Welcome to ElectionLine’s “A View from Abroad” series, where we speak with members of the media who don’t live in America but keep a close eye on American politics. Every few weeks, these astute observers will provide a unique look at the tense and unpredictable race for the White House. This week we interview Richard Madan, the award-winning Washington DC correspondent for CBC News Canada.
When Richard Madan and his crew leave Washington DC to speak to American voters, they sometimes stick a tiny Canadian flag in their camera’s viewfinder. It’s a signal to the contributors that they’re coming in peace and with Canadian courtesies – and on the whole it’s effective.
“When you go into these unfriendly crowds, the moment I say we are Canadian television, any hostility immediately disappears. In general, Americans have a positive attitude towards Canadians,” the CBC News correspondent tells Deadline.
At a time when divisions between U.S. broadcasters are so entrenched and people resent the media, this perception of warm impartiality in interviews can be a distinct advantage. Madan says he saw evidence of this in February during the Republican primary in South Carolina, where he enjoyed a “wonderful dialogue” with people who were “a little more reserved” with local network journalists.
Madan, who was born in Georgia but grew up in Alberta, has covered the last two American presidential elections up close for Canadian News. At CTV News, just months after moving to Washington in 2016, he endured a “trial by fire” while covering Donald Trump’s White House campaign. He now works for CBC News, Canada’s public broadcaster, and thinks that covering U.S. politics is hardly a challenge that has been so pronounced.
“This will be a very challenging election in many ways,” he explains. “There really is anger out there, there is resentment. All the polls show that no one is excited about this rematch between Biden and Trump. Then you add disinformation, shared media ecosystems and AI – it’s just a toxic mix. It will be a very unpredictable and high-risk election.”
CBC News is committed to impartiality and Madan remains scrupulously neutral during our Zoom interview, carefully watching his words as he discusses Trump and Joe Biden’s respective regimes. It’s a commitment he carries with pride, even if it can be difficult at times. “I know that anything I say or do will be subject to such scrutiny,” he adds. “The last thing you want to be is to become a target for someone on a political team.”
A journalist for nearly a quarter century, Madan says he and his network are conducting a “scrutiny” ahead of the November vote to consider fair coverage of the campaign while protecting viewers from lies. It’s a section that all US broadcasters are wrestling with, and Madan – who makes it clear he doesn’t speak on behalf of his CBC bosses – predicts some new on-screen news in the coming months. He predicts viewers will devote equal time to Trump and Biden, more rigorous fact-checking, deep dives into politics and a new wave of disinformation correspondents challenging conspiracy theories as they take hold.
Although Madan left America as a child, America never truly left him. He grew up on a diet of U.S. news and dreamed of becoming a Washington correspondent from a young age. Madan says it’s not unusual for Canadians to be fascinated by American culture, joking that there was a time when his friends could name more members of Trump’s Cabinet than Justin Trudeau’s top team.
Madan suspects the Canadian prime minister would support a Biden win, but says Trump could be a useful foil for Trudeau as he looks to boost his poll numbers ahead of next year’s federal election. Trump-style nationalism is rising in Canada, but Trudeau’s approval ratings remain higher. He wasn’t afraid to anger the US president: leaders clashed over the scrapped North American Free Trade Agreement, and at the 2018 G7 summit in Quebec, Trump accused his counterpart of being “dishonest” and “weak.” be.
Despite the political hostilities, Madan said he had good access to the Trump administration and a constructive relationship with Speaker Sarah Huckabee Sanders. He says the Biden administration has been a little harder to break into, echoing France 24 contributor Kéthévane Gorjestani’s sentiments in a previous article A view from abroad Split.
Not that Madan plans to shout louder than any of his colleagues in the White House press room. “I just try to be friendly. We’re Canadians, aren’t we?” he smiles.