In this memoir Robertson tracers his life from a troubled childhood with a lobotomized mother and a rail-yard worker father in Stratford, Ontario to a part time job with a local radio station to various jobs with radio stations in Stratford, Windsor, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Toronto before moving into the new medium of television with the CBC. After this he moved to the pinnacle of the news world as anchor of the news desk at CTV in 1976. Along the way he discusses the intricacies of newsrooms and the personalities of their denizens who became the household names of the purveyors of what was happening in the world and for entertainment for millions of Canadians of the era.
The petty rivalries between the union-restricted, top-heavy CBC and the private more, open more efficient CTV that lured Robertson to abandon the “”Mother Corp” had wide repercussions but gave him more freedom to act as a commentator and journalist rather than just a reader. He comments on the quirky personalities of some of those household names, both here and in the U.S. Ever a gentleman, he seems to have never held a grudge or stooped to the questionable antics of some in the business.
Although much of his narrative is self-deprecating and he seems to be truly humble and appreciative of the breaks he got, his chapter on meetings with various members of the royal family seems to have a whiff of elitism, as in “See who I got to hobnob with.” Hobnob with the upper crust of society he indeed did -politicians, business leaders, sports heroes, etc-as an integral part of the job. His musings about the importance to the royals in Canadian’s lives seems a bit exaggerated as does his rah-rah patriotism during his coverage of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics as his career was nearing it’s end.
His take on the personalities of various public figures and their attitudes to the media are interesting, as are his long deliberations or dithering (depending on your viewpoint) about the right time to retire while still competent. He only yielded the news desk chair at CTV to Lisa LaFlamme, she who was recently fired for dubious reasons by Bell Media who now own CTV,
In late 2011, when he was 78. The right time to fade away is something many whose work can have a major impact on the lives of others is a question for which there are no easy answers.
His humble background, integrity and modesty adds to this interesting read. Although I could quibble with the emphasis he put on various stories, I end up admiring him, unlike many others writing their memoirs, including fellow newsman Peter Mansbridge whose autobiography is hubristic and disappointing.
The proliferation of news sources, their competitiveness, and the increasing biases of some of them make finding the real story in the news difficult. I am no news hound and detest the terms “breaking news” and “fake news” equally. On the rare occasions when I have been privy to the background facts of stories making newspaper headlines or airing on national broadcasts, I have wondered if they were covering the same facts that I knew. I guess this just emphasizes the important role for those heroes digging for the background facts. It is said that the importance of any medical ‘breakthrough’ is inversely related to its publicity. At least we still have media that are not yet in any major way refrained from telling us the truth as they see it. For that we should be very grateful and protective.
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Thanks, Lois.
The Passionate Reader 