Quick Facts
Biography
Steve Paikin OC OOnt (born June 9, 1960) is a Canadian journalist, author, and documentary producer. Paikin has primarily worked for TVOntario (TVO), Ontario's public broadcaster, and is currently anchor of TVO's flagship current affairs program The Agenda with Steve Paikin.
Early life and education
A native of Hamilton, Ontario, Paikin received his bachelor of arts degree from the University of Toronto (Victoria University, Toronto 1981) and his master's degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University. He served as sports editor for the University of Toronto's independent weekly, The Newspaper, while pursuing his BA, and was the play-by-play voice of the Varsity Blues hockey and football teams on U of T Radio.
Career
Paikin was previously an anchor and Queen's Park correspondent for CBC Television's Toronto station CBLT-TV, and host of a daily news and current affairs program on CBC Newsworld. He also held reporting jobs in private radio and print media, including the Hamilton Spectator and Toronto radio station CHFI, where he was Toronto City Hall reporter from 1982–85.
In 1992 Paikin began work at TVO, hosting the political series Between the Lines until 1994. He also co-created the Queen's Park magazine Fourth Reading, which he hosted for 14 years. In 1994, Paikin began co-hosting duties (with Mary Hynes for two years, and then Paula Todd) on Studio 2 until 2006. In 1998 he co-created and began hosting Diplomatic Immunity, a weekly foreign affairs commentary show.
Paikin was selected to be the moderator of six election debates: for the 2006, 2008, and 2011 federal leaders debates, and for the 2007, 2011, and 2014 Ontario provincial leaders debates.
In 2006 TVO cancelled Studio 2 replacing it with a new program, The Agenda with Steve Paikin.
Aside from his hosting and journalistic endeavors, Paikin has produced a number of feature-length documentaries: Return to the Warsaw Ghetto, A Main Street Man, Balkan Madness, Teachers, Tories and Turmoil and Chairman of the Board: The Life and Death of John Robarts. For 1993's Return to the Warsaw Ghetto, Paikin won the "Silver Screen Award" at the U.S. International Film and Video Festival, as well as receiving awards at the Yorkton Film Festival in Saskatchewan and at China's Shanghai Film Festival.
He holds honorary doctorates from McMaster University, Victoria University, Laurentian University and an honorary diploma from Humber College.
In February 2012, Paikin was named the Queen's Park journalist with the most Twitter influence in a study conducted by PR agency Hill+Knowlton Strategies.
He was appointed chancellor of Laurentian University in Sudbury in October 2013. In December 2013, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada and invested into the Order of Ontario.
Personal life
He is married to Canadian health care consultant Francesca Grosso, author of Navigating Canada's Health Care System, and is a cousin to the late Dr. Harry Paikin, a former Hamilton school trustee for 30 years.
| Other offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Trina McQueen | moderator of the English-language federal leaders' debates 2006–2011 | Succeeded by incumbent |
Publications
- The Life: The Seductive Call of Politics (ISBN 0-670-89223-8)
- The Dark Side: The Personal Price of a Political Life (ISBN 0-670-04328-1)
- Public Triumph, Private Tragedy: The Double Life of John P. Robarts (Viking, 2005) (ISBN 0-670-04329-X)
- The New Game: How Hockey Saved Itself (ISBN 0-670-06560-9)
- Paikin and the Premiers: Personal Reflections on a Half Century of Ontario Leaders, Dundurn 2013 (ISBN 978-1-45970-958-4)
- I am a Victor: The Mordechai Ronen Story. (Dundurn Press, 2015).
- Bill Davis: Nation Builder, and Not So Bland After All (Dundurn Press, 2016)