2026 RTDNA Central Region Awards Interviews — Transcript

Can you tell us about the story you're here for tonight? >> Yeah, so um uh Rogers TV uh Sue Staint Marie is nominated for uh the video audio video storytelling award. Uh it's a story that was done by one of our producers out of northwestern Ontario uh on the red dress. So indigenous women uh very complex issue that uh our producer Ben Jonah did an exceptional job uh displaying in that product. >> And what about tonight are you most excited for? uh for us is we're just really excited to be here, right? For for Rogers TV, we're just getting into uh getting back into doing news on a regular basis and uh we submitted three different uh videos across Canada and uh all three were named finalists in the categories that uh they're eligible for.

So for us, just excited to really be here and take part uh in this event. Uh apparently I'm getting a lifetime achievement award, which I believe is a longevity award because I've worked for CAC for 45 years. Oh, all right. Excellent. And is there anything else that you're excited about at the awards this evening? >> Uh, I was just thrilled. I've been able to work for the same company for 45 years. They've been magnificent to work for. In fact, when I was a kid, I used to watch CHCH TV. So, to be able to work there for the last 45 been amazing. The people I work with are fantastic. And uh I have a few more years left in me, I think.

>> And if there's anybody else that wanted to work in the industry for as long as you have, is there any advice that you could give them? >> Oo, that's a tough one. Uh um you have to be a people person. You got to be able to communicate with people. Communication is the most important thing we are in the communication industry. So >> absolutely >> as a guest of honor here tonight, uh what does it mean to you to see all these people here in one room? >> Uh it's a wonderful surprise. It's it's humbling to have your body of work uh recognized for its excellence. Um, you know, I I was thinking on the way here tonight that um I had the opportunity to work with really tremendously talented people who taught me and then I ended up teaching people after. So I I felt I was really very fortunate. I was in a in radio and television at a time when things were quite different from what they are today. There were many jobs. There was lots of money. You could do documentaries. You could do investigative pieces. uh you could

create new programs which I did at global for example. Things have changed in that time. Uh not always for the better I must say but uh would I do it over again the way I did it? Absolutely. >> And so you touch on how the industry has changed. Uh what do you think it looks like for the future? >> Well, I I worry about students in journalism programs at Senica and in other other universities and colleges. Um, I I went to a college and then eventually Carlton University. Um, but I think that the jobs are going to be there. It may take a little longer than it did for me back in 1967.

Um, but it's it's it's also a job that is, I think, really critically important for society today. the protection of democracy, for example, a free press that is not encumbered by all kinds of restraints imposed by maybe company owners or political leaders, that kind of thing. So, it may be may be tougher, but I think the work is there. And if you pursue a dream, if you have a dream to be a reporter, then then let me assure you, I'm here to tell you and others that uh pursue that dream. It it comes with good moments and maybe not so good moments. Uh but ultimately I think um you can find a wonderful career in this business. Travel, meet people, that kind of thing. Um it it worked for me, it can can work for a lot of people, but it it is a lot of work period. No, no question period, as they say.

>> How does it feel to be honored and be here tonight? >> It feels incredibly It feels wonderful to be honored. We don't do what we do for recognition. Uh that's why it feels like a bit of a shock and a bit of a surprise. Um but it's um a very welcome surprise and um good to know that our peers think that we do good and important work. And >> what does it mean to you to be awarded like this tonight at this event? >> This is definitely a team effort. We have a huge team in Montreal who contributed to this. There was no individual awards. It's our entire teams that are recognized. But Montreal is a news city. We're a big newsroom. We got a lot of uh uh coverage but also a lot of heart in our newsroom and a lot of really creative people who are interested in telling stories in new ways.

>> Awesome. And is there any advice that you would have to aspiring journalists much like ourselves? >> I think think about what you're most interested in and lean hard into it because you can tell when people are really passionate about what they're talking about, passionate about storytelling and when they're just going through the motions. And when I tell my students, it's always find the thing that you love to do and then figure out a way to do it. >> Yeah. So, I won an award for um a radio piece that I edited. It was a soundsscape of a choir who was visiting from Jerusalem um with both um Jewish and uh Palestinian kids. and they essentially sing together to um try and discuss tough issues happening in the world and and try to find common ground.

>> And how does it feel to be honored for it tonight? >> Um it feels great. It was a quite an important story to do. Um, I I I also particularly like editing and they sang really beautiful songs together and it was kind of a challenge to mesh the voices that I gathered it which also included some translation um along with music and so that was a um a good challenge to have but also I I was happy to it turned out quite beautifully.

>> How does it feel uh to accept these awards on behalf of CBC Toronto tonight? >> I mean it's really exciting. I think it speaks to uh my wonderful wonderful colleagues and like how hard they work and what they bring to their jobs every day. >> And what's the best part about having all these different journalists gathered here tonight? >> I mean, I think it's really inspiring to see all of the like incredible work that people are doing and it just sort of gives you a little bit of like a little bit of uh motivation to keep going and like um and to stretch yourself a little bit further and and try harder. How does it feel to be here tonight?

>> It's fun. I love coming to these events and to do the networking and to honor my colleagues who are doing great work and to hopefully win as well. Uh it's fun. We have a great time. >> And why is journalism important in 2026? I think there's a lot of fake news, a lot of AI generated inaccurate things and it's important to have journalists who are reporting facts, who are understanding context, who are understanding nuance of a situation, who have background, who have experience to bring that all together. You can't create that artificially. Journalism is important to, you know, inform to record history.

>> What does it mean to you to be honored at an event full of journalists like this? >> Um, it's an incredible accomplishment. And I think Angie Seth put it perfectly before we started the show. Uh when the submissions are that difficult to judge, that's you know signifier that journalism is on on the right track. Um and I think that regardless of whether you're nominated or you come out on top, it's just an honor to be here and to be in a room with with this level of talent and to be able to network and even though I've been doing it for 23 years, I actually went to Senica at York. So this was my campus a very very long time ago, 2005 to 2007. Um, but to return back here and be able to be surrounded by these kinds of people and continue to grow even two decades in, um, is just an absolute privilege. So, uh, it's great.

>> What does it mean to you to be honored by your fellow journalists at an event like this? >> It means so much. I'm so early on in my career. I've only started it, you know, a couple of years ago. And so, getting honored this way for the work that I was able to do last summer is truly an honor. It's I was so surprised that not only to be nominated but also to win this award for the work that I was able to do and and highlight some of you know the the important stories in downtown Hamilton was, you know, I'm truly honored to be able to continue to tell these stories. Journalism is so incredibly important. I know that our viewers are just looking to find the truth in all of the news outlets that they're looking at. And I know that at CHCH News, that's one of the things that we take so much pride in. And me myself as a journalist, I know that I'm always looking for, you know, the best way to tell information that can be so big and daunting and scary in the most simplified way so that people are able to, you know, understand and make informed decisions that way. And so I

think in the day and age that we're in right now, there's a lot going on. There's a lot of big topics that people are are scared about. And so the whole point of journalism is to be able to inform people and give them the best way that they're able to make decisions about their everyday lives. >> Awesome.