Dawna Friesen

Dawna Friesen is a Canadian television journalist, currently the chief anchor and executive editor of Global National.[1] She was previously a foreign correspondent for NBC News.

Dawna Friesen
BornOctober 8, 1964
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
StatusGlobal National anchor and executive anchor
(2010–present)
EducationRed River College
OccupationNews anchor
Years active1985–present
Notable credit(s)
CTV NewsNet anchor
(1997–1999)
NBC News foreign correspondent
(1999–2010)
Global National anchor and executive editor
(2010–present)
TitleNews anchor and executive editor of Global National
Spouse(s)Tom Kennedy (? – 2018)
Rick Anderson (2018–)
Children1

Career

She started reading news at a hybrid television and radio station in Brandon, Manitoba, in 1985[1][2] and from there went on to report for other stations in Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Calgary, Vancouver, and Toronto.[1]

By the late 1990s she was recruited by national networks in Canada and the US and joined NBC News.[2] While at NBC, Friesen covered stories out of London as well as the Middle East, including the Israeli Palestinian conflict and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the kidnapping and murder of The Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Karachi.[3] She won an Emmy for her part in NBC's coverage of Barack Obama election as US President.[2]

In 2010 Friesen joined Global News as their Global National anchor, succeeding Kevin Newman.[1] Friesen was third full-time female news anchor to lead a nightly newscast in Canada, after Sophie Thibault in 2002 and Céline Galipeau in 2009, and the first in English Canada.[4][5] In 2011 she won the Gemini Award for best news anchor.[6]

Personal life

Friesen was raised on a farm west of Winnipeg; her parents were nonobservant Mennonites. Her father had her work on the farm, and she learned how to drive a tractor when she was six. Her mother was active in local politics. She moved with her family to St. Albert, Alberta and graduated from Paul Kane High School in 1981. She then moved back to Manitoba to attend Red River College and worked as a waitress when she was young. Friesen graduated from RRC's Creative Communications program in 1984, and began her journalism career working in Brandon, Saskatoon, Thunder Bay and Winnipeg. She re-married on July 28, 2018, to Rick Anderson after she divorced Tom Kennedy.[1]

Both of her parents developed dementia, and in 2014 Friesen was featured in a 16×9 program about dementia and how families cope with it.[7]

Awards

References
  1. L. Scrivener, Dawna Friesen: From shy prairie girl to Global News anchor. Toronto Star, September 20, 2010.
  2. "Dawna Friesen named new Global National anchor". GlobalNational.com. July 13, 2010.
  3. Dawna Friesen: NBC News Correspondent. NBC News. Retrieved December 12, 2014
  4. Halfnight, Drew (July 13, 2010). "Dawna Friesen to replace Global National's Kevin Newman: 'My gender is just a non-issue for me'". National Post. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
  5. Chung, Andrew (July 15, 2010). "Quebec asks: Why the fuss?". Toronto Star. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
  6. "26th Annual Gemini Awards Culminate with Star-Studded Broadcast Gala" (PDF). Press release. Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. September 7, 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 17, 2012.
  7. Spicer, Roxana (August 13, 2014). "16X9: Inside the world of dementia, as a painful reality sets in". Global News. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
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