Haroon Siddiqui

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Haroon Siddiqui, C.M., O.Ont., LL.D. (born June 1, 1942) is an Indo-Canadian newspaper journalist, columnist and a former editor.

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[edit] Early life and career

Born in Hyderabad, India, the oldest of six children, to a construction company proprietor and a homemaker, Siddiqui enjoyed what he characterizes as a secure and affectionate, "middle- to upper-class" childhood.

At Osmania University in Hyderabad, he moved between several majors before earning his first degree in science, and his second in journalism. In 1963, he joined the Press Trust of India as a reporter and copy editor. When his father fell ill, he left journalism to look after his family and the company, running it from his father's death in 1965 until it wound-down in 1967.

While still at the Press Trust, he met Roland Michener, then Canada's High Commissioner to India, who had encouraged him to immigrate to Canada. By October 1967, encouraged by friends who spoke well of the country, he moved to Toronto. After a brief stint selling menswear at Simpson's, he took a job at the Brandon Sun in Brandon, Manitoba, reporting with special attention to municipal and provincial politics from 1968 to 1978.

In 1978, he joined the Toronto Star, becoming foreign affairs analyst in 1979, news editor in 1982 and national editor in 1985. From 1990 to 1998, Siddiqui was the Star's editorial page editor, and on his departure from that position, he was given the special title of editorial page editor emeritus, a role consulting Star publisher Beland Honderich, and a twice-weekly column, which focused on national and international politics as well as cultural and religious diversity.

One of Canada’s most honoured journalists, Haroon Siddiqui writes a twice-weekly column that explores post-modern Canada’s role in the global village. He attempts a cosmopolitan perspective on Canadian issues and a Canadian perspective on global issues.

At Canada’s largest newspaper, he is also a member of the senior management team that grapples with strategy in the rapidly changing media landscape. He has been prescient about, and led centrist Canadian public opinion on, some of the profound issues of the age: opposing the war on Iraq and supporting the need to protect human rights in the age of terrorism; advocating international interventions in Bosnia and Kosovo; and calling for the recognition of such post-Cold War states as Ukraine and Macedonia.

He has covered such historic events as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the American hostage crisis in Iran and the Iran-Iraq war, and travelled to 35 countries. He has developed a keen sense of Canada’s place in the world. He has interviewed or covered, among others, Nelson Mandela, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Pierre Elliot Trudeau, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, King Hussein of Jordan, Ayatollah Khomeini, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and others.

He is the immediate past president of PEN Canada the writers’ group, and remains chair of International PEN’s Writers-in-Exile Network. He is on the boards of directors of the Calmeadow Foundation (a microcredit lender), the Canadian Club of Toronto, and the advisory board of the Ryerson University School of Journalism, and has been active in the Canadian Newspaper Association and Advertising Standards Canada.

From 1990 to 1998, he was The Star’s Editorial Page Editor, responsible for editorial policy, columns on the Opinion Page, letters to the editor and cartoons. During his tenure, The Star advocated a distinct constitutional status for Québec and protection of French minorities outside Quebec. He helped realign The Star’s Canadian economic and cultural nationalism to fit the reality of free trade. In keeping with the paper’s tradition of battling anti-Semitism and racism, he provided space to a broad range of writers to reflect our growing pluralism.

Siddiqui also played a key role in The Star’s pioneering efforts at producing special editions on aboriginals and several minority communities -- Italian, Chinese, South Asian, Jewish, Portuguese and black Canadians, as also on the 50th anniversary of Israel.

Working through the Canadian Newspaper Association and Advertising Standards Canada, Siddiqui has helped raise media-consciousness towards Canada’s many minorities. Citing the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Multiculturalism Act and the Broadcast Act, he has argued for “equality of citizenship in print and on the airwaves” – that all citizens and groups are entitled to equal dignity of portrayal in the media and popular culture. This very Canadian idea has drawn much interest in the United States and Europe.

HISTORY

From 1985 to 1990, Siddiqui was National Editor, responsible for coverage of federal and provincial affairs, including the debates on Meech Lake, Charlottetown and Free Trade. Earlier, he was News Editor (1982-85) and Foreign Affairs Analyst (1979-1982). From 1990 to 1998, he was The Star’s Editorial Page Editor. From 1985 to 1990, he was National Editor, responsible for coverage of federal and provincial affairs, including the debates on Meech Lake, Charlottetown and Free Trade.

Earlier, he was News Editor (1982-85) and Foreign Affairs Analyst (1979-1982). From 1968 to 1978, he worked at The Brandon Sun, Man. as reporter, City Editor and then Managing Editor.

Last year, he visited Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia on the invitation of Canadian Foreign Affairs to speak about why the world needs more Canada.

BEING MUSLIM

Besides his journalistic writings, Siddiqui has authored Being Muslim, a book written for Muslims and non-Muslims alike; edited An English Anthology of Modern Urdu Poetry (1988); assisted in Christopher Ondaatje’s Sindh Revisited (1996), following the footsteps of Victorian explorer Sir Richard Burton; and contributed to Canada and Sept. 11, published by the University of Calgary (2002) and Drawing Fire: The State of Political Cartooning (1998), a colloquium of North America’s top cartoonists and editors, at the American Press Institute.

[edit] Criticisms

Siddiqui courts controversy. Writing in Toronto Life in June 2001, Robert Fulford maintained that "Siddiqui makes the most strenuous effort to bathe Third World countries in a soft light. No matter how outrageous its actions, a non-Western government can usually count on him for a little understanding."[citation needed]

[edit] Awards and distinctions

He shared a 1983 National Newspaper Award for spot news reporting, and was shortlisted in his own right for editorial writing in 1992 and column writing in 1998. Siddiqui received a Professional Man of the Year award from Indo-Canadian Chamber of Commerce, and a media award from the Canadian Islamic Congress.

In 2000, he became a member of the Order of Ontario, for crafting “a broader definition of the Canadian identity,” inclusive of our First Nations, French Canadians and newer Canadians. In 2001 he became a Member of the Order of Canada, for advocating “fairness and equality of opportunity” at home and “a broader role for Canada in the global village.”.

In 2001, Siddiqui was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters from York University. “His writings reveal a breath and depth of knowledge about the new Canada, and a cosmopolitan sense of our limitations and opportunities, both on the world stage and in the midst of our demographic transformation. His work helps in the creation and sustaining of a contemporary Canada.” In 2001, he was selected among the Top 50 in the 20-million Diaspora of Non-Resident Indians around the world.

In 2002, he was awarded the World Press Freedom Award by the National Press Club in Ottawa for his James Minifie Memorial Lecture at the University of Regina, warning against “creeping censorship” in Canada under media concentration.

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