, The United States, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark.

Currently, he teaches an interview-technique seminar for sports reporters for ESPN, the cable sports network. The seminar focuses on the sloppy and ineffective interviewing techniques employed by many of today's major TV & cable news interviewers [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5625218] . He was recently hired full time by ESPN as a Vice President.

Awards and distinctions

Sawatsky was awarded the Michener Award in 1976 for his series of pieces on the RCMP. He also received an SFU Outstanding Alumni Awards from his alma mater in 1985 [http://www.sfu.ca/alumni/our_alumni/outstanding/] , the Ottawa non-fiction book award for his biography of Mulroney [http://www.ottawa.ca/city_services/culture/arts/book_awards/past_winners_en.html] and the Ottawa Citizen book of the year award for "The Insiders".

Bibliography

*cite book
last = Sawatsky
first = John
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Mulroney: the Politics of Ambition
publisher = Macfarlane, Walter & Ross
date = 1991
id = ISBN 0-921912-06-4
*cite book
last = Sawatsky
first = John
title = Insiders: Power, Money and Secrets
publisher = McClelland & Stewart
date = 1987
id = ISBN 0-7710-7949-4
*cite book
last = Sawatsky
first = John
title = Gouzenko: The untold story
publisher = Gage Distribution Co
date = 1984
id = ISBN 0-7715-9812-2
*cite book
last = Sawatsky
first = John
title = For Services Rendered: Leslie James Bennett and the RCMP Security Service
publisher = Doubleday
date = 1982
id = ISBN 0-385-17660-0
*cite book
last = Sawatsky
first = John
title = Men In The Shadows: The RCMP Security Service
publisher = Doubleday
date = 1980
id = ISBN 0-385-14682-5