Tony Burman - CBC News

Tony Burman is Editor in Chief of CBC's English Services Division - CBC News, Current Affairs and Newsworld. In this role since March 2002, he serves as CBC's chief journalist in implementing CBC journalistic policy across all English media platforms – radio, television and the internet. He also provides leadership around the coverage of major events, elections and political conventions, as well as other special journalistic projects. For CBC Television, Burman has been leading all of CBC Television's news and current affairs programming since February, 2000. In that period, he led the successful reorganization of CBC Television's information services into a single, integrated CBC NEWS division that encompasses national, regional and Newsworld operations across Canada and abroad. That integration of news services now includes CBC Radio and CBC News Online (cbc.ca). As one of Canada's most experienced journalists, he has held a variety of senior roles at the CBC over the past 30 years, and produced many award-winning news and documentary programs for both CBC TV and Radio. Burman has also been head of CBC's all-news network, CBC Newsworld, since 1998 – renewing the program schedule and refocusing the network on its news roots. From 1993-95, he served as Executive Producer of The National, CBC Television's nightly flagship news and current affairs hour. From 1990-93, he was Chief News Editor of CBC Television. Burman was a senior documentary producer for five years with The Journal (1985-90), where he produced many Gemini award-winning documentaries rebroadcast on the BBC, PBS and other foreign networks. These included 'Sudan: Children of Darkness' (1989), the first inside look at the kidnapping of children as part of Sudan's civil war; 'The Last Great Cause' (1986), a two-part examination of the legacy of the Spanish Civil War on its 50th anniversary; and 'Mandela' (1986), the first television biography of Nelson and Winnie Mandela, which was rebroadcast in 18 countries, and included a dramatic reenactment of the 1964 Rivonia Trial which sent Mandela to jail. Other special programs produced by Burman at The Journal included The National/Journal 'Inquiry' in 1990 with Barbara Frum and Peter Mansbridge, titled 'Is Canada Drifting Apart?', and 'An Interview with Nelson Mandela' (1989), a special program broadcast on The Journal involving Barbara Frum and Mr. Mandela a day after he was released from jail. Prior to The Journal, he spent three years based in London (1982-85) as the European Bureau Producer for CBC Television News. While there, he and correspondent Brian Stewart covered stories in more than 30 countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. They were also the first North American journalists in Ethiopia during the Great Famine of 1984. Before being posted abroad, he was Executive Producer of The National (1980-82) and created the redesign of the newscast when it moved in 1982 to its new prime-time slot at 10 p.m. (joined by The Journal). Before 1975, Burman worked for CBC Television in Montreal as a current affairs story editor with the nightly regional supper-hour program City At Six. He also worked for CBC Network Radio in Montreal as a contributing producer to As It Happens and Executive Producer of Cross Country Checkup, the CBC's national open-line program. While producing Cross Country Checkup (1973-75), he produced the first on-air French/English collaboration with simultaneous translation heard on both CBC's French- and English-language networks; organized the first two-country hook-up involving the CBC and National Public Radio in the U.S.; and created the first three-continents hook-up in 1974 - debating the merits of the Monarchy - involving the CBC's Checkup (also on NPR that week in the U.S.), the BBC in the United Kingdom and ABC in Australia.