Patrick Watson has played a key role in the development of Canadian television, first producing, then hosting, many of the Canadian Broadcasting Corpora­tion's (CBC's) groundbreaking public affairs series. In 1989, he was named chair of the CBC board of directors, a position he resigned in June 1994. His career in Canadian broadcasting, with several short detours into U.S. television, has been recognized by many for its innovative and substantive contribution to television journalism. He holds two honorary degrees and is an Officer of the Order of Canada for his journalistic efforts. At the same time, his career has been distinguished    by    well-publicized   struggles    with CBC management and a number of Canadian politicians. both as producer and board chair. Lending substance to his television journalism has been his wide-ranging interest in the arts and social affairs.

     Watson's first broadcast experience was as a radio actor in 1943 in a continuing CBC children's dramatic series called The Kootenay Kid. He has maintained his interest in dramatic television production by performing in several CBC dramas and by producing and performing in his two dramatized series of fictional encounters with great historical figures: Titans and Witness to Yesterday. In 1983, he wrote and acted in a one-man stage version of the Old Testament's The Book of Job.

     Canadian television received its bilingual launch on Saturday, September 6, 1952, on CBFT, a CBC station in Montreal. Watson's involvement with television started in those early years, first as a freelancer in 1955, then as producer of Close-Up, 1957-60, and the national-affairs series Inquiry, 1960-64. Both shows were noted for their hard-hitting, sometimes confrontational interviews with the Canadian elite. Inquiry established an exciting and stimulating public affairs television show that would attract a larger audience than the typical narrow, well-educated one.

     Watson's  next  project  attracted  the  largest audience for a public affairs program in Canadian history and also proved to be the most controversial series of its kind. This Hour Has Seven Days was the creation of Watson and his co-producer from Close-Up and Inquiry, Douglas Leiterrnan. Broadcast before a live audience on Sunday nights from the fall of 1964 to the spring of 1966, this public affairs show became the darling of more than 3 million Canadians until its demise at the hands of CBC management, who could no longer withstand the criticism from Parliament or the insubordination of the Seven Days team. Shows featured satire of politicians in song and skit mixed with "bear pit" interviews, probing film documentaries, on-location stakeouts, and street interviews-all dealing with important, but often ignored, social and political issues. Critics hailed it for its freshness and probing investigations and condemned it for its some­ times sensational and "yellow" journalism. Watson was the co producer for the first season of Seven Days, and he became the on-air cohost and interviewer in the second year in a move that the CBC management thought would curb some of the more controversial ideas and methods of the series. Watson and the extraordinary team of producers and writers assembled for the program (many of whom became influential documentarians and producers through the 1960s and 1970s) became even more innovative and "in your face" with their journalism, daring the CBC management to take action. In a later interview Watson admitted to the arrogance of those days, inciting his crew to "make people a little bit angry, frustrate them ... come socking out of the screen." The management took the dare and canceled the show to the outrage of many, some of it orchestrated by the Seven Days team to try and save the show. There was an avalanche of calls and letters, public demonstrations, a parliamentary committee hearing, and a special investigation by an appointee of the prime minister-quite a response to the cancellation of a TV show. The series has taken on mythic proportions in the history of television journalism. It certainly pushed the boundaries of what was considered  appropriate  journalism,  predated  the current concern over the fine line between news and entertainment, and created a very chilly environment for CBC producers of public affairs for many years.

     Because of his highly visible contribution to Seven Days and the aftermath to its cancellation, Watson was popularly touted for president of the CBC. He let it be known that he was interested, but he was not to reach high administrative office in the CBC until 25 years later. In the intervening years he turned his attention to a number of creative projects in and out of television. In addition to those already mentioned, he wrote, produced, hosted, and directed for The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, The Watson Report, The Canadian Establishment, Lawyers, and The Fifty-first State (for PBS Channel 13, New York), among others. In 1989, before being named chair of the CBC, he created, produced, and hosted the ten-part international co-production television series The Struggle for Democracy. It was the first documentary ever to appear simultaneously in French and English on the CBC's two main networks with the same host. Researched in depth and reflecting the dominant values of Western democracy, this substantive and ambitious series took the viewer across the world and into history, to the sites of many experiments, successes, and failures of the democratic effort. In the years after Seven Days, Watson was frequently and deservedly praised for his skills as a host and interviewer.

     Watson's  years as chair of  the CBC board of direc­tors were difficult ones for him and the corporation. The CBC had to face many severe budget cuts, subsequent layoffs, and the closing of regional outlets. Wat­son was dealing with a board becoming stacked with Tory appointees, several of whom advocated the privatization of the CBC. He was expected to both  manage the board and lobby Parliament. Though he toured the country speaking up for public television, he was seen by many CBC staffers and some of the public as less than effective in his efforts. In his last year, the CBCwas hit with a new controversy over a public affairs se­ries on the Canadian effort in World War II called The Valour and the Horror. This program challenged many standard versions of World War II history by critically examining the actions and the fallibility of military and political leaders. While the series won awards and was praised by many, it was vilified by veterans' groups and conservative politicians. After intense pressure, in­cluding a senate hearing controlled by the critics of the program, the CBC issued an ombudsman's report, sup­ported by statements from the president of the CBC and the board, that essentially chastised the show's producers for their research, methods of presentation, and conclusions. As chair of the board, Watson was criticized for not speaking out publicly in support of the journalists and for not resigning. Insiders, including the producers of the show, credit Watson for mod­erating the board's and the president's response and mediating the dispute with CBC management.

     Watson is the creative director and principal writer of the Historical Foundation's The Heritage Minutes. He is the commissioning editor, host, and narrator for History Television's The Canadians, Biographies of a Nation.

     In 2002 Watson was awarded the Margaret Collier Award of the Gemini Awards, which is presented in recognition of a writer's body of work and significant contribution to the national and international profile of Canadian television.