[R-G] Ex-CBC host Lewis joins Al Jazeera

[Anthony Fenton]

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/ 
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Ex-CBC host Lewis joins Al Jazeera

'To have the resources to do stories properly is a rare luxury'

Joseph Brean, National Post  Published: Thursday, February 28, 2008
http://www.financialpost.com/small_business/Story.html?id=339132

Former CBC journalist Avi Lewis has joined Al Jazeera's English  
network as a host of a weekly program.Peter J. Thompson, National  
Post File PhotoFormer CBC journalist Avi Lewis has joined Al  
Jazeera's English network as a host of a weekly program.

Avi Lewis, the former CBC host and husband of author Naomi Klein, has  
joined Al Jazeera's rapidly growing English network as host of a  
weekly program on the American election.

In the first episode of Frontline USA, which aired on the weekend,  
Mr. Lewis said the show will follow the election through such themes  
as race and immigration, and offer "a full-spectrum assault of  
American voices" to compete with the established networks.

Al Jazeera English is not broadcast in Canada, although it has the  
approval of the federal regulator. Even still, Mr. Lewis's audience  
will, as he put it, "far exceed anything I would have had on my  
little show on CBC Newsworld." The network, based in Doha, Qatar,  
pegs its reach at 100 million households globally.

Mr. Lewis -- son of diplomat Stephen Lewis and journalist Michele  
Landsberg, nephew of architect Daniel Libeskind, and grandson of  
former NDP leader David Lewis --is just the latest in a major influx  
of prominent Western journalists to the network. Mr. Lewis, who  
started his career as a news host on MuchMusic, became a prominent  
face at the CBC as host of the news discussion program counterSpin.  
In the past two years, he has launched two shows as host, The Big  
Picture and On The Map, both of which were cancelled after short runs.

Reached yesterday outside of Calexico, Calif., on the Mexican border,  
where he was researching a show on military contractors turning to  
the border-security business, Mr. Lewis lashed out at the CBC and  
praised the resource-rich work environment of Al Jazeera.

"The main [CBC] network didn't seem to have any interest in what I  
was doing," he said. "Richard Stursberg [who took over English  
programming last November] has definitely made it clear that his  
biggest priority in the last couple of years has been dramas and so- 
called factual entertainment, and daytime shows, and Designer Guys,  
and Sophie and The Border, and not news and current affairs."

Asked if Al Jazeera Arabic's reputation for airing terrorist  
propaganda played into his decision, Mr. Lewis said the question is  
"absolutely hilarious."

"What's the allegation? That Al Jazeera aired [Osama] bin Laden  
videos? So did CNN, FOX and everybody else," he said. "I know that Al  
Jazeera is a favourite target of nationalist right-wingers in the  
United States, but as a journalist, I like to judge things on the  
evidence."

He said he has found his work so far "pretty difficult," with public  
officials refusing to talk to him on the record for fear of political  
repercussions. But, he said, "to have the resources to do stories  
properly is a rare luxury."

jbrean at nationalpost.com

[...]

TV journalist Avi Lewis debuts U.S. show on Al-Jazeera
Last Updated: Thursday, February 28, 2008 | 11:15 AM ET
CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/tv/story/2008/02/28/lewis-aljazeera- 
frontline.html?ref=rss

Canadian broadcast journalist Avi Lewis has joined the Qatar-based Al- 
Jazeera network to host a new program focusing on U.S. politics and  
the upcoming election.

Lewis, a recognizable face on Canadian TV after covering politics for  
youth network MuchMusic and hosting CBC-TV programs such as debate  
show counterSpin, has debuted a new weekly program entitled Frontline  
USA on Al-Jazeera's English network.

Produced in the U.S., Frontline USA explores important issues — from  
poverty to immigration to race relations — at stake in the face of  
the 2008 U.S. presidential election campaign.

A prominent social activist, Lewis and his wife, author Naomi Klein,  
teamed up in 2004 to release the documentary The Take: about  
Argentine factory workers who reclaim a closed auto plant and their  
fight to re-open it as a co-operative.
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