The Fifth Estate’s Bob McKeown to Retire

Award-winning journalist and broadcast host Bob McKeown is retiring after 31 years hosting CBC’s investigative program The Fifth Estate.

McKeown will make his final appearance as host in The Fifth Estate’s 50th anniversary special, which will look back at significant investigations over the decades and highlight the program’s role in the Canadian news landscape. The Fifth Estate: 50 Years of Truth will air on November 29 on CBC and CBC Gem.

After graduating from Yale University in 1971, McKeown began his broadcasting career as a freelance sports commentator in his hometown of Ottawa. During that time, he also played for the Canadian Football League’s Ottawa Rough Riders. When he retired from football, he began his full-time career in journalism as a host for local CBC TV and radio news in Ottawa and Montreal. He joined The Fifth Estate in 1981.

In 1990, McKeown joined CBS News in New York for the news magazines Street Stories, America Tonight and 48 Hours, as well as The CBS Evening News. He made international headlines as the first journalist on the ground in a liberated Kuwait City during the Persian Gulf War. When the network briefly switched to the broadcast from another CBS crew, it is reported that the White House and the Pentagon called CBS headquarters to request that McKeown be put back on the air.

Following that, McKeown spent eight years as an NBC news correspondent with Dateline, during which time he reported on September 11 and the Oklahoma City bombing, tracked down war criminals, covered hurricanes and tornadoes, broadcast live from the wreck site of the Titanic and was bitten by a shark on camera.

After his time in the U.S.—including winning two Emmy Awards for outstanding coverage of breaking news—McKeown returned to CBC and The Fifth Estate in 2002. Since then, his work has included investigations into the deadly wreck of the cruise ship Costa Concordia in the Mediterranean; exposing an epidemic of concussions, brain injury and dementia in professional football and hockey; and his Michener Award-nominated work on the sexual charges agains Canadian former fashion mogul Peter Nygard.

Throughout his career, McKeown has reported from more than 80 countries and been recognized with dozens of major journalistic prizes.

“Since I first joined The Fifth Estate, I have been a very fortunate guy,” McKeown said. “Not only for finding my dream job, but working alongside the best and brightest colleagues—Adrienne Clarkson, Eric Malling, Hana Gartner, Linden MacIntyre, Mark Kelley, Gillian Findlay and so many others. And all at a time when investigative journalism has taken on the most crucial issues. Through the changing journalism landscape, The Fifth Estate has remained steadfast in its commitment to uncovering truth, which we now unquestionably need more than ever. And one last thing about my time at The Fifth: The first person that I met on my first day at The Fifth Estate office would become the most important in my life— Sheilagh D’Arcy McGee. This past summer we celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary.”

Brodie Fenlon, general manager and editor-in-chief of CBC News, said, “Throughout his impressive career, Bob’s passion for investigative journalism and dedication to uncovering the truth has earned him the trust and admiration of audiences across Canada and around the world. His work points to the importance of investigative journalism in Canada, and his enduring legacy at The Fifth Estate will no doubt continue to inspire journalists to dig deeper in pursuit of the truth.”