Keith Morrison (born July 2, 1947) is a Canadian broadcast journalist. Since 1995, he has been a correspondent for '' Dateline NBC''.

Career

Seabees interviewed by 'Dateline' 130502-N-HF729-001

Beginning his career in the 1960s, Morrison was a reporter and anchor at local stations in

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, British Columbia, and

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Ontario. He joined CTV's '' Canada AM'' in 1973 as a newsreader and also worked as a reporter and weekend anchor as well as a producer. As a reporter at CTV, he won awards for his coverage of the

Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egy ...

. From 1975 to 1976, he was a reporter on ''

CTV National News ''CTV National News'' is the flagship newscast of CTV News, the news division of the CTV Television Network, which airs at 11:00 pm local time on the CTV stations across Canada, and is produced from CTV's facilities at 9 Channel Nine Court in Sca ...

'' and served as National Affairs Correspondent and substitute anchor on the show from 1976 to 1979. Morrison joined 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. ...

in 1982 as substitute anchor and Chief Political Correspondent for '' The Journal'', the network's nightly public affairs program, remaining until 1986. He also co-hosted '' Midday'', the network's noon-hour newsmagazine that he helped to create, from 1984 to 1985. He moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

in 1986 as the 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. news anchor for KNBC-TV. In 1988 he joined

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...

as a west coast correspondent for the '' NBC Nightly News'' and '' Today Show''. Morrison covered the

Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...

and later contributed highly acclaimed hour-long documentaries and magazine segments to various NBC programs while concurrently continuing as KNBC's anchor. Morrison returned to Canada in 1992 to become co-anchor of the leading national morning news program, ''Canada AM'' on CTV. He also hosted '' The Editors'' on PBS. He was the substitute anchor for ''

'' and the heir apparent to anchor Lloyd Robertson until 1995, when he was ousted in a network shakeup. It was believed at the time that he was campaigning to replace Robertson. While at ''Canada AM'', then Prime Minister

Brian Mulroney Martin Brian Mulroney ( ; born March 20, 1939) is a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993. Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studied political sci ...

cancelled a live appearance after Morrison jokingly referred to him earlier in the show as "whatshisname". Morrison returned to NBC in 1995 as a correspondent for Dateline NBC, his position as of 2021. Morrison appeared as a newscaster in an episode of ''

Seinfeld ''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld. It aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, over nine seasons and List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It stars Seinfeld as Jerry Seinfeld ( ...

'', " The Trip". In the episode, he reported the arrest of Kramer as a serial killer. Morrison's interviews on Dateline have kept audiences watching and attracted the attention of comedians as well. ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

'' created a sketch with him as the central figure played by Bill Hader on November 22, 2008. And on an episode of ''

Late Night with Seth Meyers ''Late Night with Seth Meyers'' is an American late-night news and political satire talk show hosted by Seth Meyers on NBC. The show premiered on February 24, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. Airing weeknights a ...

'' that aired on July 9, 2014, Morrison appears as himself, parodying his characteristic dramatic delivery of real-life murder mysteries that he is known for on ''Dateline.''

Personal life

In 1981, Morrison married Suzanne (née Langford) Perry, a writer, consultant, one-time news anchor, and political fundraiser who was also Press Secretary to Canadian Prime Minister

Pierre Trudeau Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau ( , ; October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000), also referred to by his initials PET, was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada The prime mini ...

. He and Perry have children: Caitlin (born 1981), Emily (born 1985), Willy (born 1987), and Madeleine (born 1989). Morrison also has a son, Michael (born 1974), from a previous marriage. He is also the stepfather of actor Matthew Perry .

Parodies

Morrison's reporting style has been parodied on ''

'' by cast member Bill Hader. On the March 30, 2009, episode of ''

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon ''Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by comedian Jimmy Fallon. About pag ...

'', Hader, referencing the fact that Morrison works in

30 Rockefeller Plaza 30 Rockefeller Plaza (officially the Comcast Building; formerly RCA Building and GE Building) is a skyscraper that forms the centerpiece of Rockefeller Center in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Completed in 1933, the 66 ...

, where both ''Dateline NBC'' and ''Saturday Night Live'' are produced, jokingly stated that he lived in fear of getting into the same elevator as Morrison. The two actually would meet during a Hader interview on '' Weekend Today''. "I can't give him pointers, he's the master," Hader said. "I don't know how you get better than Keith Morrison."

Notes

External links

NBC News biography
*
Anchor away: Journalist Keith Morrison has found success south of the border
from the ''Saskatoon Star-Phoenix'', July 2, 2003 {{DEFAULTSORT:Morrison, Keith 1947 births Living people Canadian expatriate journalists in the United States Canadian television news anchors Canadian television reporters and correspondents CBC Television people CTV Television Network people Journalists from Saskatchewan NBC News people People from Lloydminster Television anchors from Los Angeles 20th-century Canadian journalists 21st-century Canadian journalists