Dueck calls it a career

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This article was published 09/05/2020 (2304 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In 1994, some friends who worked in church-related communications and journalism gathered in a Winnipeg restaurant to say farewell to local journalist Lorna Dueck.

Dueck was moving to Toronto to take up a new job at Crossroads Communications as co-host of 100 Huntley St., Canada’s long-running Christian TV talk show.

Twenty-six years later, Dueck, 60, has retired as CEO of Crossroads, which describes itself as Canada’s leading provider of faith and values content, and of Yes! TV, a commercial TV station dedicated to providing positive family-friendly entertainment.

It was a long and winding road for Dueck, who started her journalism career in 1977 as the first female news reporter at Golden West radio in Altona.

She went on from there to work in radio in Boissevain and Winnipeg before going to CKX TV in Brandon. After that she and her husband, Vern, moved to Saskatchewan, where she was a freelance religion writer for the Saskatoon Star Phoenix before returning to Manitoba and filing faith stories to the Free Press.

It was “a big jump,” she says of going from being a freelance writer to being co-host of a live TV show.

After co-hosting 100 Huntley St. for eight years , she left to start her own current affairs show from a faith angle, titled Context with Lorna Dueck. This included moving into rented office space in the CBC headquarters in downtown Toronto so faith could be at the heart of that national media universe.

In 2016, she was named CEO of the entire Crossroad’s operation. Over the past four years her goal was to help it achieve financial stability and set a course for growth.

“It’s been a long and interesting journey,” she says. “Always moving. God kept opening doors.”

Although the journey took her from small-town Manitoba to the CEO’s office in Ontario, one thing never changed.

“Ever since my first job at Golden West, I’ve always loved telling stories,” she says. “Thank you to all those people who granted me an interview.”

Over her career, her interests included hearing how people encountered God in the world, how their faith shaped the way they approached various issues, and the impact faith has on things like politics, economics, international affairs, ethics, health, culture and more.

As for the larger topic of faith and the media, Dueck says it is poorly represented by the mainstream media in Canada.

“I have an issue with how the mainstream media shows what religion is like,” she says. From the way it is depicted many times, she isn’t surprised why many people “don’t see a lot to like in it.”

She also laments the loss of the local religion beat in Canada’s daily newspapers — except for the Free Press.

“The religious voice is lost in the mainstream media,” she says.

Dueck believes this is unfortunate; she thinks there is an appetite for more religion coverage among Canadians. For example, a survey by Abacus Data found 17 per cent of Canadians, or about 6.3 million people, watched or participated in an online worship service the weekend of April 18-19.

A highlight of her career was working with and mentoring young people interested in journalism. And what advice would she give to younger people who want to become journalists?

“Learn all aspects of the trade,” she says. “Gone are the days of only knowing print, radio or TV.”

Also, “be gracious to those you meet and interview, and always look to find the heart of the story. What is stirring in the people you interview? What are the pain points, the joy points?”

Another key for her is to “look to tell the stories that don’t get told.” And finally, “always write and report to make the world a kinder place.”

In announcing her retirement, the Crossroads’ board said she has led the organization “to a place of stability and flourishing.”

About her contribution to Christian journalism, John Stackhouse, a professor of religious studies at New Brunswick’s Crandall University, calls her “one of the best representatives in the country for evangelical Christianity.”

Looking ahead, Dueck intends to dedicate energy and time to finding a cure for Parkinson’s disease. “There is a new assignment ahead of me as my husband Vern, and I would like to navigate the journey of his Parkinson’s disease,” she says.

“Manitoba was a wonderful place to start my career,” she says looking back. “It was a great growing ground.”

faith@freepress.mb.ca

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