‘We have to strive to do better in the future’
“They want to make sure you read it.”
Roberts resigned after a Star story revealed that he had established a firm called BuzzPR with a Toronto auctioneer two years ago.
The Star has documented numerous cases in which clients of the firm appeared on Global, with Roberts doing the interviewing.
But Roberts’ failing wasn’t unique in the industry. The myth of the omniscient anchor, a moral authority who speaks some higher truth from behind a desk, is under attack.
Over the past 12 months, there have been some high-profile scandals in the broadcast industry, including the firing of CBC radio personality Jian Ghomeshi after allegations of sexual abuse were made against him, and the dismissal of CBC host Evan Solomon after reports that he was taking commissions from art sales involving people he dealt with as a host.
In the U.S., NBC anchor Brian Williams was suspended for six months after exaggerating his role in an incident in Iraq.
“We have to strive to do better in the future. But we have to make sure that the people who do the stories are not the focus of the stories, they are the conduit,” says Taggart.
“For a long time, TV anchors were professorial and they talked down to you. That’s not the case anymore. What resonates with viewers are people they can identify with.”
To that end, you can expect Nasser and Carter to be out in the field a lot more than most anchors. Or at least that’s the plan.
“We are front-line working journalists. We will continue to be out there crafting stories where the journalism flows from us,” says Carter. “The new show gave us a chance for something of a restart. But it was a great team before and it remains a great team. I guess it will be, how do we continue to make sure people know that?”
“I grew up in the city and I want to make it better,” says Nasser. “We do have a passion for this place. We’re parents, we live here. We want to be out there discussing ideas. It’s not about sitting behind a desk and wearing expensive suits.”
Nasser won’t be doing much field work in the short run. She is having her second baby, due in late October, so she will be working for only a few months — just enough time for viewers to become familiar with her — before her maternity leave begins. She plans to be off work in November and December, and to return to her job as soon as possible.
With the competition for eyeballs in the digital age, how the anchors related to their audience was also a key criteria in their hiring.
“Certainly, in my career, this is the first time we looked at social media reach when hiring an anchor,” said Taggart.
“It’s not just about on-air presence. It’s about their ability to reach people in different mediums and how the new anchors would engage their audience.”
As of now, the combined reach of Nasser (more than 6,000 Twitter followers) and Carter (more than 5,000) don’t have the numbers of departed anchor Roberts at almost 20,000 followers, but that will likely change as they become the new faces of the suppertime news.
Meanwhile, the lessons of Roberts never seem that far away.
“I think we have to remember that no one is beyond accountability even when we hold others to account,” says Taggart.
“You’re never too big to fail, and as long as we can remind newsmakers and ourselves of that, then we’re doing our job.” With files from Kevin Donovan