Peter Kent
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Peter Kent | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | July 27, 1943 Sussex, England |
| Occupation | News Editor |
| Spouse | Cilla Kent |
| Parents | Aileen Kent Parker Kent |
| Children | Trilby Kent |
Peter Kent (born in Sussex, England July 27, 1943) is Deputy Editor for Global Television News, a Canadian TV network. He was the host of "First National and MoneyWise on Global and Prime TV (Canadian television network). Peter Kent was named the recipient of the prestigious 2006 President’s Award from the Radio-Television News Directors Association of Canada (RTNDA). The President’s Award is presented annually to honour individuals, stations, companies or groups who have brought distinction to, or have made major contributions to the broadcast news industry. Kent is a member of Canada’s Broadcast Hall of Fame, former director of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, four-time Emmy nominee and the recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Award.
Kent began his career as a radio journalist in the early 1960s. He then moved to television, joining Calgary station CFCN in 1965, and subsequently worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), CTV, Global, NBC and Monitor TV News.
In 1978 Kent agreed to step down as anchor of The National after he submitted an intervention to the CRTC recommending that the Corporation's licence not be renewed until management created procedures and protocols to prevent political interference in the CBC's editorial decision-making. Kent's complaint involved messages conveyed through the then CBC President Al Johnson from the Prime Minister's Office that resulted in cancellation of a speech by Premier Rene Levesque and coverage of a speech by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. As a result of his intervention and descent from The National anchor desk, Kent accepted assignment to the newly created African Bureau of the CBC, located in Johannesburg.
The CBC subsequently created protocols to govern Prime Ministerial access to the public broadcaster. They remain in effect today; the most recent example the speech made to the country by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien on the eve of the 1995 Quebec referendum. Kent returned briefly in 1978 to testify at a grievance hearing initiated by an unsuccessful anchor candidate who complained that Knowlton Nash, the vice-president of CBC News, had appointed himself to succeed Kent. In that testimony Kent -- the first journalist to anchor The National -- supported Nash's credentials.
Kent returned to Canada and the CBC in 1982 as a founding producer, correspondent and occasional co-host of The Journal, hosted by Barbara Frum and Marylou Finley.
In 1984 Kent moved back to NBC serving in Miami, Washington and New York bureaus and as the US network's senior European correspondent in the late 1980s, winning four Emmynominations with the network. He then reported for and was back-up anchor for John Hart and John Palmer at the Christian Science Monitor's World Monitor television news service. One of Kent's feature report series - on challenges in American inner cities - was awarded the Robert F. Kennedy Award.
Kent returned to Canada to join Global News in 1992, and was the anchor of its flagship news program First National until 2001.
In the Canadian federal election, 2006, Kent ran as the Conservative Party of Canada candidate in the Toronto riding of St. Paul's. He placed second with 25.76% of the vote against the incumbent, Carolyn Bennett of the Liberals (50.25%), and ahead of Paul Summerville of the NDP (19.19%). Although the Conservatives won the election nationally, and St. Paul's is considered a bellwether riding, Bennett managed to become its third opposition MP ever.
During the previous 2004 federal election campaign, Kent was involved in the decision not to allow the Green Party of Canada to participate in the nationally televised leader's debate. He said the decision was based on the key criteria of having representation in Parliament and recognition as an official party by Parliament, neither of which the Green Party had.[1] Kent was not a member of any political party at this time.
Peter Kent is currently the Candidate of Record for the Conservative Party of Canada in the suburban Toronto riding of Thornhill for the next federal election. Kent is widely expected to lose the race by a significant margin, as he did in 2006.
He is the son of Parker Kent, a long-time employee of the Southam Newspaper Group who retired as associate editor at the Calgary Herald. His younger brother, Arthur Kent, is also a journalist, known in the first Gulf War as the "scud stud".
Peter has been married to Cilla, a former print journalist with South Africa's Argus group. Married 26 years, they have a daughter, Trilby who works as a freelance journalist and writer in Brussels.
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| Preceded by none |
Global News anchor 1992-2001 |
Succeeded by Kevin Newman |
| Preceded by Lloyd Robertson |
The National anchor 1976-1978 |
Succeeded by Knowlton Nash |
