04 May Analysis: Who will fill the Politics chair?
Don Newman was described in the Globe and Mail by long-time politico Peter Donolo as "the last larger-than-life authoritative CBC political correspondent. There's no one who comes close." In the same article, Calgary Herald columnist Don Martin says "CBC's got massive shoes to fill."
If we assume:
- The CBC brass decides to keep the well rated show Politics
- The amazing team that produces the show is provided a new host
Who will fill the venerable Don Newman's "massive" wingtips?
Smart bets
- When an anchor retires, reasonably most people look to the person who logs the most hours filing in at the desk. In this regard, Susan Bonner has had a vice-grip on the Politics guest anchor chair in recent years. Bonner is cool and calm under pressure, and she hosts well - although I've always had the sense she was aware of Don's presence even when he wasn't there.
- Chris Hall's voice is familiar to millions of Canadians, as CBC Radio's Ottawa bureau chief. He is also known to the Politics viewers as a regular on the Friday journalism panel.
- TVO's Steve Paikin makes sense if the CBC is looking to lure a star away from another network; or more to the point a political broadcast star - he has hosted civil and informative debates on the most delicate of subjects. Paikin is also an author and well regarded journalist among his peers.
- And, I'll add Kathleen Petty to the list. Although she seems to be warming to her role as the voice of the House and CBC Ottawa's morning show, she was a marque host on CBC Newsworld for years. The House is amazing political training.
Wild cards
- Tom Parry in London as the CBC Radio's voice for most things European. He is also a political encyclopedia, expert interviewer, and holds court on TV well.
- The CBC Newsworld program The Hour still isn't pulling in the ratings expected of George Strombouloupoulous and the CBC management may be looking for a way to expand the 5pm Politics demographic. Move The Hour? Move George to Politics? (h/t Joe Boughner)
- Technologist and news junkie Jesse Hirsh recently took over the syndicated CBC Radio technology column. Hirsh is a regular with Suhana Meharchand on Newsworld, and together they are producing some of the more consistently watchable TV on the network. If the CBC was looking to blend a TV version of the very popular Spark (part radio show, podcast, blog...) they could add Nora Young to the mix.
- And, if the CBC simply wanted to annoy CTV they would hire Tom Clark.
From left field and the right wing
- Now, if CBC wanted to really shake up the format I could see Avi Lewis and Ezra Levant taking over the show. Both men have political, production and publishing pedigrees; their political ideologies couldn't be more opposite. It would be one hell of a show to watch. Perhaps they might be able to show us when the left and right might be able to agree, that is if both of them could stay reasonable.
Other personalities the people on Twitter think are in the running:
- BrianMcInnis: Susan Bonner,Julie VanDusen are my number 1 and 2. Alan Gregg would be great but doesn't need the job.
- LarryLarry: I'm thinking Kathleen Petty might be a good choice.. Keith Boag would be frickin' awesome too (and my pick).
What do you think? Who did I miss? Is the CBC going to shake things up with Don's retirement? Or is the Politics program moving ahead with a new host? Who do you think will fill the seat left open by the venerable Don Newman?
Full disclosure: I'm still an active political advisor to New Democrats and progressives at all levels of government; I don't however speak on behalf of any of them. These are my opinions based on the past five years working with the National Press Gallery as a press secretary/political aide. This is a standard political disclosure I place on all Canadian political blog posts at MediaStyle.ca. If you want to know more, email me ian@mediastyle.ca
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Who can fill Don Newman’s Politics chair at CBC? | Newslab.ca (May 5th, 2009 at 5:21pm)
[...] Capstick of MediaStyle.com (and a NDP political adviser) runs the roster of potential replacements, ranging from the go-to heavy hitter, Susan Bonner, to the wild-card, George Strombouloupoulous. He [...]
I would think that Paul Wells would be a good fit. He is fairly young, personable somewhat connected and good on TV.
Bonner? Yeah, she’d be good.
Petty? Don’t think she’s interested in TV anymore. But Newman’s chair might change that.
Paikin? I wonder if Ottawa politics is a big enough canvas for him. The Agenda gets to cover a far wider range of topics.
What about Rosemary Thompson or Hannah Boudreau?
My pick: Bring Anthony Germain back from Shanghai. He’s got the right amount of acidity to eat away at politicians…
Avi and Ezra? What, to create a Canadian Crossfire? That worked out so well for CNN…
I would like to see Chris Hall take it – he was overlooked when The House was recast. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ian Hanomansing is in the running, too – he may be ready to return to the national stage.
John, I really think we would be shocked abotu Avi and Ezra…they could agree on more than one issue. And, Avi can keep a dispute civil. No need to screaming, it would be the *Canadian version of CrossFire, eh.
I do not wish to be a cynic, but given the past history of these things at the Corp, the show might be completely remade, moved to Torontt, cancelled, or some other unexpected and unpopular choice. The CBC (excepting Radio One) has the unerring talent of doing the one thing that might drive their remaining audience away. Then, of course, there’d be no need of a new host.
I like the suggestions of Wells and Paikin, although I admit I don’t have much exposure to Kathleen Petty. The others don’t know that much about politics to be honest, and would become victims of the spin-whiplash … with the exception of a Lewis-Levant combo, which would raise my blood pressure more than is good for a person of my age, and who needs that?
Susan Bonner is great, but I think Julie Van Dusen would be heads and shoulders above her. Would she enjoy sitting down every day instead of reporting “from the field”, though? Ottawa politicians would be happy to see her leave the scrums.
Steve Paikin is great, but he has the patina of a private broadcaster more than CBC. He is also somewhat condescending and relies too much on setting up his guests with stupid hypothetical questions.
Avi & Ezra: Remember Jon Stewart’s criticism of Crossfire? Still valid here.
Jesse Hirsh is super smart (and telegenic!) but does he have the in-depth political knowledge necessary to fill in Don’s shoes as Newsworld’s political anchor?
George? Seriously? Moving him up the chain is not going to increase his points rating…
The only thing I’m thinking about is if they’re retiring Newman to save money, they wouldn’t turn around and hire some expensive person to replace him, unless they were just being classy about getting rid of him.
Julie Van Dusen and Don Newman do a 15-minute politics segment on the CBC drive home show, and they’re *fantastic*, funny, knowledgeable, and eminently listen-able. I’ve seen both on TV and they know what they’re doing there as well. You could do far worse.
Hello,,,I posted once before on this subject. It is now Sept.20th,2009.
Susan Bonner is my priority pick. Next in line is Steve Paikin.
Why hasn’t this been fixed yet? Politics as we currently see it is not very exciting to say the least. It’s obvious that Mr. Newman is going to be a tough act to follow, but (assuming she wants it) Susan Bonner is tough, disciplined, knowledgeable, and would be a perfect fit in my opinion. Hurry, get it done now!
I realise this is rather a late comment, but I asked a similar question to the CBC via their website (I was going through Don Newman withdraws when Parliament was back in session!). The response I got was two fold – they will not be bringing the Politics program back, as it was retired with Don Newman. They then said that Evan Soloman will be hosting his own political themed show sometime soon… personally I found this depressing and had really hoped for someone like Chris Hall or Susan Bonner to take on a project. I suppose it is just a further dreary change to the CBC… first Henry Champ, then Don Newman, and now this?