Michael Clarkson (journalist)

Last updated
Michael Clarkson
Born1948or1949(age 75–76) [1]
Preston, Lancashire, England, U.K.
NationalityCanadian
OccupationJournalist
Years active1967–present
Awards

Michael Clarkson is a Canadian journalist, author, and speaker.

Contents

Early life

Clarkson was born in Preston, Lancashire. [2] He moved with his family to Fort Erie, Ontario, at an early age, where he attended Mather Elementary School and became life-long friends with his schoolmate and future poet Robert Billings. [2] [3] [4] He attended Crescent Heights High School in Calgary, Alberta, with future Premier of Alberta Ralph Klein. [5]

A sufferer of chronic depression, Clarkson identified with Holden Caulfield, the protagonist in J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye , and developed an obsession with both the character and the author. [1] [6]

Career

Clarkson began his journalism career in 1967 as a freelance newspaper writer. [7] He moved to Niagara Falls, Ontario, when his freelancing career fell apart, and collected welfare for several months before getting a job at the Niagara Falls Review . [7] [8] In 1978, his depression led him to Cornish, New Hampshire, to try to meet his favorite author, J. D. Salinger, who had famously retreated from public life after giving his last interview in 1953. [8] [6] He had a brief conversation with an uncooperative Salinger at the base of his driveway, then returned unannounced a year later to speak some more with Salinger in his home. [8] Clarkson wrote an article [8] about his two visits that he sold to The New York Times Syndicate for $1,500. [1]

Clarkson spent the 1980s working at the St. Catharines Standard . In 1985, he worked with Kevin Cavanagh, Doug Herod, and Kevin McMahon on a series of stories about the mass arrest of 32 men charged for sex offenses committed in a St. Catharines shopping mall washroom leading to one man committing suicide. [9] The series led to changes in the city's police procedures for handling such offenses. [9] The following year, the stories earned the four reporters the inaugural Centre for Investigative Journalism Award for excellence in investigative journalism. [9]

Clarkson's work with fellow reporter John Nicol earned the two an honorable mention from the National Newspaper Awards and two awards from the Western Ontario Newspaper Awards. [10] [11] In 1989, Clarkson received the 1988 National Newspaper Award for Sports Writing for a feature article about hockey legend Hap Emms. [12] It was the Standard's first National Newspaper Award. [12] After leaving the newspaper, Clarkson received the 1990 Western Ontario Newspaper Award for News Feature for an article published the previous year in the Standard on the stress suffered by police who investigate their colleagues, and he was also runner-up in the Humor Writing and Beat Coverage categories. [13]

In 1990, Clarkson moved to the Calgary Herald . [13] He received an honorable mention in 1991 from the Western Fairs Association for a behind-the-scenes article about the Calgary Stampede. [14] Articles about the AIDS-related deaths of 40 male figure skaters and coaches earned Clarkson the 1992 National Newspaper Award for Sports Writing. [15]

Clarkson and Sharon Adams wrote a series of several articles published in the spring of 1994 called "Coping with Change" about how the people of Calgary, Alberta, were coping with a sluggish economy. [16] The series earned the two reporters the 1995 Media Awards for Excellence in Health Reporting from the Canadian Nurses Association. [17]

Also in 1994, Clarkson and Ron Collins wrote a series of stories revealing how the health care system was destroying the lives of native Canadians by making it easy for them to abuse prescription drugs. [18] [19] The series led the Alberta College of Physicians and Surgeons to charge Calgary physician Dr. Dionisio David with improperly prescribing drugs. [19] [20] David resigned to avoid the charges. [20] The series was a finalist for both the (U.S.) National Institute of Health Care Management Award for International Health-care Reporting and the 1995 Canadian Association of Journalists award in the open newspaper category. [19] [21]

Clarkson moved to the Toronto Star in 1995. [22] He took a buyout and retired from the newspaper in 2004. [7]

After officially retiring, Clarkson spent his time writing books and speaking on mental health. [23] In 2020, he wrote and produced a documentary on suicides at Niagara Falls that focused on the death of his friend and poet, Robert Billings. [3] [24]

Personal life

Clarkson and his wife Jennifer married in 1974. [25] They have two children. [25]

In addition to chronic depression, Clarkson also suffered from occasional vasovagal attacks, a common form of fainting spells. [26]

During the 1980s, Clarkson participated in rescue missions for people who went over Niagara Falls. [4] [24]

Honors

Selected bibliography

Articles

Books

Selected filmography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ontario Hockey League</span> Ice hockey league in Canada

The Ontario Hockey League is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues which constitute the Canadian Hockey League. The league is for players aged 16–20. There are currently 20 teams in the OHL: seventeen in Ontario, two in Michigan, and one in Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Catharines</span> City in Ontario, Canada

St. Catharines is the most populous city in Canada's Niagara Region, the eighth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2017, St. Catharines has an area of 96.13 square kilometres (37.12 sq mi) and 140,370 residents. It lies in Southern Ontario, 51 kilometres (32 mi) south of Toronto across Lake Ontario, and is 19 kilometres (12 mi) inland from the international boundary with the United States along the Niagara River. It is the northern entrance of the Welland Canal. Residents of St. Catharines are known as St. Catharinites. St. Catharines carries the official nickname "The Garden City" due to its 1,000 acres (4 km2) of parks, gardens, and trails.

Sun Media Corporation was the owner of several tabloid and broadsheet newspapers in Canada and the 49% owner of the now defunct Sun News Network. It was a subsidiary of Quebecor Media.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marcel Dionne</span> Canadian ice hockey player (born 1951)

Marcel Elphège Dionne is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre who played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Detroit Red Wings, Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers between 1971 and 1989. A prolific scorer, he won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer in 1979–80, and recorded 50 goals or more in a season six times, and 100 points or more in a season 8 times during his career. Internationally Dionne played for the Canadian national team at two Canada Cups and three World Championships. Dionne was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1992. In 2017 Dionne was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.

Getaway is Australia's longest-running travel and lifestyle television program. Debuting on 14 May 1992 in a Thursday 7:30 pm time slot, it is broadcast on the Nine Network and TLC. Its main competitor was The Great Outdoors on the Seven Network until 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lakeshore West line</span> Commuter rail line serving Toronto, Canada

Lakeshore West is one of the seven train lines of the GO Transit system in the Greater Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada. It extends from Union Station in Toronto to Hamilton, along the shore of Lake Ontario. Some train trips extend past Hamilton to St. Catharines and Niagara Falls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Catharines station</span> Railway station in Ontario, Canada

St. Catharines station is a railway station in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. It is served by the Maple Leaf train between Toronto and New York City and is a stop on the Lakeshore West line of GO Transit. The station is a designated Heritage Railway Station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Niagara Regional Police Service</span> Law enforcement agency

The Niagara Regional Police Service (NRPS) is a regional police service maintained by the Regional Municipality of Niagara in the Canadian province of Ontario. As of 2021, the force employed 774 sworn police officers and 326 non-sworn support staff members.

Richard Dykstra is a Canadian politician. He served as president of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario from 2016 to 2018. He also served as the member of Parliament (MP) for the Ontario riding of St. Catharines from 2006 to 2015. He was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 2006 federal election. He was re-elected in 2008 and 2011 but was defeated by Liberal candidate Chris Bittle in the 2015 federal election.

In 1970, the Junior A level was divided into two more levels, Tier I and Tier II. In 1974, the "Major Junior A" division of the OHA became the Ontario Major Junior Hockey League (OMJHL) and began to operate independently of the OHA. Finally in 1980, the OMJHL became the Ontario Hockey League.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hap Emms</span> Canadian ice hockey player and coach (1905–1988)

Leighton Alfred Emms was a Canadian ice hockey player, coach, team owner, and general manager, during nearly 60 years in hockey. Emms played 17 seasons of professional hockey as a left winger and a defenceman, including 10 seasons and 320 games in the National Hockey League. After playing, Emms had a 33-year presence in the Ontario Hockey Association, as the owner of the Barrie Flyers, Niagara Falls Flyers, and St. Catharines Black Hawks between 1945 and 1978. Teams that Emms coached or owned appeared in eight Memorial Cup tournaments, winning four Memorial Cups. He was nicknamed "Happy Emms" due to the sour look on his face, which was later shortened to "Hap Emms".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Niagara IceDogs</span> Ontario Hockey League team in St. Catharines

The Niagara IceDogs are a major junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League based in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. The franchise was originally known as the Mississauga IceDogs and founded in 1996. The team was relocated to St. Catharines and played its inaugural season in the Niagara region during the 2007–08 OHL season after nine seasons in Mississauga. In 2022 the team was acquired by majority owner Darren DeDobbelaer and minority owner Wayne Gretzky.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year</span> Mens college basketball award

The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year is an award given to the men's basketball player in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) voted as the most outstanding player. The award was first presented following the 1981–82 season, the first MAAC season, through voting by the league's head coaches. The award was first given to William Brown of Saint Peter's after Brown averaged 17.0 ppg, while leading the Peacocks to the NIT.

Niagara Region Transit is a regional public transit system operating in the Niagara Region of Ontario. Initial service commenced on September 12, 2011, and consisted of inter-municipal routes. In January 2023, Niagara Region Transit assumed the operations of Welland Transit, Fort Erie Transit, St. Catharines Transit, and Niagara Falls Transit to form a single unified local transit service for the entire Niagara Region. Local fares are $3 for an adult customer.

Gordon Singleton was a Canadian world-record holding track cyclist. In 1982, he became the first Canadian cyclist to win a world championship. He was the first, and only, cyclist in history to simultaneously hold world records in all three of track cycling's sprint races: the 200m, 500m and 1000m distances, all in a 24-hour span from October 9–10 in 1980. An Olympic racer, he was deprived of competing in the 1980 Summer Olympics at the peak of his career by Canada's boycott of those games in Moscow. He also competed and won gold medals in the 1978 Edmonton Commonwealth Games, and the 1979 Puerto Rico Pan Am Games for Canada. At the end of 1986, he was named a Companion of the Order of Canada. In his middle-age, he continued to cycle and took part in Master Series races, getting a bronze medal at the Canadian Nationals for his age group in 2014. He was inducted into the Canadian Cycling Hall of Fame in October 2015 along with some of his teammates from the 1970s and 1980s. His hometown of Niagara Falls, Ontario celebrated him many times over his life, including in 2004, as their best athlete in its first 100 years. After his cycling career was over, he took over his father's automotive parts business in Niagara Falls. In 2023, he was diagnosed with Cancer, and died from the disease in March 2024.

Jennifer Phipps was a Canadian actress best known for her work on stage.

The 1994 Canadian National Soccer League season was the seventy-second season for the Canadian National Soccer League. The season began on May 28, 1994, with Montreal Ramblers facing Toronto Croatia at the Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard. The majority of the season was contested by the reigning champions, St. Catharines Roma, along with Montreal Croatia, and Toronto Italia. The title was eventually won by Toronto Italia after defeating St. Catharines in the CNSL Championship final. Toronto would also secure the double, which included the regular-season title. St. Catharines Roma won the league cup.

The 1993 Canadian National Soccer League season was the seventy-first season for the Canadian National Soccer League. The season concluded on October 17, 1993, with St. Catharines Roma claiming their first CNSL Championship after defeating Toronto Rockets in a two-game series. Toronto Croatia secured their fifth CNSL league cup.

The Centre for Investigative Journalism Award (1986–1990) was given for excellence in investigative journalism by Canadian journalists. It was administered by the Canadian Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burgoyne Bridge</span> Bridge in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada

The Burgoyne Bridge is a bridge in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. The original bridge was built in 1915 by the Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation. In 2010, construction of a new Burgoyne Bridge was recommended by the Niagara Region. However, the project was not completed until 2016 due to the estimated cost. The new bridge is 333 meters long and features a 125-metre main span supported by a steel arch.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Reporter ignores cool reception, talks to Salinger". The Advocate . The Canadian Press. March 15, 1980. p. 38 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. 1 2 "Michael Clarkson". International Journalism Festival . Retrieved November 9, 2021.
  3. 1 2 Law, John (November 18, 2020). "Suicide documentary a personal journey for Niagara writer Michael Clarkson". Niagara Falls Review . Retrieved November 9, 2021.
  4. 1 2 Clarkson, Michael (2017). The River of Lost Souls: What We Might Learn From Niagara Falls Suicides. ASIN   B078RV9XRB.
  5. ↑ Clarkson, Michael (June 9, 1991). "All Their Tomorrows". Herald Sunday Magazine. Sunday Herald . pp. 6–10 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. 1 2 3 Kirkey, Sharon (February 21, 2018). "The Dangerous Allure of Niagara Falls". The Gazette . p. NP2 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. 1 2 3 Clarkson, Michael (February 17, 2017). "What 40 Years Struggling To Publish A Book Taught Me About Rejection". HuffPost . Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Clarkson, Michael (November 17, 1979). "J. D. Salinger: The Catcher in the Rye grows old in solitude". The Weekend Herald . Vol. 97, no. 270. pp. C1, C6 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. 1 2 3 4 "CBC man wins award for tainted tuna story". The Vancouver Sun . Vol. 99, no. 413. March 17, 1986. p. B7.
  10. 1 2 "Eastern newspapers dominate awards". The Edmonton Journal . The Canadian Press. p. A8 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. 1 2 3 "The best of Ontario Newspapers". The Windsor Star . April 11, 1988. p. A5 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. 1 2 3 "Second consecutive awards for Ontario newspapers". The Edmonton Journal . The Canadian Press. April 2, 1989. p. E5 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. 1 2 3 "Reporter honored for feature writing". Calgary Herald . April 23, 1990. p. B2 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. 1 2 "Photo takes award". Calgary Herald (City ed.). January 17, 1991. p. B2 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. 1 2 3 4 "Globe and Mail scores five National Newspaper Awards". The Gazette (Sports Final ed.). The Canadian Press. April 22, 1993. p. A2 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. 1 2 Clarkson, Michael (March 12, 1994). "Coping: Then and Now". Calgary Herald . pp. B1, B5 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. 1 2 3 "Nurses honor Herald series". Calgary Herald (City ed.). February 5, 1995. p. A2 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ↑ Clarkson, Michael; Collins, Ron (June 25, 1995). "Death by prescription". Calgary Herald . p. A1 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. 1 2 3 "Herald series nominated". Calgary Herald (City ed.). April 13, 1995. p. A2 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. 1 2 Clarkson, Michael (October 18, 1994). "Doctor quits in face of hearing". Calgary Herald . p. A1 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ↑ "Herald series eyed for award". Calgary Herald (City ed.). February 22, 1995. p. B4 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ↑ "Ballots made public today". Calgary Herald (City ed.). Toronto Star. September 12, 1995. p. D4 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ↑ "Michael Clarkson". National Speakers Bureau. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  24. 1 2 3 Clarkson, Michael (producer, writer); Darton, Chris (director) (November 13, 2020). At the Brink: A Personal Look at Suicide Over Niagara Falls (Video). Blues Harp Productions – via YouTube.
  25. 1 2 Clarkson, Michael (2011). "About the Author". The Poltergeist Phenomenon: An In-depth Investigation Into Floating Beds, Smashing Glass, and Other Unexplained Disturbances. Pompton Plains, New Jersey: New Page Books. ISBN   978-1-601-63680-5.
  26. ↑ Clarkson, Michael (March 17, 1991). "Seasoned reporter prone to swoon at doctor's". Calgary Herald . p. D1 – via Newspapers.com.
  27. ↑ Clarkson, Michael (December 13, 1992). "Skating's Spectre". Calgary Herald . pp. B1 –B2– via Newspapers.com.
  28. ↑ Clarkson, Michael (December 13, 1992). "Deaths create massive vacuum". Calgary Herald . pp. B1 –B2– via Newspapers.com.
  29. ↑ Clarkson, Michael (March 12, 1994). "Proof Positive". Calgary Herald . p. B5 – via Newspapers.com.
  30. ↑ Clarkson, Michael (March 20, 1994). "Survival Tactics". Calgary Herald (City ed.). p. A4 – via Newspapers.com.
  31. ↑ Clarkson, Michael (March 26, 1994). "A Matter of Balance". Calgary Herald . p. B4 – via Newspapers.com.
  32. ↑ Clarkson, Michael (March 26, 1994). "Job loss opens doors". Calgary Herald . p. B4 – via Newspapers.com.
  33. ↑ Clarkson, Michael (March 26, 1994). "Retiree crafts a new life". Calgary Herald . p. B4 – via Newspapers.com.
  34. ↑ Clarkson, Michael (March 31, 1994). "Adapt or Perish". Calgary Herald (City ed.). p. B4 – via Newspapers.com.
  35. ↑ Clarkson, Michael (April 23, 1994). "Pulling Together". Calgary Herald (City ed.). p. B8 – via Newspapers.com.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.