Thalia Assuras
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__NOTOC__ Thalia Assuras is a Canadian
television journalist Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are broadcast by electronic methods instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. It works on radio (via air, cable, and Internet), television (via air, cable, ...
and
media consultant A media consultant is a marketing agent or public relations executive that is hired by businesses or political candidates to obtain positive press coverage. Media consultants usually draft press releases to highlight positive achievements of a ...
.


Early years

Assuras was born in
London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...
to parents who immigrated from
Tripoli, Greece Tripoli ( el, Τρίπολη, ''Trípoli'', formerly , ''Trípolis''; earlier ''Tripolitsá'') is a city in the central part of the Peloponnese, in Greece. It is the capital of the Peloponnese region as well as of the regional unit of Arcadia ...
, after
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. She attended
London Central Secondary School London Central Secondary School is a public secondary school located at the corner of Dufferin Avenue and Waterloo Street in downtown London, Ontario. It is a member of the Thames Valley District School Board. It has approximately 1000 students i ...
, and remained in London to attend the
University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by resident ...
, pursuing a
Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...
degree. She graduated in 1980, then entered the graduate program in
journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...
and earned her
master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.
in 1981. Twenty-one years later she commented on the impact the journalism program had had on her: :"It's hard to describe my time at Western because it was a phenomenal turning point in my life. I always had these delusions of being a writer and I always overloaded my mind with information and literature. That program just brought things together for me."


Career

Assuras has worked for
CITY-TV CITY-DT (channel 57) is a television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, serving as the flagship station of the Citytv network. It is owned and operated by network parent Rogers Sports & Media alongside Omni Television outlets CFMT-DT (chan ...
and Global Television, including a stint as reporter and weekend anchor for City''Pulse'' from 1985 to 1988. She was the evening anchor at Global TV in 1989. From 1992 to 1993 she worked for CTV, anchoring
Canada AM ''Canada AM'' was a Canadian morning television news show that aired on CTV from 1972 to 2016. Its final hosts were Beverly Thomson and Marci Ien, with Jeff Hutcheson presenting the weather forecast and sports. The program aired on weekdays, and ...
. She then moved to
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
, and in May 1993, joined Aaron Brown as co-anchor of ''
World News Now ''World News Now'' (or WNN) is an American overnight news broadcast seen on ABC. Airing during the early morning hours each Monday through Friday, the program features a mix of general news and off-beat stories, along with weather forecasts, ...
'' and ''
ABC World News This Morning ''America This Morning'' is an American early morning news program, broadcast on ABC on weekday mornings. The newscast is anchored by Andrew Dymburt and Rhiannon Ally, who also serve as anchors of ABC's overnight news program ''World News Now''. ...
''. She shared that anchor desk with
Boyd Matson Boyd Matson (born April 26, 1947) is the former anchor of ''National Geographic Explorer'' and a former co-anchor of NBC's '' Sunday Today'' program. He was also an NBC News correspondent in the 1980s, working mostly on news features and earlier ...
, fellow Canadian Kevin Newman, and Mark Mullen before leaving ABC in January 1997. In 1997 she moved to
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
, first joining
CBS Eye on People Discovery People was an American cable television network. The channel was launched on March 31, 1997 by CBS as CBS Eye on People, and featured news and human interest stories from CBS News. The channel suffered significant losses, in part becaus ...
, a
cable network Networking cables are networking hardware used to connect one network device to other network devices or to connect two or more computers to share devices such as printers or scanners. Different types of network cables, such as coaxial cable, opt ...
that CBS launched in March 1997. She also worked as a national correspondent and later became anchor of the ''
CBS Morning News The ''CBS Morning News'' is an American early-morning news broadcast presented weekdays on the CBS television network. The program features late-breaking news stories, national weather forecasts and sports highlights. Since 2013, it has been an ...
'' in 1998. She then become co-anchor of ''
The Saturday Early Show ''The Early Show'' is an television in the United States, American breakfast television, morning television show that aired on CBS from November 1, 1999 to January 7, 2012, and the ninth attempt at a morning news-talk program by the network sin ...
'' in 1999 and the ''
CBS Evening News The ''CBS Evening News'' is the flagship evening television news program of CBS News, the news division of the CBS television network in the United States. The ''CBS Evening News'' is a daily evening broadcast featuring news reports, feature s ...
Saturday'', also in 1999, alternating with
Russ Mitchell Russell Edward Mitchell (born March 25, 1960) is an American journalist best known for his career at CBS where he was anchor of ''The Early Show'' on Saturday, news anchor for ''The Early Show'' during the week, and weekend anchor of the ''CB ...
. In a June 22, 1998 article in ''
Maclean's ''Maclean's'', founded in 1905, is a Canadian news magazine reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian perspe ...
'', Assuras commented on her reason for moving to the United States, saying "I wanted to live in a different country. And I wanted to work where you have all the tools you need on a story." In July 2009, Assuras left CBS after her contract with it expired. She later anchored ''energyNOW!'', a half-hour weekly TV news-magazine and opinion program produced by the American Clean Skies Foundation; it aired first on
WJLA-TV WJLA-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Washington, D.C., affiliated with ABC. It is one of two flagship stations of Sinclair Broadcast Group (alongside dual Fox/MyNetworkTV affiliate WBFF hannel 45in Baltimore), and is also sister to ...
and later on
Bloomberg Television Bloomberg Television (on-air as Bloomberg) is an American-based pay television network focusing on business and capital market programming, owned by Bloomberg L.P. It is distributed globally, reaching over 310 million homes worldwide. It is head ...
. After ''energyNOW!'', she established a "consulting practice for
strategic planning Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to attain strategic goals. It may also extend to control mechanisms for guiding the implementation of the st ...
,
media relations Media Relations involves working with media for the purpose of informing the public of an organization's mission, policies and practices in a positive, consistent and credible manner. It can also entail developing symbiotic relationships with medi ...
,
crisis management Crisis management is the process by which an organization deals with a disruptive and unexpected event that threatens to harm the organization or its stakeholders. The study of crisis management originated with large-scale industrial and envir ...
, media training and executive coaching."


Awards and activities

Assuras is a founding member of The Next Generation Initiative, a leadership program aimed at getting students involved in public affairs. The Daughters of Penelope recognized Assuras with the "2000 Salute to Women" award. She was awarded the Marie Torre Memorial Award in 2001.


References


External links

*
What to do with a Western degree
an October 1998 article from a UWO website {{DEFAULTSORT:Assuras, Thalia American television reporters and correspondents Canadian expatriate journalists in the United States Canadian television news anchors University of Western Ontario alumni Canadian people of Greek descent Journalists from Ontario People from London, Ontario Living people Canadian women television journalists ABC News people CBS News people CTV Television Network people Year of birth missing (living people)