Bruce campion smith biography

The Toronto Star has tapped award-winning journalist Bruce Campion-Smith to run the newspaper’s editorial board after two years as public editor.

Donovan Vincent, an award-winning journalist who most recently served as a reporter on the Star’s housing team, will become the new public editor.

“These are two exceptionally important positions — and these two are the right ones for the roles,” said Jordan Bitove, publisher and co-owner of Torstar Corp.

Before becoming the Star’s public editor, Campion-Smith spent 17 years reporting in Ottawa, where he covered federal politics and policy on Parliament Hill. Over the course of his career, he’s travelled with prime ministers to global summits, covered five federal elections and reported from the White House and on conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

His reporting has resulted in several awards and nominations, including the Ross Munro Award from the Canadian Global Affairs Institute in 2005 and a nomination for a National Newspaper Awards in the category of editorial writing in 2002.

Having once served on the Star’s editorial board before, Campion-Smith said he’s “delighted to be going back and especially honoured to take on the new role.”

“The editorial pages have long given voice to the progressive values that are at the heart of the Star. My goal is to build on that legacy and ensure these spaces continue to advocate for social justice issues,” said Campion-Smith.

Campion-Smith said he will focus on local, Toronto-specific issues as the head of the editorial board.

“The Star is Toronto’s paper … the issues that affect the residents of Toronto and the broader Greater Toronto Area are critical and will be a focus,” he said.

“These range from racial justice, income and social inequality to affordable housing, transportation and transit and climate change. The municipal election this fall will provide a focus for all those.”

As the Star’s new public editor, Vincent said he hopes to help “dispel” distrust in media by ensuring Star stories “meet the highest standards of accuracy and fairness and that the motives behind the stories we pursue are ethically sound.”

“I’ve always been keenly aware of and fascinated by the public editor’s role at the Toronto Star,” he said. “I think it’s one that’s vitally important given the times we live in — when public cynicism and distrust of journalists and the media are at an all-time high.”

With more than three decades of experience at the Star, Vincent’s coverage has ranged from crime and justice to municipal politics, having covered city hall during then-mayor David Miller’s time in office. He studied journalism at Toronto Metropolitan University (previously known as Ryerson University) before joining the Star.

His coverage received a Michener Award in 1998 and National Newspaper Award in 1996.

Campion-Smith will fill the position previously occupied by Andrew Phillips, who ran the Star’s editorial board for more than a decade and will begin writing columns for the Star next fall.

Before his appointment to the Star’s editorial pages in 2011, he was editor of the Victoria Times Colonist and the Montreal Gazette. Phillips has also written and edited for CBC Television News and Maclean’s. He studied history and economics from McGill University and taught journalism at Concordia University.