Memo: Robyn Doolittle joins Globe and Mail
Editor-in-chief David Walsley announced the hire of Toronto Star City Hall reporter Robyn Doolittle.
The Globe and Mail is delighted to announce the appointment of Robyn Doolittle to the role of reporter joining the national news investigative team of Renata D’Alesio, Colin Freeze, Karen Howlett and Greg McArthur, based in Toronto. This is a vital hire for a role that inhabits the high church of our work – investigative journalism. It signifies to the marketplace my commitment to high impact original reporting.
Robyn, of course, needs little introduction. She set the world alight with her determined and at times brave reporting for the Toronto Star as she looked into the behaviour of Toronto's mayor, Rob Ford. This work grew into her book Crazy Town, work that has now been optioned for movie rights. But the celebrity that surrounds such success isn't Robyn. Rather, she is a powerful force in journalism for the right reasons. She joins The Globe because she wants to work at the highest level on the biggest stage. She wants to always improve herself and break bigger stories. She is far more than one story. That appetite is a currency we all must deal in.
If I may use this announcement to also provide a broader context to the news. Journalism happens because of you, the people we employ. It is an art and it is creative. It needs risk-takers to push and editors to challenge. We are a human endeavour, an industry, above all, of people. The editorial team that I have spoken to in these past weeks is more than equal to the tasks that lie ahead, because fundamentally you are rooted in journalism and in a belief that what we do is vital. Bottle those instincts for they will serve us well in the years to come. Welcome to the family Robyn, where my commitment to you is the same as it is for all colleagues – that we develop your career, challenge you to greater heights, all the while encapsulating what makes you, the individual, a success.
Robyn begins later this month.
David Walmsley
Editor-in Chief
The Globe and Mail
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.