One of the most recognizable personalities in Canadian television, Knowlton Nash inhabits a truly unique space in news and public affairs broadcasting. Nash began his career in journalism at an early age, working in the late 1940s as a copy editor for the wire service British United Press. In three short years, Nash worked in Toronto, Halifax, and later Vancouver, where he assumed the position of writer and bureau chief for the wire service. Soon thereafter, Nash and his young family moved to Washington, D.C. where, after a few years working for the International Federation of Agricultural Producers, he began writing regular copy for the Windsor Star, Financial Post, and Vancouver Sun.

By 1958 Nash had become a regular correspondent for the Washington bureau of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), where in years to come he would interview key heads of state, including a succession of U.S. presidents. For Canadians, Nash became a familiar face abroad during the heady days of the Cuban missile crisis, the war in Vietnam, and the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy. Nash’s international reports in many respects symbolized the growth and reach of the CBC’s news departments around the globe.

In the early 1970s Nash accepted an appointment by the CBC to be head of news and information programming. For many Canadians, Nash is best recognized and most respected for his work as anchor for the CBC’s evening news program The National. In 1978 Nash played a pivotal role in transforming The National into a ratings success for Canada’s public broadcaster. Four years later, Nash and The National solidified its place in the nation’s daily routine when— against all traditions—it moved to the 10:00 P.M. time slot and added an additional half-hour news analysis segment entitled The Journal.

In April 1988, after ten years as anchor, Nash retired from The National. Benefiting from his unmatched wealth of experience in Canadian television journalism, Nash has taken on a number of projects since his so-called retirement. He has periodically anchored the Friday and Saturday broadcasts of The National, as well as the Sunday evening news program Sunday Report. Furthermore, Nash anchors both the CBC educational series News in Review and the highly acclaimed weekly documentary series Witness. On top of his duties in the field of electronic broadcasting and journalism, Nash has written a number of books, some quite controversial, on the history of both private and public-sector broadcasting in Canada.