David Akin
| David Akin | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Canada |
| Occupation | journalist |
David Akin is a Canadian freelance reporter.
Akin's career began in 1993 with The Packet and Times in Orillia, Ontario as the paper's city hall reporter. In 1995, he moved to The Chronicle Journal in Thunder Bay, Ontario where he worked as a senior reporter and joined the The Hamilton Spectator and then the National Post, followed by The Globe and Mail.
From 2001 to 2008, Akin was a parliamentary correspondent for CTV News before joining Canwest News Service (now known as Postmedia) as a national affairs correspondent. At CTV, Akin won a Gemini Award for his reporting. The Globe and Mail reported that he resigned from Canwest on June 10, 2010, to become the first reporter for Sun Media's new all news cable service.[1] From 2011 to 2015 he was the national bureau chief for Sun Media and the Sun News Network and hosted the The Daily Brief and, later, the hour-long prime time show Battleground.[2]
Canadian playwright Michael Wheeler characterized Akin as having "broke ranks" with the rest of the Parliamentary press gallery when he asked the Prime Minister about Homegrown prior to its opening night.[3][4]<ref name==TorontoSun2010-08-06b>
David Akin (2010-08-06). "Latest culture battle: One-act play about terrorism a target in Tories’ arts clash; will strategy win votes?". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 2010-08-10. A spokesman for Stephen Harper says the PMO is “extremely disappointed” federal tax dollars are being used by a Toronto theatre festival to stage a play which, in the playwright’s own words, offers up a “sympathetic portrayal” of a convicted terrorist.
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David Akin (2010-08-03). "PMO frowns on terror play funding". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 2010-08-10. Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office says it is "extremely disappointed" federal funds went to a theatre festival that will stage a play this week that features, in the words of the playwright, a "sympathetic portrayal" of a convicted terrorist who plotted to blow up the heart of Toronto's financial district.
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According to Wheeler all reporters had agreed upon a question about a prominent issue of the day which they would all ask if they were called upon for a question from the Prime Minister.
In February 2010 Akin reported, as fact, a rumor that Gordon Lightfoot had died.[2][5][6]
References
- ↑ Jacqui Delaney (2010-12-21). "Sun News welcomes Ottawa insider David Akin". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 2012-05-06.
Canoe Live host Jacqui Delaney talks with Sun News national bureau chief David Akin about the upcoming Sun News network.
mirror - ↑ 2.0 2.1 Jane Taber (2010-06-10). "'Fox News of the North' nabs its first host?". Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2012-05-06.
Meanwhile, Mr. Akin is a prolific reporter, operating on all platforms - he Twitters, he blogs, he has a Facebook page, he appears in the Canwest newspapers and he is on television.
mirror - ↑ Michael Wheeler (2011-07-31). "Defunding alternative voices: The Tories' funding cuts to the SummerWorks Festival reflect a broader agenda to silence critics". The Mark News. Retrieved 2012-05-06.
The trouble started last August, when Sun Media’s David Akin broke ranks with the media pool. With the rest of the journalists at Rideau Hall agreeing to ask Prime Minister Stephen Harper a question about the long-form census, Akin used one of two English-language questions available to the press to ask about Catherine Frid’s play Homegrown, which had just played at SummerWorks.
mirror - ↑ David Akin (2010-08-06). "At the theatre to see the charming terrorist". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 2010-08-10.
But if this play really is, as Frid and Summerworks advertise in their promotional material, about 'separating fact from hype in the face of the uncertainty, delays and secrecy in his case', then much more is needed from the playwright.
mirror - ↑ David Akin (2010-02-18). "Gordon Lightfoot has died, sources close to the singer say.". Twitter. Retrieved 2012-05-06. mirror
- ↑ "Gordon Lightfoot alive and well despite death hoax". CP24. 2010-02-18. Retrieved 2012-05-06.
At about 2 p.m., Canwest politics reporter David Akin made a well-circulated post on Twitter that the singer had died, citing anonymous sources close to Lightfoot.
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