W-FIVE

"W-FIVE", also known as "W5" or "W5 with Eric Malling", is a Canadian news magazine television series which airs on the CTV Television Network. The title refers to the Five Ws of journalism: Who, What, Where, When and Why?

History

"W-FIVE" is the longest-running current affairs/newsmagazine program in North America and the longest-running Canadian television program.

It was launched as W5 in 1966 just after the demise of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's "This Hour Has Seven Days", at a time when the CTV network was on the brink of bankruptcy. The program's magazine format is considered an inspiration for a number of similar programs, including the American series "60 Minutes" which premiered two years later.

The program's first executive producer was Peter Reilly, who later went on to become first host of the CBC's later current affairs offering, "the fifth estate". Peter Rehak was executive producer through the 1980s and 1990s.

Robert Hurst oversaw a revamping of the program look in the mid-nineties. Malcolm Fox is the current executive producer.

The program's first regular host was Ken Cavanagh, with reports from CTV National News journalists such as Doug Johnson and Frank Drea, who later became a Progressive Conservative Member of Provincial Parliament in Ontario. During the 1970s, Henry Champ was a long-time host, along with Ken Lefolii and Tom Gould. Helen Hutchinson, was one of the first women to gain a prominent position television news in Canada. Jim Reed joined the programme in 1972 as a field producer and was later appointed as host along with Helen Hutchinson and Henry Champ.

Eric Malling joined "W-FIVE" in 1990 from CBC's rival news magazine, "the fifth estate". Under his guidance, the program was called "W-FIVE with Eric Malling." It is nearly single-handedly credited with bringing the rising amount of government debt to Canadians' attention. An in-depth report on New Zealand showed the results of a nation that had suffered the effects of a debt wall. Malling left "W-FIVE" in 1996, and then died from an accident at his home in 1998.

In 1994, the program was rebranded W-FIVE and became more populist. Hosts included top CTV journalists, including Lloyd Robertson, Craig Oliver and Jim O'Connell.

Today's hosts are Sandie Rinaldo and Lloyd Robertson. Victor Malarek and Alan Fryer are the principal reporters and are joined by CTV News correspondents. Malcolm Fox is executive producer. Anton Koschany is senior producer. W-FIVE has produced such stories as exposing used car dealer trickery, rampant corruption in Canada's immigration system, and personal stories of burn recovery from the Bali Bombing.

Since 2000, the program has officially been designated a "documentary series", with only one or two segments filling an hour-long episode, due to CRTC regulations that count documentaries, but not older-style newsmagazines, as "priority programming".

For a period of time in the late 1970s and into the 1980s, the show's introductory theme music used part of Fool's Overture, a song by the UK band Supertramp.

Controversies

"W5" came under controversy during the 1970s when it aired a feature called "Campus Giveaways" that used incorrect statistics to conclude that foreign students were eroding white Canadians' opportunities for a secondary education and benefitting from public universities funded by Canadian taxpayers, without exploring the statement's backgrounds. The host of the program stated:

: "... there are so many oriental foreign students that they rarely mix with their Canadian classmates. It's as if there are two campuses at Canadian universities—foreign and domestic. Certainly this Chinese theatre attracts a full house, but not one Canadian student attended."¹

It has been alleged that the feature was specifically directed to form a negative view towards Chinese and Chinese Canadians. As well, it did not determine if the people filmed in that particular episode were actually Chinese or Chinese Canadian. After protests by Chinese Canadians, including Dr. Joseph Wong (later founder of the Yee Hong Centre for Geriatric Care), "W5" retracted this statement and apologised. The president of CTV of the time, Murray Cherover, issued the following statement on April 16, 1980:

: "... our critics—particularly Chinese Canadians and the universities—criticized the program as racist; they were right.... We share the dismay of our critics that this occurred. We sincerely apologize for the fact that Chinese Canadians were depicted as foreigners and for whatever distress this stereotyping may have caused them in the context of our multicultural society."²

This event also led to the formation of the Chinese Canadian National Council in order to form a stronger voice representing Chinese Canadians nationwide.

Hosts and producers

Hosts, reporters, and producers associated with the show have included:

* Heinz Avigdor
* Ken Cavanagh
* Henry Champ
* Wei Chen
* Tom Clark
* Bill Cunningham
* Gordon Donaldson
* Frank Drea
* Malcolm Fox (journalist)
* Tom Gould
* Helen Hutchinson
* Doug Johnson
* Peter Kent
* Anton Koschany
* Ken Lefolii
* Michael Maclear (1977-78)
* Victor Malarek
* Eric Malling (1990-1996)
*Peter Rehak (1981-1996)
* Christine Nielsen
* Susan Ormiston
* Jim Reed (journalist) [http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_reed/] [http://www.reedwrites.ca]
* Morley Safer
* Elliott Shiff
* Sylvia Sweeney
* Patrick Watson
* Carole Taylor

The addition of high-profile journalist Eric Malling in 1990 led to the series being renamed "W5 with Eric Malling" during his tenure with the program.

For several years in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the program used a portion of Supertramp's "Fool's Overture" as its theme music.

References

¹ 1979a "Campus Giveway." "W5" Transcripts. September 30, 1979 (Released October 4, 1979).

² "News release: Statement by President and Managing Director, CTV" April 16, 1980.

External links

* [http://www.ctv.ca/wfive Show website]
* [http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-69-1433-9248/life_society/chinese_immigration/clip7 Protesting racism on TV] - CBC Archives