What's in the Manitoba water?

Manitoba's own Dawna Friesen will make her debut as the new Global National anchor tonight. She is just another name in the long list of journalists from Manitoba, who have gone out to greener pastures and made a big name for themselves.

And it begs the question, "What's in the water here in Manitoba?"

Because whatever it is, it produces some fine journalists.

For example….

Ashleigh Banfield












Spent some time at CKY-Winnipeg in the late 1980's before moving south of the border to work with such stations as MSNBC and truTV, where she currently works. She has also received several Emmy awards.


Tyler Brûlé



The Winnipeg-born Brûlé moved to the United Kingdom at just 21 years of age, and trained as a journalist with BBC. There, he wrote for papers such as The Guardian, The Sunday Times, and Vanity Fair. He has also launched magazines including "Wallpaper" and "Monocle". Brûlé currently writes for The Financial Times, where he has a weekly column.


Don Newman




One of Canada's best-known political journalists, Newman worked at CTV and CBC as a Washington correspondent for 7 years before setting up shop in Canada where he hosted CBC television shows This Week in Parliament and Capital Report. Many Canadians associate Newman's face with not only Canadian federal politics but American politics, as he anchored many key political moments for CBC.



Brian Williams

Born in Winnipeg, Williams is a legend when it comes to Canadian sportscasting. He worked 32 years for CBC, before moving to CTV 4 years ago, where he is the lead broadcaster for CTV's Olympic coverage, a position he also held at CBC. Williams also has hosted CFL coverage, Toronto Blue Jays baseball, and World Cup Soccer throughout his illustrious career.

Diana Swain




Born in Thompson, Swain spent 10 years at CBC Winnipeg, where she anchored 24 Hours, the CBC news show. This position won her a Gemini Award in 2000. She took a step up to the national level where, in 2004, she began anchoring the CBC Toronto newscast. She is currently part of the CBC news investigative unit.

Rod Black

Note: The moustache has been removed

Another CreComm grad, Black started at CKY Winnipeg at the ripe old age of 19. Since then, he has worked with CTV and TSN, mainly in the sports department. He has called play-by-play for the Toronto Blue Jays on TSN, and is one of TSN’s current CFL play-by-play announcers.

This is just a small portion of many journalists who have gone on to great success in other parts of Canada, or even other parts of the world.

So when Dawna Friesen hits the airwaves at 5:30 pm tonight, let's all take a sip of water in her honour.

Because when it comes to Manitoba journalism, something good is in that water.