How do you become a national news anchor? Sometimes, the best lessons come from growing up on a farm. Dawna Friesen is the long-time anchor of Global National, having leveraged her rural Manitoba upbringing to launch an award-winning career in journalism. Before covering wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as the senior foreign correspondent for NBC News, Dawna worked her way through news stations in Brandon, Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Vancouver. She has worked as a Parliamentary correspondent for CTV News, a national reporter in Toronto and back-up host for Canada AM. Her time with NBC news allowed her to cover the election of former US President Obama, for which she won an Emmy. And with Global, she’s won a Gemini for Best News Anchor, a Canadian Screen Award for Best National Newscast, and an Edward R. Murrow Overall Excellence Award for Network Radio and Television – the first Canadian broadcast to receive the honour in 42 years.
We met with Dawna at Global National’s studio shortly before she went on air to hear her story, her lessons learned and why she believes journalism is as relevant as ever.
What do you think?
- What did Dawna teach you about journalism?
- Have we forgotten the value of mainstream media or has mainstream media lost its way?
- How important is it to ask questions that will build, alter and expand our perspectives?
- Do we too often only ask questions that will elicit the answers we want to hear?
- Can good questions overcome bias or will bias always filter through in the questions we ask?
- Are we equipped to truly separate good research from fake news, if how we see the world is so clearly coloured by our biases?