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“The beauty of this job is that it’s a learning experience every day,” says Mansbridge.
One of the most respected and recognizable faces on Canadian television, Peter Mansbridge’s sober, steadfast personality has anchored the CBC’s flagship news show The National for nearly two decades now. During that time, the 59-year-old Ottawa native has covered an impressive inventory of history-in-the-making events, including the resignation of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the 1995 referendum on Quebec sovereignty, the 1998 ice storm in eastern Ontario and Quebec and the deaths of Princess Diana and Pope John Paul II. Though he says his interest in world events stretches back to his formative years growing up in London, England (his birthplace), Mansbridge claims he never seriously considered exploring a life in journalism.
“I grew up in a family that used to sit around the breakfast table and dinner table and debate the issues of the day, every day," he explains. "We’d listen to the BBC when we lived abroad and to the CBC when we moved to Canada, and we would talk about those issues. So the basic interest in journalism was always there, although in those days I never ever considered it as a career.” That esteemed career, which spans four decades (and counting), came about as a result of determination and plain, dumb luck.
A high-school dropout who skipped university and college for a brief (and, as he calls it, “unsuccessful”) stint in the Canadian Navy, Mansbridge’s entry to journalism came as a total fluke. In 1968, when he was working as a freight handler for a small airline in remote Churchill, Manitoba, an ailing ticket agent asked him to announce a boarding call. As it happened, the manager of the local CBC Radio North station was passing through the airport and upon hearing the teenager’s now-trademark baritone, tracked him down and offered him a job. Mansbridge started his new job, as host of a late-night radio show, the next day.
“How lucky is that?” he says with a laugh from his office in Toronto. “But then, unlike in high school and the navy where I didn’t apply my skills very adeptly, I took this opportunity firmly by the throat.”
After a few months spinning records he convinced his boss that the station was missing something, namely an original newscast. Unfortunately there was a catch—he would have to produce it all himself. He quickly undertook some radio news research, listening to CBC stations in Winnipeg and Toronto, and using a shortwave radio to tune into a wide range of newscasts and talk radio stations. “The process was one of continually learning and adapting,” he says of his on-the-fly workplace training. “I listened to the way they constructed newscasts, to how they wrote, to how different people had different interviewing styles. I listened to all this and I came up with ideas on my own.”
Peter Mansbridge's storied rise from high-school dropout to host of the CBC's The National would have likely never happened if not for a fluke encounter in a remote airport in northern Manitoba. To hear him tell the story in his own words, watch his video bio.
Even though he can thank a remarkable stroke of luck for giving him his start, Mansbridge’s climb up the highly-competitive world of journalism came thanks to his own dedication and commitment. Once in the industry he sought out mentors, signed up for courses and enrolled in apprenticeship programs to help compensate for his lack of formal training. To read more about the economic benefits of apprenticeship programs, see CCL’s Lessons in Learning article “Apprenticeship training in Canada.”
Another Lessons in Learning article of interest is “The skills gap in Canada: The knowledge intensity of Canadians' jobs is growing rapidly”, which explores how improved investment in workplace learning can help remedy Canada’s growing shortage of skilled workers.
The result was a daily two-minute newscast that soon grew to a half-hour segment, with Mansbridge serving as both host and producer. With his reputation growing along with his experience, in 1971 he was offered a job as a CBC Radio reporter in Winnipeg. Once in the “big leagues”, Mansbridge was able to make up for his lack of formal journalism training through coursework and apprenticeships. He recalls struggling with his writing and interviewing skills; both of which he improved by learning from colleagues and mentors. Yet he still managed to retain a unique style that made an impression on his bosses.
Over the next decade, Mansbridge’s profile grew steadily as he slowly rose through the CBC ranks, making the leap to local TV in 1972 and then serving four years in the broadcaster’s parliamentary bureau in Ottawa. His foray in the anchor seat came in the early 1980s, when he co-hosted The Quarterly Report alongside the venerable Barbara Frum. In 1987, Mansbridge’s rising fame finally hooked the interest of the TV industry south of the border and amid much gossip and speculation, he was offered a co-anchor position on the CBS morning show This Morning for a reputed $700,000-a-year salary. In an effort to keep the 30-something anchorman in the country, then anchor of The National Knowlton Nash offered Mansbridge the prized position in late-night meeting. Since then, many observers have since called Mansbridge a patriot for staying in Canada, yet he seems bemused by this opinion.
“There were personal reasons for staying and there were certainly professional reasons. What Knowlton did [is] he put before me the job I used to dream about in those first days in Churchill. As a little radio reporter I dreamt about one day hosting The National, and when it was suddenly before me, there was no job that could rival it.”
Since taking over The National, Mansbridge has earned the respect and acclaim of his colleagues winning 12 Gemini Awards and has helped the show embrace a new era, whether it’s his well-received town halls segments or the show’s increased presence on the internet. Yet all along he says he has relied on a lifelong love of learning—reading, primarily—to develop and inform his professional approach. “The beauty of this job is that it’s a learning experience every day,” he explains. “To be able to do that learning you’ve got to read.”
On top of the two hours he spends each morning scanning newspapers and the internet, Mansbridge is an enthusiastic student of history with a particular interest in the 20th century. He brings that knowledge into news meetings and interviews, which enables him to draw parallels between current and past events.
“For me, journalism is about layering on experience and knowledge and training to adapt to whatever medium you’re in … you’re doing what you did in school: you’re learning new things and you’re trying to learn them from as many different angles as possible.” Mansbridge stressed that the best journalists are typically well-informed generalists, rather than experts on one specific topic. “There’s only one way to achieve that: by learning and absorbing what material you can, especially in an age when there’s so much information available to us all.”