Neil Macdonald

Last updated
Neil Macdonald
Born1957 (age 67–68)
Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
Alma mater Algonquin College
OccupationJournalist
Spouse Joyce Napier
Relatives Norm Macdonald (brother)

Neil Macdonald (born 1957) is a Canadian journalist with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and a former senior correspondent for CBC News The National . He is married to former CTV News bureau Chief Joyce Napier.

Contents

Early life and family

Macdonald was born and raised in Quebec City. His father was Percy Macdonald, who served with the Canadian Army during World War II and helped liberate the Netherlands. His mother is Ferne Macdonald (née Mains). He has two brothers, one of whom was comedian/actor Norm Macdonald. [1] He is married to Joyce Napier, [2] a former parliamentary bureau chief for CTV News. [3]

Career

After graduating from Algonquin College in Ottawa, Macdonald worked first as a print journalist. He joined the CBC in 1988 and covered Canadian Parliament for approximately a decade. He then served for five years (1998–2003) as the network's chief Middle East correspondent.

Macdonald was involved in a public dispute with Canadian media mogul Leonard Asper in 2003. Asper had accused Macdonald of being "anti-Israeli" after taking exception to some of the CBC's Middle East coverage. Macdonald responded with a rebuttal in The Globe and Mail , accusing Asper of defamation and alleging editorial censorship in the Asper-owned CanWest media outlets. [4]

In November 2010, Macdonald led a CBC investigation into the United Nations International Independent Investigation Commission and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which had been mandated with solving the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The report uncovered documents suggesting the UN investigative body had strong evidence to link the Shia paramilitary group Hezbollah to the 2005 bombing that killed Hariri, and that the UN had not acted on this intelligence due to diplomatic concerns. [5] Macdonald's report also sharply criticized the performance of the Special Tribunal's head prosecutor, Daniel Bellemare, who responded that he was "extremely disappointed" with the report. [6]

In 2014, Macdonald harshly criticized Linden MacIntyre, a former CBC employee, after MacIntyre made comments about the CBC in regard to the Jian Ghomeshi incident. [7] [8]

In 2015, Macdonald moved back to Canada after 17 years in the United States, 12 of which he spent in Washington, D.C. as the Washington bureau correspondent for The National . Macdonald produced editorial articles for the CBC's website, as well as appearing as a senior correspondent for The National before he retired in December 2019. [9]

Awards

In 1988, Macdonald received a Centre for Investigative Journalism Award honorable mention for the 1987 story "CSIS: Making a cop into a spy just doesn't fly" [10] in the Ottawa Citizen . [11]

In 2004, Macdonald received a Gemini Award for his reportage on political violence in Haiti. He was awarded a second "best reportage" Gemini in 2009 for his coverage of the U.S. 2007 economic crisis. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rafic Hariri</span> Prime Minister of Lebanon (1992–1998; 2000–2004)

Rafic Bahaa El Deen al-Hariri was a Lebanese businessman and politician who served as prime minister of Lebanon from 1992 to 1998 and again from 2000 to 2004.

The National is a Canadian national television news program which serves as the flagship broadcast for the English-language news division of CBC News by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It reports on major Canadian and international news stories, airing on CBC Television stations nationwide Sunday to Friday at 10:00 p.m. local time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cedar Revolution</span> 2005 anti-Syrian protest movement in Lebanon

The Cedar Revolution, also known as the Independence uprising, was a chain of demonstrations in Lebanon triggered by the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri. The popular movement was remarkable for its avoidance of violence, peaceful approach, and its total reliance on methods of civil resistance.

CBC News: Sunday was a weekly television newsmagazine series in Canada, which aired on Sunday mornings on both CBC Newsworld and CBC Television. Hosted by Evan Solomon and Carole MacNeil, the program first went on the air in February 2002, offering exclusive and headline news, behind-the-scenes reports, in-depth interviews with world leaders and newsmakers.

Brian Edward Stewart, is a Canadian journalist. Stewart is best known for his news reports and documentary features as senior correspondent of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's (CBC) flagship news hour, The National, where he worked for over two decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adrienne Arsenault</span> Canadian journalist

Adrienne Arsenault is a Canadian journalist who is the Chief Correspondent of CBC News and anchor of The National since November 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nahlah Ayed</span> Canadian journalist

Nahlah Ayed is a Canadian journalist, who is currently the host of the academic documentary program Ideas on CBC Radio One and a reporter with CBC News. She was previously a foreign correspondent with the network and has also worked as a parliamentary correspondent under The Canadian Press. Her reporting on contemporary Middle Eastern politics has garnered multiple awards, both domestic and international.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saša Petricic</span> Canadian journalist

Saša Petricic is a Canadian journalist and photographer. He is currently a senior correspondent and videojournalist for CBC Television's The National and other CBC News programs, based in Toronto and specializing in world news. He previously spent five years as the CBC's Asia Correspondent, based in Beijing and four years covering the Middle East from Jerusalem.

Tom Kennedy is a former Canadian television journalist, who was associated over the course of his career with both CBC News and CTV News.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Special Tribunal for Lebanon</span> International tribunal for the Rafic Hariri assassination

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), also referred to as the Lebanon Tribunal or the Hariri Tribunal, is a tribunal of international character applying Lebanese criminal law under the authority of the United Nations to carry out the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for 14 February 2005 assassination of Rafic Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister, and the deaths of 21 others, as well as those responsible for connected attacks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Common</span> Canadian journalist

David Common is a Canadian journalist, best known as a correspondent and anchor for CBC News, and cohost with Asha Tomlinson and Charlsie Agro of CBC Television's consumer affairs newsmagazine Marketplace. As of October 16, 2023, he is the host of CBC Radio’s Metro Morning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linden MacIntyre</span> Canadian journalist, broadcaster and novelist

Linden Joseph MacIntyre is a Canadian journalist, broadcaster and novelist. He has won ten Gemini Awards, an International Emmy and numerous other awards for writing and journalistic excellence, including the 2009 Scotiabank Giller Prize for his 2009 novel, The Bishop's Man. Well known for many years for his stories on CBC's The Fifth Estate, in 2014 he announced his retirement from the show at age 71. His final story, broadcast on November 21, 2014, was "The Interrogation Room" about police ethics and improper interrogation room tactics.

Susan Ormiston is a Canadian television journalist, correspondent for CBC Television's The National and guest host for several CBC radio and television programs. She has covered prominent events including the election of Nelson Mandela in 1994 in the first free elections in South Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assassination of Rafic Hariri</span> 2005 political assassination in Lebanon

On 14 February 2005, former Prime Minister of Lebanon Rafic Hariri was assassinated along with 21 others in an explosion in Beirut, Lebanon. Explosives equivalent to around 1,000 kilograms of TNT were detonated as his motorcade drove near the St. George Hotel. Among the dead were several of Hariri's bodyguards and former Minister of Economy and Trade, Bassel Fleihan.

Daniel Bellemare is a Canadian prosecutor. After retiring from a long career in the Canadian legal system, Bellemare was named as a prosecutor for the United Nations Special Tribunal for Lebanon, until 2012.

Joyce Napier is a Canadian diplomat and former television journalist, currently serving as Canada's ambassador to the Holy See. Formerly a correspondent for the news division of Société Radio-Canada, the French-language arm of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, she became, in March 2016, the parliamentary bureau chief for CTV News.

The Gordon Sinclair Award is a Canadian journalism award, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television for excellence in broadcast journalism. Originally presented as part of the ACTRA Awards, it was transferred to the new Gemini Awards in 1986. During the ACTRA era, the award was open to both radio and television journalists; when it was taken over by the Academy, it became a television-only award.

Karl Nerenberg is a Canadian journalist, broadcaster and filmmaker, working in both English and French languages. Since 2011 he has been the parliamentary correspondent, based in Ottawa, for the online, left-of-centre Canadian newsmagazine rabble.ca.

Wissam Eid was a Lebanese police officer and senior intelligence official. He is best known for providing vital information about the assassination of Lebanese prime minister Rafic Hariri to an international investigation on the assassination. However, Eid was assassinated by a car bomb in Beirut on 25 January 2008.

References

  1. ↑ Story, Jared (September 23, 2010). "Norm Macdonald talks to Uptown". Winnipeg: Uptown. Archived from the original on September 28, 2010.
    U: ...your brother is on the CBC (Neil Macdonald is The National's senior Washington correspondent).
    Macdonald: Yeah, my brother is a news reporter. He lives in Washington now. I'm glad because he used to do war reporting.
  2. ↑ Zerbisias, Antonia (24 September 2002). "Presidential talent show not necessariy a bad thing" . Toronto Star. p. E5. Retrieved 16 June 2024– via ProQuest.
  3. ↑ Nash, Chelsea (18 August 2023). "For Joyce Napier, chronicler of her time, this is not the end" . Hill Times . Archived from the original on 22 May 2024. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
  4. ↑ Wingfield Nesbitt-Larking, Paul (2007). Politics, society, and the media. Canada: Broadview Press. pp. 121–122. ISBN   9781551118123 . Retrieved 2010-12-12.
  5. ↑ Potter, Mitch (Nov 21, 2010). "UN had evidence linking Hezbollah to murder of Lebanese PM: CBC". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2010-12-12.
  6. ↑ Martin, Patrick (Nov 23, 2010). "Lebanese PM slams CBC news report". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2010-12-13.
  7. ↑ Omar, Mohamed (23 November 2014). "Neil Macdonald: Linden MacIntyre Is 'Self-Righteous' And Wrong About CBC". The Huffington Post Canada. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  8. ↑ Doyle, John (24 November 2014). "Doyle: CBC needs an adult in charge, MacIntyre affair shows". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  9. ↑ CBC Staff (2019). "Neil Macdonald". CBC News. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
  10. ↑ Macdonald, Neil (July 4, 1987). "CSIS: Making a cop into a spy just doesn't fly". The Ottawa Citizen (Weekend ed.). pp. B1, B16.
  11. ↑ "Toronto exposé wins major journalism award". The Ottawa Citizen (Final ed.). The Canadian Press. March 28, 1988. p. A12.
  12. ↑ "Canada's Award Database". Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. Archived from the original on 2012-03-07. Retrieved 2010-12-12.
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.