Madeline Ziniak,
Vice President and Executive Producer of CFMT-TV, chosen to
receive the 2001 Global Television Network/Canadian Women in
Communication (CWC) Management Development for Women Award,
was asked at an interview in 1980, how many hours would she be
able to devote to Journalism along with her family
responsibilities. This question is illegal today. But Ms
Ziniak’s answer was frank and forthright, that “Journalism
is a way of life.” And she meant it.
Madeline’s
schedule is her commitment, and that is the secret of her
success. Her family has always been supportive of her
commitments and responsibilities, not only as the
Vice-President and Executive Producer of the CFMT-TV, but also
of her other public roles like the
Executive Director(1992-present) Canadian Ethnic
Journalists and Writers Club(CEJWC) and
various other Committees on Racial or societal Trends
and Issues or Councils on Family Violence etc. And Ms Ziniak
has made her mark all along the way by winning a number of
honours and awards.
When
I congratulated her recently on winning the prestigious 2001
Award, she, very modestly, observed that it had been initiated
with the specific purpose of providing the women with an
opportunity to learn more about broadcasting through seminars
in association with the National Association of Broadcasters.
This, she said, would enable them to have a proper look at the
broadcasting environment and to see, through the seminars, as
to where the business of broadcasting is going.
This business of
broadcasting takes us directly
to 2000 AD, when Ms. Ziniak made history by pledging
annual donation of multilingual/multicultural television
programming to the National Archives of Canada. It was the
first time that such a sizeable donation of heritage(
non-official) language material was
committed to the Archives by a private broadcaster. Ms
Ziniak had
observed “CFMT-TV is honoured to contribute broadcast
documentation of the ethno-cultural perspective…..We are
pleased to make these examples of diversity television
available to the public as important
manifestation of our identity.”
CFMT-TV’s donation of
diversity television programming represents a cross-section of
Canada’s multicultural communities, and consists of
productions of national
significance. Again, it is because of her efforts that CFMT-TV,
Canada’s first multilingual/multicultural television system,
and the first such broadcaster was named Television Station of
the Year by the Ontario Association of Broadcasters. It is the
leading provider of ethno-cultural programming. It broadcasts
60% of its programming in 16 languages to communities
encompassing more than 18 cultures.
I was so intrigued that
I could
not help asking her, and very bluntly
too, as to how she
had managed to get so deeply interested in the language and
culture of the non-white communities in Canada. She said she
was born in Toronto. Her parents had emigrated from Russia in
1949. Her father, a dissident
writer in the country of his origin, initiated
a paper titled "Byelorussian Voice". He was the Editor
and Publisher of this paper from 1949 till his death in 1992.
“ He is the father of the
Canadian Ethnic Journalists’ Club,” she said, and “I am
the Executive Director of this club.”
She said she had helped her father in the lay out of
the paper, which started to deal with the issues of importance
to the immigrants, because the traditional and established
media was not touching upon these issues. “ I have always
been involved with ethnic and cultural media; and I have been
learning throughout my career in journalism for about 25 years,”
she said.
Back in 1979, she reminisces,
it was not trendy to talk about the multicultural or
multilingual aspects of the society, but she steered on,
consistently and steadfastly, winning several honours like the
Ontario Programming Award for Innovation and Excellence,
Ethnicity, in spring,1987; Excellence in Journalism, Ministry
of Citizenship and Culture, Reaction, March1987; League for
Human Rights of B’nai Canadian Cable Television Birth
of Canada, Ethnicity, 1985; and
Canadian Cable Television Association Award, Ministry
of Citizenship and Culture 1983, for promoting the ethnic
diversity of Ontario through mass media.
Madeline Ziniak
had made her mark as a
producer/director with
Rogers Cable 10 before she joined the CFMT-TV. “I
started my career at the Rogers Community channel, and that
was the first time they started looking at ethno-cultural
realities.” And then, in 1986, Rogers purchased CFMT-TV and
she became the
Vice-President and Executive-Producer of Canada’s first
Multi-lingual/Multicultural Television System (CFMT-TV). Thus
she holds the executive level position of responsibility for
television production and programming decisions in a
commercial, multilingual/ multicultural broadcast environment.
By succeeding at the executive
level in this highly specialised field, coveted by quite a few
male aspirants, Madeline has become a role model to serve the
cause of diverse communities with unique needs and
expectations. She has established a standard of professional
excellence for women in this field. She says, “ We have been
targeting the anti-violence messages in 16 languages.”
Needless to say though, that she has been the proud
recipient of several awards both at the provincial and
national level. The most outstanding ones include:
- Baisakhi
2000, Sikh Centennial Foundation”. In recognition
of SEWA/ Service—Leadership Excellence.
- Macedonian
Heritage (2000); “ For her great contribution to
Canadian Multiculturism.”
- Lt.
Governor’s Gold Medal (1995) for Print and Electronic
Media. Human Rights, and Race Relations
As Ms Ziniak’s position
involves direct, personal, interaction with a diversity of
ethno-cultural communities, who, more often than not , are
rather averse to dealing with women in leadership roles—she
has to deal with the adverse perception
and reactions of various interest groups in her
everyday decisions. But she says, “ I am always trying to be
able to share experience and come back with new information.”
And then I asked her about her
target. She said, she has been trying to get a licence for
another station at Vancouver, a multilingual/ multicultural
centre like the CFMT-TV in Toronto, but the request has been
turned down twice. Now, it is the third time in 8 years that
they we have applied for the licence. The CRTC has not taken a
decision yet. The decision is expected this fall.
“ I feel it is the right of every individual to have
information in the language of his/her comfort. And for this,”
she goes on, “Women have to perform better…They can bring
quality, not only to management, but also to media where
others may not be available.”
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