John Doyle (born 1957) is a Canadian writer who is a
television critic
Television criticism is the act of writing or speaking about television programming to evaluate its worth, meaning, and other aspects. Such criticism can be found in daily newspapers, on culture discussion shows (on TV and radio), and in specialis ...
at ''
The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
''.
Early life
John Doyle was born in 1957 in
Nenagh
Nenagh (, ; or simply ''An tAonach'') meaning “The Fair of Ormond” or simply "The Fair", is the county town and second largest town in County Tipperary in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Nenagh used to be a market town, and the site of the ...
, County Tipperary, Ireland, and came to Canada in 1980.
Career
Doyle was first hired by ''The Globe and Mail'' to write for ''Broadcast Week'', the paper's weekly television listings, as a
columnist
A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (newspaper), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the fo ...
. In 2000, he was appointed the newspaper's daily television critic.
[ Doyle also covers soccer for the paper. His writing on soccer has appeared in '']The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', the ECW Press anthology ''Best Canadian Sports Writing'', and the soccer magazine ''Eight by Eight''.
In 2005, Doyle published his first book, the memoir ''A Great Feast of Light: Growing Up Irish in the Television Age'' about his early life in deeply conservative rural Ireland, and the book ''The World is a Ball: The Joy, Madness, and Meaning of Soccer''. Doyle has covered multiple FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
, Euro tournaments, and the FIFA Women's World Cup
The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association ( FIFA), the sport's international governing bo ...
.[
In 2004 he was involved in a public disagreement with Bill O'Reilly, then of ]Fox News
The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
. O'Reilly complained about Doyle's writing on his TV show. An article he published in 2010 argued that the Giller Prize
The Giller Prize (sponsored as the Scotiabank Giller Prize), is a literary award given to a Canadian author of a novel or short story collection published in English (including translation) the previous year, after an annual juried competition be ...
and Gemini Awards
The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in the United States a ...
were elitist. In a 2017 review of ''The Great Canadian Baking Show
''The Great Canadian Baking Show'' is a Canadian cooking competition television series which premiered on CBC Television on November 1, 2017. It is an adaptation of the U.K. series ''The Great British Bake Off'', which is aired in Canada under t ...
'', Doyle called Dan Levy " fey". Levy, and a CBC critic, argued that Doyle's use of the term was homophobic.
Bibliography
*
* [Reviews of ''The World Is a Ball'':
*
*
*
* ]
See also
* List of newspaper columnists
This is a list of notable newspaper columnists. It does not include magazine or electronic columnists.
English-language
Australia
* Phillip Adams (born 1939), ''The Australian''
* Piers Akerman (born 1950), ''The Daily Telegraph''
* Janet Al ...
References
External links
Author page at Random House of Canada
Columns at The Globe and Mail
{{DEFAULTSORT:Doyle, John
1957 births
Canadian television critics
Irish emigrants to Canada
People from Nenagh
Living people
The Globe and Mail columnists
Canadian memoirists