Denise Bombardier

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Denise Bombardier (born 1941 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada) is a journalist, novelist and media personality, notably working for Radio Canada television and radio.

Bombardier is noted for the quality of her French, which is quite normative. Nevertheless, she is a defender of the international Francophonie, and has often been invited by Bernard Pivot to discuss the situation of French in France.

Bombardier is not without her detractors. She has a reputation as much for clear writing, reporting and interviews, as for the contradiction between professional ethics as defined by the Quebec media's social-democrat consensus and the expression of her personal values.

1 Biography
2 Bibliography
3 Selected filmography
4 Awards and recognition
5 Trivia
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Biography

Bombardier obtained a master's degree in political science from the University of Montreal in 1971 and a doctorate in sociology three years later from the Sorbonne.

She began her professional career as a research assistant on the Radio-Canada television program Aujourd'hui. Starting in 1975 she hosted a number of programs such as Présent international, Hebdo-dimanche, Noir sur blanc (1979–1983), Le Point and Entre les lignes. She hosted Trait-d'union from 1987 to 1988, and participated on Aujourd'hui dimanche (1988–1991) and L'Envers de la médaille.

Noir sur blanc, was the first public affairs program to be hosted by a woman in Quebec. There Bombardier interviewed Prime Minister of Canada Pierre Trudeau, novelist Georges Simenon, Prime Minister of Israel Golda Meir, President of France Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and his successor François Mitterrand.

In 1999, she hosted and produced the science program les Années lumières on Radio-Canada radio.

She has written a number of articles in the press, some of which have been controversial. Her articles have appeared in le Monde, le Devoir, l'Express, Châtelaine, Le Point and l'Actualité.

She has written la Voix de la France (1975), Une enfance à l'eau bénite (1985) et Aimez-moi les uns les autres (1999).

Bombardier has been accused of being a right-wing journalist, and was fired in 2005 from the public television network Radio-Canada and accused of so-called homophobia for defending traditional marriage against a homosexual rights activist guest during an evening information show, Le Point; her unilateral firing was widely acclaimed by the journalist élite of the Quebec media. She has been scathing about reality television programs, especially Quebec's Star Académie.

[edit] Bibliography

la Voix de la France (1975)
Une enfance à l'eau bénite (1985)
Le mal de l'âme (with Claude Saint-Laurent, 1989)
Tremblement de cœur (1990)
La déroute des sexes (1993)
Nos hommes (1995)
Aimez-moi les uns les autres (1999)
Lettre ouverte aux Français qui se croient le nombril du monde (2000)
Propos d'une moraliste (2003)
Et quoi encore! (2004)
Sans complaisance (2005)

[edit] Selected filmography

Présent international
Hebdo-dimanche
Noir sur blanc
Point
Entre les lignes.
Trait-d'union (1987– 1988)
Aujourd'hui dimanche (1988– 1991)
L'Envers de la médaille
Parlez-moi des hommes, parlez-moi des femmes (2001– 2002)

[edit] Awards and recognition

In 1993 she was made a Knight of the Légion d'honneur.
In 2000 she was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec.

[edit] Trivia

Bombardier championed Next Episode by Hubert Aquin (translation of Prochain épisode by Sheila Fischman) in Canada Reads 2003. In the 2007 edition of Canada Reads, an "all-star" competition pitting the five winning advocates from previous years against each other, Bombardier will return to champion Gabrielle Roy's novel Children of My Heart.