{"id":3735,"date":"2014-05-26T15:04:07","date_gmt":"2014-05-26T15:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=3735"},"modified":"2014-06-10T06:59:56","modified_gmt":"2014-06-10T06:59:56","slug":"when-knowlton-nash-became-superman-at-cbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=3735","title":{"rendered":"When Knowlton Nash became Superman at CBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Knowlton<\/a><\/p>\n

Very sad to see that Knowlton Nash, who had a long career with the CBC and was the face of CBC News for more than a decade, died on May 24. He was 86.<\/p>\n

As the TV writer for the Windsor Star in the early 1970s, I often ran into Nash and others in Canada\u2019s TV news community but when I became managing editor of TV Guide in 1979, it was a surprise that any of them noticed let alone sent congratulations on my promotion.<\/p>\n

Nash was one of them and he wrote a typically self-deprecating note. After a decade as Director of News and Current Affairs, he controversially had become CBC News chief correspondent and reader of \u201cThe National\u201d flagship news program.<\/p>\n

When my promotion was announced, he sent a letter in which he noted that he\u2019d seen by the newspapers that I had been elevated to the upper echelons of executive management of Canada\u2019s largest circulation magazine: \u201cCongratulations \u2026 I think!\u201d<\/p>\n

He went on: \u201cI know a little bit about the headaches that go along with the satisfactions of jobs like the one you\u2019re about to launch upon and I can only say that as long as the satisfactions keep running at least marginally ahead of the frustrations, you\u2019re doing well.\u201d<\/p>\n

He closed: \u201cSeriously, though, congratulations, and I do wish you the best of luck in your new adventure.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was typical of Nash that he would write so graciously even though I had written a detailed account of the controversy that accompanied his appointment as chief correspondent. At his Christmas parties, he’d often laugh at the Superman image we used with the story. The media took itself very seriously in those days and the coverage of his move tended to be portentous when it wasn\u2019t snide.<\/p>\n

As the top magazine in the country, TV Guide was able to add a sense of humour to an even-handed report. To read the story below took me back to fun times with great characters in an era when a reporter was given time to report and space to write. I already knew most of the people I interviewed for the story but it now strikes me how open and candid they all were.<\/p>\n

Faster than a speeding bullet \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

For years, he\u2019s been a mild-mannered Clark Kent of CBC News but is Knowlton Nash really Superman?<\/p>\n

By Ray Bennett
\nIt wasn\u2019t a bird and it wasn\u2019t a plane and it sure didn\u2019t look like Superman, but you could hear the media clamor from here to Krypton when CBC-TV announced who they wanted to read \u201cThe National\u201d news for the next five years.<\/p>\n

Knowlton Nash doesn\u2019t look as if he could leap tall buildings. For the 10 years that he\u2019s been head of the CBC\u2019s news and current affairs programs, with his glasses and his buttoned-down hair and his mild manner, he\u2019s appeared more like, well, exactly like \u2026 Clark Kent. But in a single bound he\u2019s moved from the relative anonymity of the CBC\u2019s corridors of power to the highest profile news job in the country.<\/p>\n

Is there a man of steel beneath that calm and collected demeanor? Yes, cry his supporters, shouting \u201cCronkie!\u201d \u2013 a word as awesome in network news circles as \u201cShazam!\u201d is in the supernatural. No, boo his detractors. \u201cUnder that bland exterior,\u201d says an erstwhile colleague, \u201cthere\u2019s rice pudding.\u201d<\/p>\n

No other Canadian newsreader, not even Peter Kent, who recently departed \u201cThe National\u201d complaining all the way to the CRTC about political interference in the news and domination of the network by CBC Sports, has aroused such passions in and out of the Corporation. Much of it had to do with his title \u2013 chief correspondent, which has not existed before \u2013 and the allegation that, as news chief, he had appointed himself to the plum, highly paid position.<\/p>\n

Rival network news chiefs, asserting that anchormen are real newsmen because they write as well as read the news, scoffed at the new title. \u201cReading \u2018The National\u2019 is an actor\u2019s job and Nash will be just another actor,\u201d said Bill Cunningham, news vice-president at Global TV. \u201cI\u2019m afraid he\u2019s just another pretty face,\u201d agreed CTV\u2019s news vice-president, Don Cameron.<\/p>\n

CBC staff announcers, eyes glazed at the thought of Nash\u2019s fat $90,000-a-year, five-year contract, demanded arbitration hearings, claiming that no auditions were posted and that by contractual agreement, \u201cThe National\u201d was an announcer\u2019s job and that by definition chief correspondent excluded them.<\/p>\n

And, of course, newspapers hardly ignored the story. Val Sears, an old pal of Nash\u2019s, wrote a sometimes sleazy profile of him for The Toronto Sunday Star, prompting Denis Harvey, new editor-in-chief of the Star and Nash\u2019s former boss at the CBC, to telephone Nash with an apology.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had somehow thought,\u201d grumbles Nash, \u201cthat I would quietly go on the air and maybe after a couple of months people would begin to notice.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s typical of the man, who admits to being a born optimist, but hardly in line with his claims before the CRTC and elsewhere that television is the single most powerful instrument of journalism the world has ever known, and that the CBC is the most important and influential source of journalism in Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just didn\u2019t anticipate all the fuss,\u201d he says, but he agrees that whoever reads \u201cThe National\u201d becomes, like it or not, the most obvious symbol of CBC News. \u201cThat is why you cannot have an actor reading the news. It\u2019s a question of projecting a sense of competence and awareness and knowledge that is born of having awareness and knowledge without being intrusive, because what\u2019s really important is the news and not the face that\u2019s sitting there.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that question is at the root of the long-standing division between newsmen and announcers at the CBC. Warren Davis, whose tenure at \u201cThe National\u201d from 1969 lasted less than a year, regarded the time spend broadcasting the news to the regions across the country as \u201ca two-hour and 10-minute station break\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe triviality of that job is indescribable,\u201d he says. \u201cBefore me, the Corporation decided they wanted a (CBS News star Walter) Cronkite, a hot-shot, so they found Stanley Burke, who was a hell of a reported. He lasted a couple of years before he got bored and left. When I came along, it was open warfare between newsmen and announcers. The news has never been read at the CBC by anyone who had anything to do with preparing it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea of a chief correspondent is simply window dressing. It doesn\u2019t exist. I think \u2018The National\u2019 is the best \u2018front page\u2019 in Canada but it\u2019s never been read better than by Earl Cameron, who was an announcer. With Knowlton Nash, they\u2019re just building the sizzle. Nash must think the money and the fame are worth it, but the fame and a dime will buy you a phone call.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nash argues that the nature of the job has changed. \u201cI won\u2019t be writing but what I\u2019ll be doing as chief correspondent is having some input into what we\u2019re doing on \u2018The National\u2019. It\u2019s a team effort. I\u2019ll be doing the specials, which are largely an ad-lib kind of situation \u2013 elections, conventions and so on \u2013 and \u2018Newsmagazine\u2019. You have to know what you\u2019re talking about,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not the first to be expected to handle specials. Lloyd Robertson and Peter Kent did too. They also took part in the daily news meetings. Chief news editor Cliff Lonsdale comments: \u201cSome people sit and watch a meeting, some get involved. Nash gets involved.\u201d Adds Nash: \u201cYou don\u2019t need authority to have influence. Your effectiveness depends upon who listens to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Global\u2019s Bill Cunningham, a former CBC newsman and news executive, says the title is misleading: \u201cWebster defines \u2018correspondent\u2019 as \u2018one who contributes news or comment to a publication or a radio or television network\u2019. The CBC should pick a title that\u2019s accurate for starters. It\u2019s my conviction that to be honest to our medium, the individual who reads the news should be knowledgable, have expertise and be involved in a substantive way, not just as a performer. What I\u2019ve objected to is the news \u2018actor\u2019 role. It\u2019s a contradiction that borders on the unethical.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cunningham says that Global\u2019s three anchorman \u2013 Peter Trueman, Peter Desbarats and Rae Corelli \u2013 are all active newsmen and he says that \u201che tried desperately\u201d when he was with the CBC in the mid-\u201960s to create a category of \u201cbroadcast journalists\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tried to negotiate it with both unions \u2013 news and announcers \u2013 because there is no way to train a broadcast journalist when the two elements are at arm\u2019s length,\u201d says Cunningham. \u201cThere\u2019s no mythology about journalism \u2013 it\u2019s training, experience and orientation. Peter Jennings, now with ABC, was a CBC announcer. Robert MacNeil, now with PBS, was a CBC announcer. The CBC had the chance to build something but they blew it.<\/p>\n

\u201cNash, as news director, along with Denis Harvey, when he was there, defended the status quo on the basis that the public doesn\u2019t know the difference. Now, Nash is saying that you need a newsman to read the news. Why didn\u2019t he do something about it when he was in charge?\u201d<\/p>\n

If you take point back and forth between Nash, CTV\u2019s Cameron and Global\u2019s Cunningham, the discussion degenerates into a squabble. Nash cites Stanley Burke and Peter Kent as proof that newsmen have been reading CBC news. Cameron insists that Lloyd Robertson \u2013 who quit the CBC after lengthy fights over not being allowed to write as well as read the news \u2013 and his CTV partner Harvey Kirck have both functions to perform. And Cunningham smiles at the mention of Robertson and Kirck, saying, \u201cWell, we could soon find out if they can actually write. Let\u2019s have them in to write a story.\u201d<\/p>\n

CBC producer (amongst other things) Larry Zolf sees it very simply: \u201cDo we really want an announcer covering a political convention? They wouldn\u2019t know what party it was. The model has to be Cronkite. Peter Kent couldn\u2019t do it. David Halton (CBC\u2019s top Ottawa correspondent) is good. But Knowlton is the only one we got.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peter Herrndorf, CBC vice-president of planning, agrees: \u201cI\u2019ve been hoping for a long time that we\u2019d find someone with the skills to do all the things that needed. Knowlton is a very good choice. He\u2019s similar to Cronkite. Burke aside, none of the other \u2018National\u2019 newsreaders has the combination of skills Nash has. He might have to polish his straight reading but he\u2019s a journalist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Certainly, Nash has firm journalistic credentials, in newspapers in his youth and later as Washington correspondent for the CBC. Of his decision to return to the front line, he says, \u201cI regard myself as a front-line reporter. This is going home for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allegations that he appointed himself to \u201cThe National\u201d have hurt him deeply, he says, protesting that, \u201cI withdrew completely from the decision-making when my name was first suggested.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denis Harvey, who was hired as chief news editor and was later promoted over Nash, is angry at suggestions Nash gave himself the job. Says Harvey: \u201cIt definitely did not spark from Nash. It was not his suggestion and not his decision. Nash\u2019s name was suggested two years ago when Peter Kent went on. I see him becoming very quickly a great anchorman. And I don\u2019t see his term limited to five years. I can see him for 10 or 15 years being the kind of very mature journalist spokesman that the CBC has never had. The CBC has never had a Walter Cronkite or an Eric Severeid. The CBC news service is very good but they need trust and assurance in their top man. I believe this will only be good for Nash and for the CBC.\u201d<\/p>\n

Creation of a Cronkite role is on the issues the announcers\u2019 union, a local of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, has claimed was in violation of their contract. Arbitration hearings were held in camera in November and December but the ramifications of arbitration for mediator George Adams\u2019s ruling remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

Outside of the announcers\u2019 allegations, few question Nash\u2019s motives. \u201cHe\u2019s a man of great integrity,\u201d says Larry Zolf. \u201cHe never had a chance at the CBC presidency although some people think that\u2019s what he wanted. He\u2019s not that good an administrator. And I don\u2019t believe he has his eyes on politics \u2013 he\u2019s like me, I think. He couldn\u2019t stand the rejection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nash laughs aloud at the suggestion that he coveted the CBC presidency: \u201cJesus, no. It was never in question. I\u2019ve never had hierarchical ambitions. I don\u2019t think it matters a hell of a lot. I\u2019m very ambitious journalistically and I guess you could say I\u2019m something of a political junkie. But I don\u2019t plan to enter politics,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout being egocentric about it, I think I\u2019ve achieved most of what I wanted to achieve \u2013 the expansion in the hours of programming, the introduction of ENG (electronic news gathering), the satellites, the strengthening of specialist reporting, investigative reportage in programs like \u2018the fifth estate\u2019, \u2018Marketplace\u2019, and \u2018Ombudsman\u2019. You weigh all of those things and, well, what didn\u2019t we achieve? Well, we don\u2019t have a half-hour \u2018National\u2019, that\u2019s one thing I regret. But I think we have the right balance of journalistic programming in prime time now. Much more would probably tilt us to too much. Taking all of those things, on balance I felt that, if they wanted me, I\u2019d think about it pretty seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peter Herrndorf believes there\u2019s another aspect that Nash seldom talks about. \u201cI think personal considerations weight heavily. He did his job in a very intense way \u2013 80-hour weeks were common. He\u2019s extremely happy with Lorraine (broadcaster Lorraine Thompson) and I think he wanted more time for himself. I think he opted for quality of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nash, who has been married three times and now lives in Toronto with Lorraine Thompson, quietly agrees: \u201cSometimes, if you\u2019re professionally dedicated, the demands are too much and other things break down. Already, in changing jobs, I\u2019ve noticed the change in life style it allows. I can\u2019t tell when I\u2019ve had a weekend off in the past 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

That and the daily intensity of handling the news \u2013 \u201cthe instant gratification and instant mortification\u201d \u2013 have already made their mark on Nash\u2019s image. He leaves his tie at home when he goes to the office now. He might not be Superman, but he\u2019s a little less like Clark Kent now, too.<\/p>\n

— TV Guide Canada, Jan. 6, 1979<\/p>\n

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