The Lucknow Sentinel, 1985-07-24, Page 8PIOknow Sentinel, Wednesday, July 24, 1885
•"People really feel the system isn't fair:" Reed
from page 1
CBC. "They made me a nice offer so I took
it. rye been there ever since."
His first six years with the show were,
spent as a producer. In this role, he was
requfred to be the organizer of the
individual segments involved in the show.
After ideas and ingredients are discussed,
a story line is assembled giving the who
and what and where's of the stories.
Interviews are set up and the filming takes
place after which it is edited and put
together . as a story. .
• Being a Co -host on the program was a big
jumpier him, but it seemed normal to be in
front of the cameras after working as a
.producer, says Reed. . .
"It was'a little bit different: There was a
lot more attention focussed on me as a
personality than therewas before. The only
thing I regret, is that I was no longer
anonymous. I had to watch myself more
• carefully," he said.
"Before, I could go anywhere' without
heing 'recognized, but now I/can't go to'
meetings and gatherings without being
recognized. That bothers the."
Diefenbunker • • ,
During his eight years as a to -host, Fteed
has uncovered a number of "scoops" with
the program. One of the highly publitized
stories Reed investigated was the "Diefen-
• bunker" which was• a top . secret military
establishment -built is a fall -out shelter for
government, officials in the case of a
nuclear war. • .
Reed said the facility, located in Carp,
Ontario, was leaked to the press in .a
speech by then Prime Minister Trudeau.
He discovered' that after it became public' .
knowledge no one in the media had asked
. _
the -government to see the facility.
t'We called them up and said' we'd like
to .bring otir cameras in. SinCe it .Was no
• seCret.anymore, they said 'fine, come on
down'. They were very Co-operatiVe.", he:
said.
• After he had seen the insides of the
fall -out .shelter, 'he came to the Conclusion
that it. was "basically a waste of money".
• "It doesn't serve much use now except
as..a storage area. They had vaults for gold.
. .
•
What would they do with geld after a
•nuclear war," he said.
Although most of the stories are of a
serous hard -news nature, some of the
steriejs take on• greater emotion than
others. One such story that went beyond
mere reporting for Mr. Reed was the
• question of disability pensions for war
veterans. The story was of special
significance to Mr. Reed since his uncle
was killed in the war.
War veterans, who had had limbs shot
off during the war, at 17, were finding that
these limbs were resulting in shoulder and
back problems at 50 years of age, making it
impossible for them to hold down a job.
The Canadian pension commission had a
program called the incapacity allowance for
veterans who were in this position and
needed some income supplement.
According to Reed, veterans who were
applying to this program which would add
between $25 to $100 to their incomes, were
hitting a wall of bureaucracy to get the
supplement. Veterans would have to wait
for months in order for their application to
he processed, after which they would have
• to appear before a hearing and justify why
• it was needed. Reed said few veterans
were prepared to go through all the red
tape in order to get the extra money.
Honourary Member
• W5, with Reed as the reporter, went to
• bat for the veterans. They presented the
side of the veterans and made recom-
mendations of how the red tape. could be
eliminated, • which were accepted by
George Hees, Minister of Veterans Affairs
• in Ottawa. Because of the story and W5's
part in getting the incapacity allowance
changed; the War Amps Society of Canada
made Reed an honourary member.
"The fact that War Amps recognized us
was quite an 'honour for me. It proves that
if we keep at it we can make ehanges,"- he
said, • . •
However, journalism was not inn Reed's
Chosen field from the beginning. After
graduating from high school in Lucknow,
he went to the University of Western
Ontario.- After two years in the honours.
English program, he dropped out and
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; •
When Jim Reed's not travelling around' the world doing assignments for CTV's W5
prop -all, he loves to relax by doing some gardening at his Dungannon area home during
• the summer months. ••. •(Photo by Alan Rivett)
began working as an assistant stage
manager for the stumner with a theatre
group called the Strawhat. Players. The
• group consisted of two companies located
in Port Carling and Peterborough. Each
weekend the scenery Would be loaded in
trucks and transferred to one of the two
,locations. "It was a long ride over the rural
roads. •We got lost a few times," he
recalled. •"
in: 1959, he joined the Canadian Players
theatre Company which is a° road show
"loosely associated" with Stratford Thea-
tre. There, he also worked as an assistant
• stage manager.
• After two seasons with the Canadian
Players, he and Mark Furness, the stage
manager of the Canadian players, opened
the'Speakeasy Theatre on 'Queen Street in
Toronto: However, after one season the
theatre went bankrupt. " '•
Reed's first taste 'of T.V. carne after the
• demise of, the theatre when he began
•working for C.K.N.X T.V. in Wingham as
a producer and a director fel' eight months
between 1961 and 1962. With an interest in
•television established,' he jellied a tree -
lance camera crew for six months doing
documentaries, He said it was a chance to
"learn the ropes of film" by doing jobs like
loading and unloading cameras.
Studio Director
In 1963, his experience in television
landed him a job as a studio director at the
CBO in Toronto. The most rewarding parts
of the job were learning how to be a good
organizer as well as getting along with
people. Soon after, he became a producer
at CBC, working on public affairs shows
such as Take 30, Man Alive and This Hour
' has Seven Days. •
After a year in Toronto, he transferred to'
• Montreal to work at the CBC. There, he ,
stayed with fa French family to learn the
language aS well as teaching their son
English. One of the ironies at working at
the CBC in Montreal was that no one at the
station was bilingtral,rile said he also'
experienced first hand`at the network, the
• dislike that existed between the French
and English.
"The English were always pitting down
their French colleagues. There, I saw the
• whole reason "for the French Separatist
movement because the English community
• was' so arrogant. Quebec was inferior to
them. I saw it in areally graphic way,"
said Reed. . •
He returned to the CBC in Toronto to
Work in the news department. However, he
eventually became disillusioned withthe
job and decided to resign froth the CBC in
• 1966 to travel. After a year travelling to
places . such as Africa and Scotland, he
returned to Canada and enrolled in McGill
University in Montreal, taking Chinese
studies, history, geography and econom-
ics. During this time, Reed freelanced at
T. V. stations to pay for University.
Palestinians
Reed says his real introduction to tele-
vision journalism occurred after landing a
job as a field producer at the CBC public
• affairs show, The Way It Ls. He received
his first journalism assignment in 1968
•when he and Patrick VV atson joined forces
to producea documentary called Palestin-
ians. He said it was the first time anybody
really looked at the Palistinian view of the
middle -east. conflict. •
"It was their story," said Reed. "We
put it together and didn't have any
prejudices although we did know about the
Israelis and Arabs. Rightly or wrongly, the
Palistinians were badly treated. Their sit-
uation had to be -dealt With... It was also
the, only interview anyone ever did with
Yasser Arafat (PLO leader)." •
• The pingram and the documentary, said
Reed, proved to be the stepping stone that
launched his journalism career, first as a
freelance journalist in South America and
later on W5.
One thing that Reed is proud of is his
reputation with the show as a champion Of
the underdog. - If he has learned one thing
from doing the show it's that thettlare a lot
of people with a lot of gripes.
"There are a lot of people getting hurt by
the system. That's why I think that, action
lines and, columns in newspapers are so
important. People really feel that the
system. isn't fair and they're probably
right. It's not perfect," he said.
He said they receive 'hundreds of letteis
every week from people asking the show
for help to deal with bureaucratic problems
but most of them can't be dealt with.
The show is in repeats over the sununer
with the new series of shows set to begin in
late September. Reed says with all the
travelling that's required, he rarely sees
his co -hosts Helen Hutehinson; Dennis
Macintosh and Bill Cunningham. The only
time they will be together is the actual
taping of the shows. Fteed says he has a lot
of respect for his colleagues on the show.
In his eight years with the show, he has
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