Peter Mansbridge is a journalist and chief correspondent for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He anchors The National, the CBC's weekday evening flagship news program. Mansbridge is one of the most recognizable Canadian journalists and is commonly thought of as the "voice and face" behind CBC news. His tenure as chief correspondent stretches back to 1988; he has anchored breaking news coverage of some of the most major news events of the late 20th and early 21st century.
Background and early career
Mansbridge was born in
England and was raised in
Ottawa. He was a member of the
Royal Canadian Navy for two years in the late 1960s; he worked at an airport in
Manitoba after his release from service. He has admitted on many occasions that it was this job that brought him into the world of
journalism -- and that he considers himself extremely lucky. The story goes that he was working as a
clerk and an airport announcer called in sick, providing no replacement. A supervisor asked him to make an announcement about a
delayed flight (he happened to be within eyeshot, apparently). He obliged, and happened to make the announcement while a local radio station manager was in the airport. He found himself recruited (by virtue of his "
good voice") to work for the station within minutes, and was moved to
CBC Radio's northern service shortly thereafter.
Mansbridge was relocated from the smaller town of Churchill, Manitoba to Winnipeg to work as a reporter in 1971. He was moved from radio to television within a year, and eventually became The National's resident Saskatchewan reporter. This was later followed by a switch to parliamentary journalism in Ottawa; he continued on this beat for roughly ten years. He was then promoted to backup anchor for The National and became its full-time anchor in 1988 after former anchor Knowlton Nash, hearing that Mansbridge had been considered for a position at CBS News, retired so as to allow him to take over.
Experience
As aforementioned, Peter Mansbridge was part of breaking news coverage of various national and
international events. Though
his usual stint airs in the evening on weeknights and is most often broadcast from the CBC studios in
Toronto, he has frequently gone "
on location" to broadcast editions of the broadcast live in other cities and on other parts of the world. Mansbridge also usually "presides" (often with other CBC news anchors and journalists) over
federal election coverage (provincial elections are often covered by anchors and journalists who specialize in provincial and
regional politics) and any major events that may occur at any given time.
Because of his "chief correspondent"/anchor status, Canadians have come to expect to hear and see Mansbridge during certain times and not others. In other words, something major would have to happen to bring him out of his usual timespot (that is, The National, pre-planned event coverage, or his interview show, One on One). An instructor of mine probably said it best: "When I turned on Newsworld in the morning and saw Peter Mansbridge -- in the morning -- I knew something was up before I even took in what he was saying."
Mansbridge was also, ultimately, responsible for breaking the news of the death of Pierre Trudeau to Canadians. He was supposedly in the midst of preparations for that evening's newscast when a press release announcing the former prime minister's death hit news wires.
Distinctions and personal information
Peter Mansbridge has won the
Gemini Award for
Best Anchor (yes, there's an award for best anchor) a record nine times. In recent years, he has usually competed for the honour against CTV's
Lloyd Robertson and Global's
Kevin Newman. He's usually the odds-on favourite. He has also been awarded numerous honourary degrees from various Canadian and international
post-secondary institutions (most recently including
Ryerson University).
Mansbridge is married to Canadian actress Cynthia Dale.
Resource:
CBC.ca - Program Guide - Peter Mansbridge http://www.cbc.ca/programguide/personality/index.jsp?personality=Mansbridge%2C+Peter 17 April 2005
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Mansbridge 16 April 2005