Tom Clark (born 1952/1953) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

former television journalist. A longtime reporter and anchor for '' CTV National News'' and CTV News Channel, he moved to

Global News Global News is the news and current affairs division of the Canadian Global Television Network. The network is owned by Corus Entertainment, which oversees all of the network's national news programming as well as local news on its 21 owned- ...

in 2011 before retiring from journalism in 2016. Currently, he serves as Chair, Public Affairs and Communications at Global Public Affairs.

Personal

Clark was born in the early 1950s (1952 or 1953) to Joseph Adair Porter Clark and Patricia Grant, and raised in

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 ...

. He graduated from

Upper Canada College Upper Canada College (UCC) is an elite, all-boys, private school in Toronto, Ontario, operating under the International Baccalaureate program. The college is widely described as the country's most prestigious preparatory school, and has produce ...

in 1971. He is fluent in both English and French. Clark attended

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning Wo ...

to study journalism, but left for a news job 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 ...

. Clark comes from a family of journalists: * great-grandfather Joseph Thomas Clark was managing editor of 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 ...

'' and '' Saturday Night'' * grandfather Joseph William Greig Clark (1896–1956) RAF aviator and reporter for the ''Toronto Star'' * father Joseph Adair Porter Clark (1921–2013) was the founder, CEO and President of

Canada NewsWire CNW Group Ltd., also called Canada Newswire and CNW, is a commercial press release service owned by Cision. Cision Distribution services in Canada are powered by Canada Newswire. The service is offered stand-alone or as part of its flagshiCision ...

* great-uncle Gregory Clark (1892–1977) was an acclaimed writer and journalist with both the ''Toronto Star'' and the ''

Toronto Telegram ''The Toronto Evening Telegram'' was a conservative, broadsheet afternoon newspaper published in Toronto from 1876 to 1971. It had a reputation for supporting the Conservative Party at the federal and the provincial levels. The paper competed w ...

'' * uncle James Murray Clark (son of Greg) was also a reporter with the Star (d. 1944) Besides journalism, Clark is a licensed pilot and flies a floatplane.

Career

Clark served as CTV's

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Bureau Chief in the early 1980s. He was among the first to cover the

Ethiopian famine Famines in Ethiopia have occurred periodically throughout the history of the country, which was formerly known as Abyssinia. The economy was based on subsistence agriculture, with an aristocracy that consumed the surplus. Due to a number of caus ...

in 1984, was in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

in 1989 to witness the fall of the wall, and was the only Canadian reporter in

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

when

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

launched aerial war against

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

in 1999. In all, Clark has covered six theatres of war. He was the first Canadian journalist to ever interview

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

one on one on television. He also hosted, and served as senior correspondent on CTV's ''

W-FIVE ''W5'' is a Canadian news magazine television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the m ...

'' for eight years, and hosted the political news show ''

Power Play Power play or powerplay or their plurals may refer to: Sports * Power play (sporting term), a sporting term used in various games * Powerplay (cricket), a rule concerning fielding restrictions in one-day international cricket * Power play (cur ...

'' on CTV News Channel. On September 7, 2010, CTV announced Clark was leaving the network to pursue other opportunities. He had been considered one of the frontrunners to succeed

Lloyd Robertson Lloyd Robertson (born January 19, 1934) is a Canadian journalist and former news anchor who is special correspondent on CTV's weekly magazine series, '' W5''. Robertson served as the chief anchor and senior editor of CTV's national evening new ...

as ''CTV National News'' anchor; with his departure coming shortly after Lisa LaFlamme was named Robertson's successor, it was widely speculated that Clark's departure was tied to having been passed over. However, Clark later said that he was "neither angry nor bitter" about the choice of LaFlamme, and that CTV decided to buy out his contract. On September 1, 2011, Clark was appointed chief political correspondent for Global Television Network. In this role he was the inaugural host of the network's Sunday morning political talk show ''

The West Block ''The West Block'' is a Canadian news and political affairs television series that debuted on November 6, 2011 on the Global Television Network.Global News Global News is the news and current affairs division of the Canadian Global Television Network. The network is owned by Corus Entertainment, which oversees all of the network's national news programming as well as local news on its 21 owned- ...

announced Clark would retire as of January 1, 2017, ending his 40-plus year career in journalism. On January 9, 2017 Clark joined Global Public Affairs, Canada's largest privately owned public affairs firm, as its Chair of Public Affairs and Communications.

References

Sources

GlobalNews.ca biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Tom 1950s births Upper Canada College alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Canadian male journalists Canadian television news anchors Journalists from Toronto Place of birth missing (living people) Carleton University alumni Global Television Network people Canadian political journalists CTV Television Network people 20th-century Canadian journalists 21st-century Canadian journalists