I’m wondering if Arthur Kent’s decision to run for an MLA seat as a Conservative is the start of perhaps a leadership bid in the future. I think he would rule as a moderate Tory, in the mold of Peter Lougheed.
The “Scud Stud” is giving up journalism for politics.
Arthur Kent, a Canadian whose live NBC reports on Iraq’s Scud missile attacks on Saudi Arabia during the 1992 Gulf War made him a celebrity, is running for a legislative seat in his home province of Alberta.
Intense and handsome, Kent stood on a rooftop to tell about Iraqi missiles falling on Dharan, Saudi Arabia. He wore a leather jacket and was soon dubbed “the Scud Stud” in the popular press.
“That is a fond memory,” Kent, 54, said Wednesday from Calgary, Alberta. “It’s the kind of nickname that sticks.”
After the war, he left NBC in a contract dispute later in 1992. His lawsuit was settled out of court, and he has since worked for A&E, the History Channel and Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and as an independent producer.
He is running as a Conservative Party candidate to challenge incumbent Liberal Dave Taylor for a seat representing a district in Calgary.
“After 36 years as a reporter, much of it spent as a foreign correspondent witnessing the downside of gridlock and geopolitical conflict and war, I’ve come over time to believe we have to make the best of our communities,” Kent said. “Public service began to appeal to me more and more.”
ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iSTF … wD8U2L9CO0
The Only “Scud Stud” I ever heard of was Wolf Blitzer for his reportage from Baghdad on CNN. Maybe Canada had different coverage.
Hey, shouldn’t this thread - being about domestic Canadian politics - be sent to where it belongs, the temp forum?
Nope. NBC is an American company
With “Risk and Redemption,” Arthur “Scud Stud” Kent’s new book detailing his successful megabucks lawsuit against NBC, the raffish reporter is remaking himself in the image of media-monopoly critics like Norman Solomon and Ben Bagdikian. During a talk at San Francisco’s Freedom Forum last month, he barely spoke of Afghanistan, Iraq and Bosnia, where he’s made his career covering war zones. Instead, he spent 45 minutes railing against the decline in standards at NBC under the reign of General Electric – “the evil empire” – and the giveaway of the digital spectrum to the big three networks.
“Don’t you know you’re being robbed?” he exhorted his sparse audience. “You’re not just being poorly served, you’re being robbed. The airwaves belong to you, the consumer. Will you allow people like [General Electric CEO] Jack Welch to pick the nation’s pocket for the enrichment of his elite management team and his shareholders?”
Just a few months ago, at a talk at UC-Berkeley, Kent’s former colleague Tom Brokaw glossed over General Electric’s influence at NBC News. Kent had harsh words for him. “What Tom is really doing is creating a smoke screen so that General Electric can further tame the news,” Kent said. “He sees nothing wrong with abandoning standards of excellence at NBC. He has no sympathy with the public interest.”
Brokaw had said that NBC cut back on its foreign coverage because there’s just not as much going on in the world now as there was in the late '80s. To that, Kent retorted, “It is inconceivable to me how anyone who’s been in the business as long as he has, who makes $7 million a year, could be so utterly out of touch with reality. It’s one of the problems when an anchorman so thoroughly signs on with the corporate agenda. He should be ashamed.” Kent said that Welch runs NBC like a “casino boss, just worrying about the numbers.” He continued, “Shame on them. There are good brothels to run if all they’re interested in is money. They should get in on the boom in soft-core pornography.”
Kent himself doesn’t have to worry much about money these days. He sued NBC for $25 million after being suspended from his job on “Dateline,” and though he can’t reveal the amount of his eventual settlement, he called it “terrific” and “a delightful amount of financial compensation.” With it, he’s moved to London and started his own documentary company, Fast Forward Films.
salon.com/media/1998/02/06media.html
I thought you were referring to Mark Philipousis, the tennis player.
As you were, then.
Arthur Kent is about as intense as a game of tiddlywinks.
In any case, I’m sure some of Kent’s previous words might come back to haunt him if he enters politics. I’m sure the “boys” in downtown Calgary wouldn’t be too impressed by the following. Then again, Calgarians generally support small business over big business and always love a maverick. In any case, if he were to become an MLA, he would definitely be a “Red Tory” favorite.