Jennifer Dettman named CBC executive director of unscripted content
Mark Starowicz, executive director of documentary, and Bruce Cowley, who oversees the Documentary Channel, will both report to Dettman.
By Tamara Baluja, Associate Editor
Jennifer Dettman is CBC’s new executive director of unscripted content and will oversee factual, arts and documentary programming.
Sally Cato, general manager of programming at CBC Television, said in a memo that the appointment is driven by how to implement the public broadcaster’s 2020 strategy.
“Over the last few months, I’ve been looking at how to do that while helping to strengthen our relationship with the independent production community, streamline our structure and empower our teams to make decisions and act quickly,” she said. “By aligning our range of unscripted programming under one executive director, we will be best positioned to proceed with a cohesive, unified strategy that draws upon the range of talent & resources within the CBC and move forward in the most effective way possible.”
Mark Starowicz, executive director of documentary, and Bruce Cowley, who oversees the Documentary Channel, will report to Dettman.
“I can think of no better person to oversee our expanded unscripted Content unit than Jennifer. Her track-record to date is most impressive and Jennifer’s intelligence and strategic thinking are crucial in terms of evolving our unscripted strategy,” Cato said. “Her creative and journalistic instincts are strong and she has repeatedly demonstrated that she is an exceptional leader.”
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Tamara Baluja is an award-winning journalist with CBC Vancouver and the 2018 Michener-Deacon fellow for journalism education. She was the associate editor for J-Source from 2013-2014.