Neil Macdonald (born 1957) is a Canadian

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

with the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian Public broadcasting, public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its E ...

, and a former senior correspondent for CBC News '' The National''. He is married to former CTV News bureau Chief

Joyce Napier Joyce Napier (born June 15, 1958) is a Canadian diplomat and former television journalist, currently serving as Canada's ambassador to the Holy See. Formerly a correspondent for the news division of Société Radio-Canada, the French-language ar ...

Early life and family

Macdonald was born and raised in

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

. His father was Percy Macdonald, who served with the Canadian Army during World War II and helped liberate the Netherlands. His mother is Ferne Macdonald (née Mains). He has two brothers, one of whom was comedian/actor

Norm Macdonald Norman Gene MacdonaldThe capitalization of Norm Macdonald's surname has been inconsistently reported in publications such as ''TV Guide''. Books that discuss him, such as ''Shales'' (2003) and Crawford' (2000), as well as other sources such as ...

. He is married to

, a former parliamentary bureau chief for

CTV News CTV News is the news division of the CTV Television Network in Canada. The name ''CTV News'' is also applied as the title of local and regional newscasts on the network's owned-and-operated stations (O&Os), which are closely tied to the nationa ...

Career

After graduating from

Algonquin College Algonquin College of Applied Arts and Technology is a publicly funded English-language college located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The college has three campuses, all in Ontario: a primary campus in Ottawa, and secondary campuses in Perth and ...

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

, Macdonald worked first as a print journalist. He joined the CBC in 1988 and covered Canadian

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

for approximately a decade. He then served for five years (1998–2003) as the network's chief

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

correspondent. Macdonald was involved in a public dispute with Canadian media mogul

Leonard Asper Leonard Asper (born May 31, 1964) is a Canadian businessperson, entrepreneur and lawyer. He was president and CEO of Canwest from 1999 through its bankruptcy in 2010. He would later establish Anthem Sports & Entertainment (initially Anthem Media G ...

in 2003. Asper had accused Macdonald of being "anti-Israeli" after taking exception to some of the CBC's Middle East coverage. Macdonald responded with a rebuttal in ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'', accusing Asper of defamation and alleging editorial censorship in the Asper-owned

CanWest Canwest Global Communications Corporation, which operated under the corporate name Canwest, was a major Canadian media conglomerate based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with its head offices at Canwest Place (now called 201 Portage). It held radio, ...

media outlets. In November 2010, Macdonald led a CBC investigation into the United Nations International Independent Investigation Commission and the

Special Tribunal for Lebanon The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), also referred to as the Lebanon Tribunal or the Hariri Tribunal, was a tribunal of international character that was active between 2009 and 2023. It applied Lebanese criminal law under the authority of ...

, which had been mandated with solving the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister

Rafik Hariri Rafic Bahaa El Deen al-Hariri (; 1 November 1944 – 14 February 2005) was a Lebanese businessman and politician who served as prime minister of Lebanon from 1992 to 1998 and again from 2000 to 2004. Hariri headed five cabinets during his tenu ...

. The report uncovered documents suggesting the UN investigative body had strong evidence to link the

Shia Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...

paramilitary group

Hezbollah Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...

to the 2005 bombing that killed Hariri, and that the UN had not acted on this intelligence due to diplomatic concerns. Macdonald's report also sharply criticized the performance of the Special Tribunal's head prosecutor,

Daniel Bellemare Daniel Bellemare (born 1952) is a Canadian prosecutor. After retiring from a long career in the Canadian legal system, Bellemare was named as a prosecutor for the United Nations Special Tribunal for Lebanon, until 2012. Canadian legal career Bell ...

, who responded that he was "extremely disappointed" with the report. In 2014, Macdonald harshly criticized

Linden MacIntyre Linden Joseph MacIntyre (born May 29, 1943) is a Canadian journalist, broadcaster and novelist. He has won ten Gemini Awards, an International Emmy and numerous other awards for writing and journalistic excellence, including the 2009 Scotiabank G ...

, a former CBC employee, after MacIntyre made comments about the CBC in regard to the Jian Ghomeshi incident. In 2015, Macdonald moved back to Canada after 17 years in the United States, 12 of which he spent in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

as the Washington bureau correspondent for '' The National''. Macdonald produced editorial articles for the CBC's website, as well as appearing as a senior correspondent for '' The National'' before he retired in December 2019.

Awards

In 1988, Macdonald received a

Centre for Investigative Journalism Award The Centre for Investigative Journalism Award (1986–1990) was given for excellence in investigative journalism by Canadian journalists. It was administered by the Canadian Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ). History Founded in 1978, CI ...

honorable mention for the 1987 story "CSIS: Making a cop into a spy just doesn't fly" in the ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as the Bytown ''Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the ''Ci ...

''. In 2004, Macdonald received a

Gemini Award The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's English-language television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in t ...

for his reportage on political violence in

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

. He was awarded a second "best reportage" Gemini in 2009 for his coverage of the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, Neil Algonquin College alumni Canadian Screen Award winning journalists People from Quebec City 1957 births Living people Anglophone Quebec people Canadian television reporters and correspondents Canadian political journalists 20th-century Canadian journalists 21st-century Canadian journalists CBC Television people Centre for Investigative Journalism Award winners