Antonia Zerbisias is a Canadian
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
associated with the ''
Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...
'' from 1989 until she took early retirement from the paper on 31 October 2014. She has been a reporter and TV host for the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...
, as well as the Montreal correspondent for the trade paper, ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
''.
She was nominated for
ACTRA
The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) is a Canadian trade union representing performers in English-language media. It has 25,000 members working in film, television, radio, and all other recorded media. The org ...
awards for her documentary writing in 1980 and 1981, and won the 1996
National Newspaper Award The National Newspaper Awards (french: link=no, Concours canadien de journalisme) are prizes awarded annually for the best work in Canadian newspapers.
Synopsis
The awards were first given in 1949 by the Toronto Press Club, which ran the awards un ...
for critical writing for her columns about magazines. Currently a freelancer, she regularly writes opinion columns for
Al Jazeera English
Al Jazeera English (AJE; ar, الجزيرة, translit=al-jazīrah, , literally "The Peninsula", referring to the Qatar Peninsula) is an international 24-hour English-language news channel owned by the Al Jazeera Media Network, which is own ...
and the Toronto alternative weekly,
Now
Now most commonly refers
to the present time.
Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to:
Organizations
* Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization
* National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization
* Now ...
.
Early life
Petros Zerbisias immigrated from
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
to Canada arriving in
Halifax in 1928. He settled in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
where he met his wife, Loula, where they owned and operated the Deli-Q restaurant.
[ Zerbisias attended Wagar High School in the suburb of Cote-St-Luc.][ She was married to the late Mark Blandford, a prominent Quebec television producer, director and screenwriter.
]
Career
Zerbisias has a BA in applied social science
Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soc ...
s from Concordia University
Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...
(then called Sir George Williams University
Sir George Williams University was a university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It merged with Loyola College to create Concordia University on August 24, 1974.
History
In 1851, the first YMCA in North America was established on Sainte-Hélène S ...
).[ Her first job as a reporter, in the early 1970s, was with the now-defunct Montreal ]weekly newspaper
A weekly newspaper is a general-news or Current affairs (news format), current affairs publication that is issued once or twice a week in a wide variety broadsheet, magazine, and electronic publishing, digital formats. Similarly, a biweekly new ...
the ''Sunday Express
The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...
''.[ She moved to Toronto and worked as a researcher on the '']Larry Solway
Lawrence S. "Larry" Solway (13 August 1928 – 9 January 2012) was a Canadian actor and broadcaster.
Career
During the 1960s he hosted radio programmes at CHUM in Toronto such as the early Canadian talk show ''Speak Your Mind''. He left th ...
Show'' for a year before returning to Montreal in 1975.[ In 1975, she joined CBC-TV, first as a researcher and eventually becoming a reporter for ''The City at Six'' which later was renamed Newswatch.][
In 1980 she returned to Concordia to earn her ]MBA
A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...
(Marketing Research, Honours, 1985), while still working as a journalist for CBC-TV and ''Variety''.[ In 1986, she became a reporter/producer for the CBC-TV business show '']Venture
Venture may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
*The Ventures, an American instrumental rock band formed in 1958
*"A Venture", 1971 song by the band Yes
*''Venture'', a 2010 EP by AJR
Games
* ''Venture'' (video game), a 1981 arcade gam ...
''. In 2002–2003, she co-hosted the CBC Newsworld
CBC News Network (formerly CBC Newsworld) is a Canadian English-language specialty news channel owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). It broadcasts into over 10 million homes in Canada. As Canada's first all-news channel, it is th ...
program ''Inside Media'' with Matthew Fraser.
''Toronto Star''
Zerbisias joined the ''Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...
'' as a TV columnist in 1989.[ She was assigned to the Montreal bureau in 1991. In 1993, she returned to Toronto and became a media critic. She won the 1996 National Newspaper Award for critical writing for her columns about magazines; the award noting that Zerbisias "is not one to mince with words as she focuses on the subject matter at hand. She proceeds to give us her insights, analysis and critique not only with rhetorical, stylistic and intellectual rigor, but with gusto and passion, a rare commodity in today's bland politically correct journalism."][ In 1997, she became TV critic and then, in 2003, was appointed media columnist.
Zerbisias' first ]blog
A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...
for the Star, ''Azerbic'
effectively went on hiatus in August 2006 and ceased publishing the following December. She continued as media critic until June 2007, when she became the social issues and cultural affairs columnist at the ''Toronto Star''. In January 2008, she launched a new Star blog, with a focus on feminist issues, called ''Broadsides'
In April 2010, she ended her regular column to become a Feature story, feature writer at the ''Toronto Star''. She took early retirement
Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload.
Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...
from the ''Star'' on 31 October 2014.
Social media
On the day before retiring from ''The Star'', during the controversy over allegations that CBC Radio
CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...
personality Jian Ghomeshi
Jian Ghomeshi (born June 9, 1967) is a British-born Persian-Canadian broadcaster, writer, musician, producer and former CBC personality. From 1990 to 2000, he was a vocalist and drummer in the Thornhill-based folk-pop band Moxy Früvous. In ...
had assaulted half a dozen women, Zerbisias, along with then-Montreal Gazette
The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of th ...
reporter Sue Montgomery, created the hashtag #BeenRapedNeverReported which went viral internationally and was translated into other languages.
Disputes
While focusing on entertainment, media and cultural issues for the bulk of her career Zerbisias has also taken positions in regards to the Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
including the Israeli–Palestinian conflict
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is one of the world's most enduring conflicts, beginning in the mid-20th century. Various attempts have been made to resolve the conflict as part of the Israeli–Palestinian peace process, alongside other ef ...
and the Iraq War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
.[ In 2009, on Twitter, she took issue with former ]Justice Minister
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...
Irwin Cotler
Irwin Cotler, PC, OC, OQ (born May 8, 1940) is a retired Canadian politician who was Member of Parliament for Mount Royal from 1999 to 2015. He served as the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada from 2003 until the Liberal gov ...
who, as a keynote speaker at a Stand With Us event at Israel's Bar-Ilan University, boasted about his children enlisting in the Israeli military
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branc ...
and asked "Which country are you loyal to, sir?" In the same year, she mocked Bernie Farber
Bernie M. Farber (born 1951) is a writer, commentator, and the former chief executive officer of the Canadian Jewish Congress and a social activist. He has testified before the Canadian courts as an expert witness on hate crime.
He was appointe ...
, then CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress
The Canadian Jewish Congress (, , ) was, for more than ninety years, the main advocacy group for the Jewish community in Canada. Regarded by many as the "Parliament of Canadian Jewry," the Congress was at the forefront of the struggle for human r ...
, in her blog for wearing a "Nobody knows I'm gay" T-shirt while marching in Toronto's Pride parade
A pride parade (also known as pride march, pride event, or pride festival) is an outdoor event celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer culture, queer (LGBTQ) social and self-acceptance, achievements, LGBT rights by country o ...
in a protest against the inclusion of Queers Against Israeli Apartheid in the march after he had said that political groups do not belong in the Pride parade. Zerbisias commented on Farber's decision to march as itself being a political act by sardonically writing in the comments thread of her blog, "Imagine my surprise when I saw Bernie Farber identifying himself as queer by joining a pro-Israel gay rights group in the parade." The Canadian Jewish Congress responded by filing a complaint with the ''Toronto Star'' against Zerbisias for allegedly "outing" Farber."I’d like to reply to that Editor’s Note"
Mark Steyn, ''Maclean's Magazine'', 6 May 2010 The ''Stars public editor
A public editor is a position existing at some news publications; the person holding this position is responsible for supervising the implementation of proper journalism ethics at that publication. These responsibilities include identifying and ex ...
, Kathy English, ruled that Zerbisias' comments "fell short of the Star's standards of fairness, accuracy and civility," and promised to rein in journalists who "put the Star in a negative light."[ Readers lamented the Toronto Star's sudden lack of humour and appreciation for one of its own columnists. "Imagine if top-notch cartoonist Theo Moudakis had penned a cartoon expressing the same thing. Would the Star have griped? I think not," suggested a Star reader.]
English acknowledged that her ruling had elicited widespread criticism[ and subsequently modified her assessment and criticized Farber and the Canadian Jewish Congress since in their complaint they did not "think to tell me that arber along with dozens of others who marched with the Kulanu group, had worn a T-shirt that made its own ironic quip. That's context I sure wish I had known" and conceded that Zerbisias' comment "was intended as sarcastic irony, stock in trade for this columnist and blogger. But I think her attempt at irony failed here; the quip – as published without that context – was ambiguous and could be misunderstood",] adding "To be fair to Zerbisias, it should be made clear, though, that she did not 'make things up,' as Farber interpreted it."[
]
References
External links
Zerbisias' columns
in the ''Toronto Star''
Azerbic
– Zerbisias' former blog page at the ''Toronto Star''
"In Your Face"
The Ryerson Review of Journalism (Spring 2006)
Broadsides
– Zerbisias' new blog page at the ''Toronto Star''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zerbisias, Antonia
Canadian columnists
Canadian people of Greek descent
Canadian women journalists
Journalists from Montreal
Writers from Montreal
Living people
Toronto Star people
Canadian women columnists
Canadian women non-fiction writers
Year of birth missing (living people)
Canadian social commentators