Reporter Janet Brown has been in the business for 35 years.
After graduating from BCIT’s broadcast journalism program in 1985, she worked all over the province, from Nanaimo (CKEG), Merritt (CJNL) and Kamloops (CHNL) to Vancouver and 980 CKNW in 1989.
She has been a key member of the team on major breaking news — during the 2011 Stanley Cup riots in Vancouver, she reported first-hand on the devastation caused by the rioting in the streets and gave us live field reports that have been used again and again in promotional, editorial and instructional circumstances.
Check out a highlight reel of Janet’s career below:
She has earned several awards for her reporting.
In 2012, her relentless digging revealed that TransLink had no ability to enforce the payment of fare-evasion tickets. It eventually caused the provincial government at the time to change the law and allow TransLink to use collection agencies and refuse service until fines were paid.
For this, she earned the RTDNA Peter Gzowski award and was a finalist for the Jack Webster Foundation award for best news reporting of the year (radio).
For much of the past 20 years, Janet has covered the City of Surrey and has cultivated a long list of contacts, both official and unofficial, on various sides of the issues in the province’s second largest city.
These issues at times have been quite heated and emotional, and Janet’s scrupulous and consistent approach to be fair in her news stories has won her a reporter’s ultimate compliment — trust.
Her phone never stops ringing with people wanting to tell her what’s going on in Surrey, sometimes routine and sometimes quite controversial, because they trust her to be accurate and fair.
Janet’s career has also been highlighted by her work ethic and tenacity. When she gets a tip about an important story that needs to be made public, she works it and works it and works it until she can go with it on the air, even though many of the institutions involved like police and government may not want it made public.
She is also competitive and works hard for her scoops.
An example came on the evening of the last B.C. election on Oct. 24.
One of the biggest upsets was former city councillor Mike Starchuk defeating incumbent Marvin Hunt in Surrey-Cloverdale. After the live election coverage ended and her radio and television on-air commitments were done, Janet and Global BC camera operator Cliff Shim raced to meet Starchuk outside a local arena, far away from campaign headquarters and other reporters, to get an exclusive interview on the big upset.
There she was, in the freezing cold after midnight, asking questions of the winning candidate. Starchuk agreed to the interview because he knew Janet well from her council coverage. It was classic Janet Brown.
A full list of her awards is below:
2009 – RTDNA Charlie Edwards award for breaking news “manhole explosion”
2012 – RTDNA Peter Gzowski award “Ending the free ride on transit”
2012 – Finalist Jack Webster Foundation, best news reporting of the year, radio “putting the bite back into transit tickets”
2012 – BCAB “excellence in news reporting” for the Stanley Cup Riot
2018 – BCAB “award of excellence in news reporting, radio” for the Whalley Strip transformation
2019 – RTDNA Ron Laidlaw award “continuing coverage” for the Whalley Strip transformation”
2019 – Jack Webster award winner (along with the Global BC radio news team) for “best breaking news reporting radio” on the December windstorm
2020 – Webster award winner (along with Global BC radio news team) for “best breaking news” on the Northern B.C. murders.
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