Community Profiles: Mi-Jung Lee

View
Classifieds

Place
Classifieds

Newsletter

Tel : 604-821-1954

Community Profiles: Mi-Jung Lee

Thu, February 09 2006

Anchor and producer of CTV News at 11:30

Nominated for a Leo award for Best TV Anchor

Nominated for a Jack Webster Award for Best TV Reporting in BC

Awarded BC Association of Broadcasters best breaking news coverage in 2003

--CTV News at 11:30, with Lee as producer

"Success is...finding happiness

in what you do" - Mi-Jung Lee

Born in South Korea, Mi-Jung was four when her family moved to Vancouver. "my parents worked hard like many immigrant parents," says Lee in the midst of a busy newsroom run at the CTV studio, "So I learned from them how important it is to persevere through difficult situations--something journalists have to do all the time!"

And that is just what Mi Jung seems to have done. Graduating from UBC with an English degree, she took up journalism at Ryerson in Toronto in 1990 and then "I got my first job at what was then CHEK-TV in Victoria" in broadcast journalism.

In 1992, she joined BCTV where she was nominated for a Jack Webster Award for Best TV Reporting in BC for a series of stories she broke on a Native foster child. Lee then joined Vancouver Television in 1998 where there too she was nominated for a Leo award for Best TV Anchor.

When the VTV changed hands to CTV, she remained at the studio leading the late night news. It was then under her guidance that CTV News at 11:30 received the B.C. Association of Broadcasters for best breaking news coverage in 2003 with their work on the forest fires of B.C.

I love...	To stare at my garden in May
I dislike...	Horror movies
Favourite haunt...	The beach
Favourite possession...	A purple jade ring from my grandmother
I wish for Canada...	That it continues to value the diversity of its people

“I like to win, to tell stories and stories and expose what the public should know!” says Lee. "Every night I work on a blank canvas with my reporter and deliver the best that we can give." So what does she see herself doing 10 years from now? “Good question,” she quips. “Don't know know where my career will lead me, but I hope I will be helping our sons (Jonah and Silas) reach adulthood as healthy, happy teenagers.”

A success on the job, yes, but with heart strings tied to her home too--how does she balance the two? She and her husband John McNamee are thankful to have the kind of support they do. "My parents are always there for us and their grandchildren," says Lee. Having the best of both worlds, Mi Jung then weaves a success story for herself and her advice is: "if you are passionate about journalism, don't give up. You will find a way to turn your passion into a career!"

Tell us what you think

Reader comments are edited for clarity and may be selected to appear in the print version of the Asian Pacific Post.