Neil Macdonald
Born1957 (age 66–67)
Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
Alma materAlgonquin College
OccupationJournalist
SpouseJoyce Napier
RelativesNorm Macdonald (brother)

Neil Macdonald (born 1957) is a Canadian journalist with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, currently senior correspondent for CBC News The National.

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, a parliamentary bureau chief for CTV News.[2]

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.[3]

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.[4] 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.[5]

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.[6][7]

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 continues to produce editorial articles for the CBC's website, as well as appearing as a senior correspondent for The National.

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"[8] in the Ottawa Citizen.[9]

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.[10]

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. ↑ "The trouble with honest reporting" Archived 2018-07-22 at the Wayback Machine, Toronto Star, January 26, 2003; republished at InformationClearinghouse.info; accessed January 11, 2016.
  3. ↑ Wingfield Nesbitt-Larking, Paul (2007). Politics, society, and the media. Canada: Broadview Press. pp. 121–122. ISBN 9781551118123. Retrieved 2010-12-12.
  4. ↑ Potter, Mitch (Nov 21, 2010). "UN had evidence linking Hezbollah to murder of Lebanese PM: CBC". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2010-12-12.
  5. ↑ Martin, Patrick (Nov 23, 2010). "Lebanese PM slams CBC news report". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2010-12-13.
  6. ↑ Omar, Mohamed (23 November 2014). "Neil Macdonald: Linden MacIntyre Is 'Self-Righteous' And Wrong About CBC". The Huffington Post Canada. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  7. ↑ Doyle, John (24 November 2014). "Doyle: CBC needs an adult in charge, MacIntyre affair shows". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  8. ↑ Macdonald, Neil (July 4, 1987). "CSIS: Making a cop into a spy just doesn't fly". The Ottawa Citizen (Weekend ed.). pp. B1, B16.
  9. ↑ "Toronto exposé wins major journalism award". The Ottawa Citizen (Final ed.). The Canadian Press. March 28, 1988. p. A12.
  10. ↑ "Canada's Award Database". Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. Archived from the original on 2012-03-07. Retrieved 2010-12-12.
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