We were honored to meet Ginella Massa, host of CBC’s Canada Tonight. Ginella is a renowned journalist with over a decade of experience hosting news programs. In 2015, Ginella made history as the first hijab-wearing television news reporter in North America when she was hired as a Video Journalist for CTV News in Kitchener, Ontario, and continued on to become the anchor of the nightly program at CityNews Toronto in 2016.
During our meeting with Ginella, she spoke about her lived experiences as a visibly Muslim journalist and Afro-Latina, and the lessons she has learned along the way. We also learned more about the behind-the-scenes orchestration of CBC’s Canada Tonight, interview preparation for high-profile guests, and how she uses social media to connect to younger viewers.
She urged us to approach our careers with confidence, reminding us that “perfection is the enemy of good”, and the only way to improve and grow as a journalist is by focusing on the accuracy and validity of news.
Ginella exuded passion throughout the meeting as she recounted notable moments in her career and demonstrated her resolve in pushing for more equity and representation in Canadian journalism. She added that we need newsrooms to reflect the diversity we see in Canada, and we need to push for those changes on all fronts.
With aspiring journalists in our OLIP cohort, we found ourselves excited and inspired after hearing Ginella’s words of advice and support. Thank you for taking the time to speak with us, Ginella. We are grateful for this wonderful and insightful conversation!