Source : Montreal Gazette

'Anti-elite' Kevin Newman's national broadcast gets near-uniform time slot on Global

Sitting in a suite high up in the Four Seasons hotel during a visit here, Global National anchor and executive editor Kevin Newman muses about the link between the installation of a Western prime minister in Ottawa and the rise in ratings and respect for his Western-based national newscast.

"If there's any connection to it, I think we are in some ways the anti-elite national newscast," says Newman. "To steal (pundit Warren) Kinsella's line, I like to think we're Tim Hortons and (CBC and CTV) are Starbucks."

Starting tonight, Global National with Kevin Newman moves to a uniform 5:30 p.m. time slot across the country, except in the Atlantic provinces, where it will air an hour later. The newscast has been airing at various times through the evening, depending on the province.

Despite the much-rumoured death of suppertime newscasts, Newman feels the early time slot fits into Global's outsider-perspective philosophy.

"We're not going to be the CEO or the MP's favourite newscast," says Newman. "It's not the same audience that you might expect at 10 or 11 ... but if we've got the guy who's on shift work and lines up at Tim's every day, that's a better place to do journalism from, in my opinion."

Of the three main network national newscasts, the 4-year-old Global National is the only one based outside of Toronto. Broadcasting from Vancouver has certain challenges, however. The Eastern Canadian version of Global National has to be ready by 2:30 p.m. B.C. time, and then the broadcast is updated with the latest developments as it moves across the country.

"It's the toughest national news deadline in the country," says Newman. "This sounds like bravado, but if you put one of our stories next to a CBC story, next to a CTV story, you don't necessarily see five more hours of thoughtful content."

Newman grew up in Toronto, Montreal and, mainly, Mississauga. He caught the broadcasting bug volunteering at the campus radio station while studying politics and economics at the University of Western Ontario.

His first journalism job was making coffee at Global, and he worked his way up. He remembers the small Global newsroom of the 1980s as a place unconstrained by tradition, with a real entrepreneurial feel.

"If you wanted to come in and work hard and you had a creative bent, that was probably the best place in Canada to (work) because they were still writing the script of what Global News was," recalls Newman.

From there, Newman moved on to CTV and CBC. Then, in the early 1990s, while he was co-host of CBC's Midday, Newman was poached by ABC News and moved to New York City.

"It came at a good place for me professionally," says Newman, who hosted and reported for Nightline, World News Tonight and Good Morning America.

"I wasn't sure if there was a place for me at the CBC. They were in the middle of cuts and anybody younger than age 40 was vulnerable."

In 2001, Newman was lured back to Canada by Global to become the inaugural anchor and executive editor of the new Global National newscast. It was partly the memories he had of the entrepreneurial spirit at Global that brought him to the untested organization.

Especially in the early years, Global National had fewer resources than its competitors. "It used to be when we started out that if we wanted to cover a tsunami, we had to shut down the Toronto bureau."

Global National's move to a stable suppertime time slot and a new set is more than just an exercise in branding, says Newman. There have been additions to the staff and resources in the Ottawa, Toronto, Halifax and Winnipeg bureaus, and an as-yet-unnamed hire in Washington.

"Like any start-up, you start to learn and you prove yourself," says Newman. "Now that we've proven ourselves in the marketplace, Global is starting to provide more resources for us."

Newman's main goal with the youthful, energetic Global National is to set it up to be the pre-eminent newscast in the future. For that reason, he's most proud of his broadcast's strong numbers in the 18-to-49 demographic. He lobbies internally to make sure that Global has a strong web presence.

After 41/2 years as anchor, Newman feels that Global National is at a turning point. "A start-up can only stay a start-up for so long - at some point, it has to grow up and mature," says Newman. "I see this year, in particular, as our maturing moment."

Global National with Kevin Newman airs at 5:30 p.m. on Global, Cable 3.

© Montreal Gazette