Parsons out, Burman in…
May 14, 2008 – Doha, Qatar: The Al Jazeera Network today announced that it has appointed Tony Burman as the new Managing Director for the Al Jazeera English channel. He will build on the success of his predecessor Nigel Parsons who will assume the position of Managing Director of Business Acquisition & Development. Mr. Parsons was one of the primary figures leading the launch of the English Channel in 2006
Burman is ex-CBC and a programming person…
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A bit of background on Mr. Burman.
In the 1980s, he helped break the story of the Ethiopian famine, along with CBC TV reporter Brian Stewart.
Burman did so in part by taping video cassettes with images of the horror to his body, obscuring their presence with a heavy sweater. He then managed to talk his way past Ethiopian security officials and onto an aircraft.
Having someone in management who is a real journalist isn’t a bad thing for any news organization.
He wrote some columns on media issues for CBC.ca. I didn’t find them particularly visionary. But when it comes to journalism, his heart seems to be in the right place.
Here’s a link to a profile of him, first published in the Ryerson Review of Journalism:
http://www.ourpublicairwaves.ca/index.php?page=683