Former CBC producer and journalist Sue Phillips is now the network director of the international broadcaster Al Jazeera.
Phillips, 54, currently lives in west London with her son Charles, 19, and her daughter Melissa, 23. She moves to Doha to take up her now role this month.
Former CBC News head Tony Burman and host Avi Lewis both have positions with Al Jazeera.
(CBC Radio Vancouver’s Don Pennington has moved to Doha as well, following a surprise retirement party, although no announcement has been made about his plans there.)
Phillips joined the London bureau of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as a bilingual receptionist and became fascinated with the CBC French network and broadcasting. Within six months a researcher’s job came up and she went on to work in radio with CBC for another eight years.
In her Al Jazeera role, she has set up the entire broadcast centre for Al Jazeera in its London bureau, managing departments from news to programming, to operation and technical, as well as all the administration and finance. In Doha, she will be more concerned with development and the integration of Al Jazeera English and Arabic.
When asked about her most embarassing career blunder, she says:
When I was a television producer in Washington for The Journal on CBC, a very important senator, whose name I probably shouldn’t mention, came in for an interview and one minute away from going live I noticed he had a rather sweaty patch on his bald head. I thought a quick dab of concealer would do the trick, but I tripped over the edge of his chair and left a third of a pot of powder all over his head. It was mortifying.
The Independent newspaper has a lengthy interview with her.
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If anyone doubts the political leanings of the mother corp, you just have to watch how many of their former and current employees are lured to Al Jazeera. Do you believe that they will be on the West’s side and if they were inclined to be, do you think they would have the freedom to express those opinions live on TV? I doubt it. The salary must be fabulous!
Is the CBC a fifth column?
If anyone doubts the political leanings of the mother corp, you just have to watch how many of their former and current employees are lured to Al Jazeera.
That’d be 4 so far, out of a good 6k or so. Not exactly statistically significant.
Also, considering Burman’s CBC replacement came from a former Murdoch- and then Black-owned newspaper, you might also want to consider the possibility that journalists might take jobs for reasons other than the political. But you probably won’t because chances are you’re the generic frothing-at-the-mouth type that sees no irony whatsoever in calling for the suppression of organizations like Al Jazeera while blathering on about some nebulous “they” who “hate our freedoms”.
As these people leave don’t replace them and eventually we might be able to rid ourselves of this bottomless money pit that is completely incapable of unbiased political broadcasting and is an embarrassment not only to themselves but to our country as a whole.
Spencer! You have to ask?
So no change for her, other than the name of the company she works for.
In answer to the 5th Column question, an emphatic YES to that question. We are continually subjected to one sided news that is always, anti-US, anti-Canadian, anti-Conservative and the list goes on.
Cut the funding and let them sink or swim on their own, certainly the TV side of it and revamp the radio or let it go too.
Pat
“Is the CBC a fifth column?”
Don’t know about fifth column, maybe a fifth estate.
If Al-Jazeera won’t take them the Liberal party does.
No loss.
Whatever, it’s a free country. For now.
At least until liberal fascism has totally taken over and told us all what we are permitted to think and say.
I remain vaguely hopeful that the people making the trip to the Middle East to work will have an eye opener about the reality of that part of the world, and eventually return here a bit less naive, and a bit less morally ambivalent and hateful of the West and its ways.
Be careful what you say about the CBC. A Human Rights complaint will be raised because someone has been offended. apparently the trial of the century is underway right now. One would never know if you watch CBC or Al Jazeera.
Nothing to see here komrade, move along.
Is Al Jazeera as heavily unionized and socialized as CBC? Their political viewpoints are the same. Just wondering about the working environment.
*reaches for the Aspirin ®*