Mike Duffy

For other people of the same name, see Michael Duffy (disambiguation).

The Honourable Michael Duffy
Senator for Cavendish, Prince Edward Island
Incumbent
Assumed office January 2, 2009
Personal details
Born	May 27, 1946 (1946-05-27) (age 65) Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Heather[1]
Profession	Television journalist
Religion	Roman Catholic

Michael Dennis "Mike" Duffy (born May 27, 1946) is a Canadian Senator and former Canadian television journalist. Prior to his appointment to the upper house he was the Ottawa editor for CTV News Channel. Duffy sits in the Senate as a Conservative, representing Prince Edward Island.

Early life and journalism career

Duffy was born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. He began his career as a teen disc jockey at CFCY-TV in the mid-1960s. He moved to print journalism with The Guardian in Charlottetown, before heading to CFCF as a lineup and assignment editor in 1969, and in 1971 he joined CFRA radio in Ottawa as a political reporter.

Duffy joined CBC radio's Parliament Hill bureau in 1974, and became a reporter for The National in 1977. Duffy became the lead CBC television reporter on Parliament Hill and covered most of the important federal stories of the Trudeau, Clark and Mulroney administrations. Duffy is primarily known for his work as an Ottawa journalist, but he has been a foreign correspondent. He covered the collapse of the South Vietnamese regime in 1975 for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and was one of the last journalists to leave Saigon before the arrival of North Vietnamese and Vietnamese nationalist forces.

In 1988 Duffy joined Baton Broadcasting as the first host of its Sunday morning news program Sunday Edition. When that series ended in 1999, Duffy moved to his role as a show host and interviewer with CTV Newsnet (now the CTV News Channel). Long known as an "Ottawa insider", he was able to get many elected officials to appear on his programs. Duffy hosted two programs on CTV Newsnet, Countdown with Mike Duffy and Mike Duffy Live. The latter program was broadcast from Parliament Hill and featured interviews with prominent Canadian political figures and commentators. Upon Duffy's departure for the Senate, CTV Newsnet temporarily renamed the program On the Hill and installed Graham Richardson as the host. On the Hill ran for one month before being permanently replaced with Power Play.

In the 1990s, Duffy sued Frank magazine for defamation. Duffy claimed that the magazine's satirical attacks against him cost him the Order of Canada.^[2]Frank settled out of court with Duffy.^[3]

In 2008, a panel of the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council ruled that Duffy had violated broadcasting codes and ethics during the 2008 federal election. The panel concluded that Duffy's decision to air 'false starts' of an interview with then-Liberal leader Stéphane Dion “was not fair, balanced, or even handed" and that during the same broadcast, Duffy “significantly misrepresented the view of one of the three members of his Panel...Liberal MP Geoff Regan.”^[4]

Awards and honours

In 1986 he won an ACTRA Award for live television reporting, for his coverage of the 1985 Turkish embassy attack in Ottawa by the Armenian Revolutionary Army.^[5] In 1994, Duffy was inducted into the Canadian Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame.^[5][6]

Duffy has received honorary degrees from his alma mater, the University of Prince Edward Island, as well as Wilfrid Laurier University and from Niagara University in Niagara Falls, New York.^[7] He has been a visiting fellow at Duke University, in Durham, North Carolina, and has been twice nominated for the "best in the business" award by the Washington Journalism Review.^[7]

Canadian senator

On December 22, 2008, Duffy was named a Prince Edward Island representative to the Senate of Canada on the advice of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, sitting as a Conservative.^[7][8] He subsequently retired as a TV journalist at the end of 2008. The time-slot vacated by Mike Duffy Live on CTV News Channel was, for the month of January 2009, temporarily filled by On the Hill with Graham Richardson, then in February permanently replaced by Power Play with Tom Clark, a similar political program hosted by Tom Clark.

In March 2010 Duffy criticized the University of King's College and other journalism schools in Canada for teaching Noam Chomsky and critical thinking. He went on to say that journalism schools in Canada were churning out leftists who thought private enterprise was bad. The head of King's School of Journalism reacted with surprise to Duffy's criticism, saying that Manufacturing Consent was not part of the curriculum. She also said she would not apologize for teaching critical thinking to journalism students.^[9] A number of editorial comments were written in response to Duffy's criticism. ^{[10] [11][12]}

References

• Chronicle Herald. "Duffy: Williams, Ghiz 'grotesque' bedfellows", Chronicle Herald, February 5, 2009.
• Truro Daily News. "Harper says senator’s comments about premiers `perhaps inappropriate’", Truro Daily News, February 7, 2009.

1. ^ Prime Minister Stephen Harper appoints Mike Duffy to the Senate of Canada on YouTube
2. ^ http://www.straight.com/article-177039/mike-duffy-missed-order-canda-senate-pays-better
3. ^ . http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2004/12/17/frank041217.html. ^{[dead link]}
4. ^ National Specialty Services Panel (2009-04-06). "CBSC Decisions". CBSC. http://www.cbsc.ca/english/decisions/2009/090527.php. Retrieved 2010-09-09. 
5. ^ ^{a b} "Canadian Communications Foundation: Biographies–Duffy, Michael D.". Canadian Communications Foundation. http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/personalities/personalities.php?id=203. Retrieved 2009-07-31. 
6. ^ "CAB Hall of Fame Awards". Canadian Association of Broadcasters. http://www.cab-acr.ca/english/about/awards/hof/complete_hof.shtm. Retrieved 2009-07-31. ^{[dead link]}
7. ^ ^{a b c} "Backgrounder - List of new Senators" (Press release). Office of the Prime Minister. 2008-12-22. http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/media.asp?id=2364. Retrieved 2009-07-31. 
8. ^ "Prime minister fills 18 vacant Senate seats". CTV News. 2008-12-22. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20081222/senate_appointments_081222/20081222?hub=TopStories. Retrieved 2008-12-22. 
9. ^ http://www.metronews.ca/halifax/local/article/478808--duffy-criticizes-king-s-for-thinking-critically
10. ^ http://www.metronews.ca/halifax/comment/article/481425--who-are-you-and-what-have-you-done-with-mike-duffy
11. ^ http://www.mediastyle.ca/2010/03/duffy-dumps-on-j-schools-jumps-the-shark/
12. ^ http://guelphparticipates.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=87&Itemid=1

External links

• Mike Duffy
• Parliament of Canada biography

Persondata
Name	Duffy, Mike
Alternative names
Short description	Canadian politician
Date of birth	1946-05-27
Place of birth	Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada
Date of death
Place of death