As a journalist for CBC Radio, Peter Stursberg (1913-2014) became famous as the voice of the frontline. With the help of a mobile recording truck, Stursberg reported on the Canadian invasion of Sicily, the liberation of Holland and the Allied entry into a devastated Berlin. His on-the-ground reportage helped Canadians understand the human and political cost of the carnage unfolding overseas.
In honour of his contribution to Canadian journalism – and to Canadian history – Carleton University’s School of Journalism and Communication has established both the Peter Stursberg Foreign Correspondents Lecture and the Peter Stursberg Award in Conflict Journalism and Media Studies.
Through the generosity of his children, Richard Stursberg and Judith Lawrie, the lecture and award will honour the legacy of this adventurous and prolific journalist who was Canada’s last living war correspondent from the Second World War.
Each year, the Peter Stursberg Foreign Correspondents Lecture will showcase the world’s most influential foreign correspondents. The 2017 inaugural lecture was delivered by BBC Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet at the Canadian War Museum, which is partnering with the School on the lecture.
Alister Fraser, Ross Munro (Canadian Press), Dave McLellan, Peter Stursberg – Sicily, July 1943.
“It’s a great honour for the School of Journalism and Communication to host the Peter Stursberg Foreign Correspondents Lecture,” says Susan Harada, Associate Director of the School. “We’re in the business of training young journalists and down the road some of them will likely end up reporting from conflict zones. The Stursberg lecture series is one way of ensuring that when they do, the journalism they produce will be smart and meaningful.”
In addition to the lecture, the Peter Stursberg Award in Conflict Journalism and Media Studies will be awarded each year to an outstanding student in the Master of Journalism program to undertake a thesis or Master’s Research Project on a subject related to conflict in media.
CBC personnel making sound recording – A. W. Holmes or Alex McDonald, Peter Stursberg.
These two initiatives will highlight the importance these journalists play in shaping the history of Canada, and the world, by providing eyewitness accounts of unfolding events. By offering them a stage, as well as financial support, the School of Journalism and Communication is supporting the production of journalism that is essential to our democracy.
November 12 and 13 2024
For the first time in the series’ history, the Eighth Annual Stursberg Lecture took the form of a two-part lecture series, “Dying to Tell the Story,” which examined the gravity of the role of journalists covering the Israel-Gaza War.
Read more about the lecture series, or click below to watch the individual lectures.
November 12: Palestinian journalist Shrouq Al Aila
November 13: Israeli journalist Gideon Levy
Both moderated by Nahlah Ayed, host of CBC-Radio’s Ideas.
January 16 2024
Veronika Zelkozerova, Ukrainian freelance journalist
Moderated by Nahlah Ayed, host of CBC-Radio’s Ideas.
Watch the lecture here
note: the Seventh Annual Stursberg Lecture was initially scheduled to take place in late 2023, but was rescheduled due to unforeseen circumstances to early 2024.
November 3rd, 2022
Giancarlo Fiorella, a Senior Investigator at Bellingcat.
Moderated by Nahlah Ayed, host of CBC-Radio’s Ideas.
November 10, 2021
Nima Elbagir, CNN’s Senior International Correspondent.
Moderated by Nahlah Ayed, host of CBC-Radio’s Ideas.
December 2, 2020
Larry Madowo, Kenyan journalist and North America Correspondent at BBC World News.
Moderated by Nahlah Ayed, host of CBC-Radio’s Ideas.
November 30, 2019
Adrienne Arsenault, award-winning senior correspondent and a host of CBC’s The National
Moderated by Kristy Kirkup, a parliamentary reporter with The Globe and Mail.
November 7, 2018.
Janine di Giovanni, a Senior Fellow at Yale University’s Jackson Institute of Global Affairs and a Professor of Practice, Human Rights.
Moderated by Rita Celli, the host of the CBC Radio program Ontario Today.
November 8, 2017.
Lyse Doucet, BBC’s Chief International Correspondent.
Moderated by Paul Kennedy, the host of the CBC Radio program Ideas.
November 2016.
Through the generosity of his children, Richard Stursberg and Judith Lawrie, a lecture and award was established to honour the legacy of Peter Stursberg. He was an adventurous and prolific journalist who was Canada’s last living war correspondent from the Second World War.
The School is pleased to collaborate with the Canadian War Museum to offer the Peter Stursberg lecture.
As Canada’s national museum of military history and one of the world’s most respected institutions for the study and understanding of armed conflict and its effects, the Canadian War Museum is the ideal venue for this informed discussion, and exploration of conflict, past and present.
