Peter Mansbridge serves as anchor for The National, the flagship nightly newscast of the Canadian Broad- casting Corporation (CBC), and all CBC news specials. He is also host of Mansbridge: One-on-One, on CBC’s 24-hour news network, Newsworld. His lengthy career with the CBC has made him one of Canadian media’s most familiar figures, synonymous with “the corporation.” The prominence to which Mansbridge has risen, however, began in a somewhat unorthodox fashion.

In what is now Canadian news media folklore, a local CBC radio producer “discovered” Mansbridge in 1968 as he was making a public address announcement in an airport while working as a freight manager for a small airline in Churchill, Manitoba. Mansbridge turned the resulting position as a disc jockey into one as a newscaster, simultaneously transforming himself into a journalist despite his lack of formal training or apprenticeship. From this unlikely beginning, Mansbridge moved quickly through the ranks of CBC television news, beginning with a one-year stint in 1972 with the CBC Winnipeg station as a local reporter, followed by another one-year position as the Saskatchewan-based reporter for the CBC national newscast. From 1976 to 1980, Mansbridge held a spot on the prestigious parliamentary bureau in the nation’s capital. Anchor status commenced with the Quarterly Report (co-anchored by Barbara Frum), a series of special reports concerning issues of an urgent, national nature that aired four times a year. Beginning in 1985, Mansbridge anchored the newly formed national weekly Sunday Report.

Mansbridge’s nationwide prominence was secured in 1988, when he accepted the enviable position of chief correspondent and anchor of the flagship CBC broadcast The National, a weekday 10:00 P.M. news- cast (22 minutes long) that was followed by the highly respected current affairs and documentary broadcast The Journal. The status attributed to this anchor posi- tion was reflected in the public interest created by the events that preceded Mansbridge’s assumption of the job. Amid much press speculation, Mansbridge was offered in 1987 a co-anchor position in the United States, opposite Kathleen Sullivan on CBS This Morning, for a salary reputed to be five to six times his earnings with the CBC. It was expected that Mansbridge would follow the familiar exodus of Canadian broad- cast journalists to the United States, where the level of national and international experience of many Canadian journalists is highly valued. This emigration has included journalists such as Don Miller, Don McNeill, Robert MacNeil, Morley Safer, and Peter Jennings. In a last-minute, much-publicized effort to stop Mans- bridge from leaving Canada, the current chief anchor of The National, Knowlton Nash, stepped down early to offer his position to Mansbridge. Nash and Mansbridge were consequently heralded as patriots and, moreover, managed to promote the turnover of anchors.

Despite the respectable audience numbers drawn under Mansbridge’s leadership, The National was moved in 1992 to CBC’s all-news network, News- world. Mansbridge assumed the role of anchor (origi- nally co-anchored by Pamela Wallin) on CBC’s Prime Time News. This new broadcast was part of a contro- versial decision to move the national evening news from the 10:00 P.M. to the 9:00 P.M. time slot. In 1995, network executives decided to reverse their previous scheduling move and return the news/current affairs hour to 10:00, with the entire hour now titled The National and with Mansbridge continuing his role as newscast anchor. The revamped program currently airs on both the CBC and Newsworld.

During his tenure as CBC’s star anchor, Mansbridge has covered many of the key events that have attracted public attention in Canada, including federal elections and leadership campaigns, the Gulf War, the Charlottetown Referendum, and the events of Tiananmen Square. Coverage of these and other stories has garnered Mansbridge eight Gemini Awards (Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television). Mansbridge’s style of presentation is understated and sober but suffi- ciently amiable to attract viewers in the increasingly entertainment-oriented news media. His understated delivery, in combination with his appearance (once de- scribed as “bland good looks”), makes Mansbridge’s presentation and persona consistent with the standard among Canadian broadcast journalists.

Although the CBC has historically placed a great deal of emphasis on news and current affairs programming, this was particularly evident during the years of Mansbridge’s rise within the corporation in the 1980s. The reduced resources made available to the broadcaster, in addition to the challenges of broadcasting in the increasingly multichannel media system, demanded a renewed focus by the CBC on this area in which it was traditionally strong. The CBC’s subsequent commitment to news has been evident in the continuing production of quality news programming and has assisted Mansbridge in developing a particularly strong profile within the industry.