{{short description|Canadian television journalist}} {{for|another person|Arthur Kent (songwriter)}} {{Infobox person | name = Arthur Kent | parents = Arthur Parker Kent, Aileen Marie Fears | image = File:Arthur Kent Afghanistan November 2001.jpeg | caption = Kent in 2001 | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1953|12|27}} | birth_place = Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada | other_names = | alma_mater = Carleton University, Ottawa | occupation = Journalist | years_active = 1973–present | spouse = {{marriage|Vickie Lynn Mercy|1981|1983|end=div}} | children = }}
'''Arthur Kent''' (born December 27, 1953) is a Canadian television journalist and author. He rose to international prominence during the 1991 Persian Gulf War during which he acquired the nickname "The Scud Stud". He is the brother of Canada's former Minister of the Environment Peter Kent.
== Early life and education == Kent was born in Medicine Hat, Alberta. His father, Arthur Parker Kent, worked for Southam Newspaper Group and retired as associate editor of the ''Calgary Herald''. After his father's retirement, Arthur Kent began his journalism career at the ''Calgary Herald'' in the summer of 1973.
Kent graduated from Carleton University in Ottawa in 1975 while working as a general assignment reporter for CJOH, Ottawa's CTV station.
== Career == In 1977, after moving to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Kent was named Alberta correspondent for ''The National'', CBC's principal TV newscast. Three years later, Kent left CBC to become an independent reporter and photographer, eventually filing jointly to NBC News, CBC and London's ''The Observer'' newspaper.
In 1982, Kent produced ''Class of 1984''.<ref name="thestar/class-turns-40">{{cite news |last1=Hillis |first1=Aaron |title=The made-in-Toronto cult classic “Class of 1984” turns 40 |url=https://www.thestar.com/life/together/snapshot/the-made-in-toronto-cult-classic-class-of-1984-turns-40/article_8a13619d-3dff-5fdb-9b15-0d2791632eba.html |access-date=19 April 2025 |work=Toronto Star |date= July 10, 2022<!-- 29 October 2024 --> |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240328004719/https://www.thestar.com/life/together/snapshot/the-made-in-toronto-cult-classic-class-of-1984-turns-40/article_8a13619d-3dff-5fdb-9b15-0d2791632eba.html |archive-date=28 March 2024 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="thestar/who-1984-oral-history">{{cite news |last1=Brod |first1=Doug |title=Cast of characters: who’s who in our “Class of 1984” oral history |url=https://www.thestar.com/life/together/cast-of-characters-who-s-who-in-our-class-of-1984-oral-history/article_d14a893c-7e8a-5c9e-8f0c-c214c2d7262f.html |access-date=19 April 2025 |work=Toronto Star |date=10 July 2022 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250419192854/https://www.thestar.com/life/together/cast-of-characters-who-s-who-in-our-class-of-1984-oral-history/article_d14a893c-7e8a-5c9e-8f0c-c214c2d7262f.html |archive-date=19 April 2025 |language=en}}</ref>
In 1989, Kent joined NBC News as the network's Rome correspondent. Kent won 1989 Emmy Awards for his part in NBC's coverage of the June 4, 1989, Tiananmen Square Massacre and the December 1989 Romanian Revolution.<ref name="30-Minifie-Lectures">{{cite book |editor1-last=Diamantopoulos |editor1-first=Mitch |title=30: Thirty Years of Journalism and Democracy in Canada: the Minifie Lectures, 1981-2010 |date=2010 |publisher=University of Regina Press |isbn=9780889772250 |page=193 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LQpjNSZ8pg4C |accessdate=5 June 2019 |quote=In 1989, Kent won two Emmy Awards for NBC's coverage of the Tiananmen Square massacre and the Romanian uprising.}}</ref>
After a contract dispute with NBC, he was fired in August 1992. He subsequently sued NBC for breach of contract, fraud, and defamation, a case that was settled in March 1994.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-03-17-ca-35404-story.html|title=Kent, NBC Agree on Out-of-Court Deal : Television: The Persian Gulf War's 'Scud Stud' gets a settlement and written admission that he was not fired for refusing a dangerous assignment.|last=Hall|first=Jane|date=March 17, 1994|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=2018-12-14|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/03/17/the-tv-column/42697b7f-406f-4d16-b50a-b2e7561307a6/|title=THE TV COLUMN|last=Carmody|first=John|date=17 March 1994|newspaper=Washington Post|accessdate=2 May 2018}}</ref>
Under the terms of the agreement, NBC paid Kent a large settlement and retracted prior statements about Kent and the dispute. Kent also won the right to publish testimony and evidence from the discovery phase of the suit in his book, ''Risk and Redemption: Surviving the Network News Wars''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.criticsatlarge.ca/2016/05/off-shelf-arthur-kents-risk-and.html|title=Off the Shelf: Arthur Kent's Risk and Redemption (1996)|website=www.criticsatlarge.ca|accessdate=2 May 2018}}</ref>
He subsequently returned to Canada to host CBC Television's ''Man Alive''. With the settlement from NBC, he established his own film company, Fast Forward Films, in the UK.<ref name=Urda/>
Kent has worked for the BBC, ''The Observer'' and ''Maclean's''. He has hosted many History Channel shows including ''History Undercover'' and ''History's Mysteries''. ''Afghanistan: Captives of the Warlords'' was shot secretly using a hidden camera, which shows life in Afghanistan under the repressive Taliban, contrasted with life under the much more lenient Northern Alliance. First broadcast by PBS in June 2001, an updated version received extensive broadcast on PBS affiliates and on CBC following the September 11 attacks.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://libweb.lib.buffalo.edu/emro/emroDetail.asp?Number=956|title=Afghanistan: Captives of the Warlords - Educational Media Reviews Online (EMRO)|website=libweb.lib.buffalo.edu|accessdate=2 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180502211030/http://libweb.lib.buffalo.edu/emro/emroDetail.asp?Number=956|archive-date=2 May 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> It received the Gold World Medal at the New York festivals, and a Golden Eagle award from CINE.<ref name="auto">AEI Speakers Bureau. [http://www.aeispeakers.com/print.php?SpeakerID=555 Arthur Kent profile]; retrieved 2007-01-15.</ref>
In 2007, Kent launched skyreporter.com, an outlet for new and archived documentaries and short films. Composed of one- to two-minute pieces from Afghanistan, London, Bosnia, Iraq, and other places, Sky Reporter features Kent's independent reportage and commentary direct from the field.<ref name="auto"/>
In 2008, Kent sued the producers and distributors of the film ''Charlie Wilson's War'', claiming that the movie used material Kent produced in the 1980s without permission.<ref name="Urda">Anne Urda, "[http://www.law360.com/articles/54451/war-footage-not-charlie-wilson-s-scud-stud War Footage Not Charlie Wilson's: 'Scud Stud']", Law360, April 28, 2008</ref> On September 19, 2008, Kent announced he had reached a settlement with whose terms he was "very pleased"; the terms of the settlement remain confidential.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ctvnews.ca/arthur-kent-settles-suits-over-charlie-wilson-s-war-1.326429|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018051627/http://www.ctvnews.ca/arthur-kent-settles-suits-over-charlie-wilson-s-war-1.326429|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 18, 2012|title=Arthur Kent settles suits over 'Charlie Wilson's War'|first=Constance|last=Droganes|date=19 September 2008|website=ctvnews.ca|accessdate=2 May 2018}}</ref>
In 2019, he released a thirteen-minute film, titled ''Black Night In June'', which consists of restored footage from his coverage of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, in honour of its thirtieth anniversary.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hongkongfp.com/2019/05/30/video-canadian-journalist-shares-newly-restored-footage-tiananmen-massacre-horror/|title=Video: Canadian journalist shares newly restored footage of Tiananmen Massacre horror|last=Creery|first=Jennifer|date=2019-05-30|website=Hong Kong Free Press HKFP|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-05-30}}</ref>
==Works== *{{cite book |last1=Kent |first1=Arthur |author1-link=Arthur Kent |title=Murder in Room 117: Solving the Cold Case That Led to America's Longest War |date=8 April 2021 |publisher=Skywriter Communications Incorporated |isbn=978-1-7361482-0-4 |language=en}}
== Political campaign and defamation lawsuit == In November 2007, Kent was chosen by local party members as the Progressive Conservative candidate for the Alberta provincial riding of Calgary Currie. During the 2008 election, newspapers including the ''National Post'' and ''Calgary Herald'' published an article written by Don Martin about Kent and his campaign that was ruled defamatory by Alberta's Court of Queen's Bench in a June 2016 trial judgment. Canada's largest newspaper chain, Postmedia Network Inc., was found liable for defamation after Postmedia published the Martin article on its websites until November 2012. Kent won $200,000 in damages.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/arthur-kent-defamation-trial-decision-1.3622366|title=Arthur Kent 'feeling a measure of vindication' after winning Postmedia defamation lawsuit - CBC News|website=cbc.ca|accessdate=2 May 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.factsandopinions.com/dispatches/justice/court-awards-reporter-turned-politician-200000-in-defamation-case/|title=Court awards reporter-turned-politician damages, costs, in defamation case|date=10 June 2016|website=factsandopinions.com|accessdate=2 May 2018}}</ref> On January 16, 2017, the trial judge awarded Kent costs of $250,000.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/arthur-kent-journalist-250000-legal-costs-awarded-1.3941351|title=Former journalist Arthur Kent awarded $250,000 in defamation lawsuit|date=January 18, 2017|website=CBC|language=en|access-date=2018-12-14}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.canlii.org/en/ab/abqb/doc/2017/2017abqb27/2017abqb27.html|title=Kent v Martin, 2017 ABQB 27 (CanLII)}}</ref> Kent appealed the decision, asking Alberta's Court of Appeal to find the defendants' "intentional strategic decision to conceal" key email records was, in fact, fraudulent concealment. In a decision on May 25, 2018,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.canlii.org/en/ab/abca/doc/2018/2018abca202/2018abca202.html|title=Kent v Martin, 2018 ABCA 202 (CanLII)}}</ref> the Court of Appeal agreed with Kent, awarding him an additional $200,000 in costs, and ruling:<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/arthur-kent-lawsuit-cost-awards-postmedia-1.4678118|title=Arthur Kent awarded another $200,000 in legal battle with Postmedia|last=Anderson|first=Drew|date=May 25, 2018|website=CBC|language=en|access-date=2018-12-14}}</ref> "we respectfully disagree with the trial judge's conclusion that the appellant's allegations of fraudulent concealment and the giving of false evidence were unproven. It follows that the trial judge erred in penalizing the appellant for having made these allegations."
Neither Postmedia nor Martin have acknowledged or expressed contrition for the offences found by the courts.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ottawalife.com/article/from-postmedia-and-don-martin-a-deafening-silence-on-ethics-and-law?c=1|title=From Postmedia and Don Martin, a deafening silence on ethics and law|last=Kent|first=Arthur|date=September 25, 2018|website=Ottawa Life Magazine|language=en|access-date=2018-12-14}}</ref> Postmedia's financial predicament, combined with the resignation of director David Pecker, who was granted immunity by U.S. federal prosecutors investigating President Trump's former personal attorney, prompted Canada's ''National Observer'' to comment that "ethical journalism may not be a priority to (Postmedia's) owners, as revealed in Arthur Kent's defamation lawsuit against the company."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nationalobserver.com/2018/10/25/analysis/postmedia-continues-its-downward-spiral|title=Postmedia continues its downward spiral|author1=Robert Hiltz|author2=Bruce Livesey|date=October 25, 2018|newspaper='National Observer|language=en|access-date=2018-12-14}}</ref>
Kent lost the March 3, 2008, election to incumbent Dave Taylor.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.canlii.org/en/ab/abqb/doc/2016/2016abqb314/2016abqb314.html|title=Kent v Martin, 2016 ABQB 314 (CanLII)}}</ref>
==Affiliations== Kent is or has been affiliated with various media agencies and groups, including being: * A member of the International Federation of Journalists. * A member of Britain's National Union of Journalists. * A member of PEN Canada. * A member of The Writers' Union of Canada. * A former board member of Military Reporters and Editors of America. * A co-founder of TVNewscan, a project of The George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{Official website|http://www.arthurkent.ca}} * {{IMDb name|0448659}} * [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6kBJ6lZK8uwLdtFDRSS3Gw Arthur Kent's channel] on YouTube * {{YouTube|hA4iKSeijZI|Tiananmen Square Massacre: Black Night In June (2019)}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kent, Arthur}} Category:1953 births Category:Canadian television reporters and correspondents Category:Carleton University alumni Category:Living people Category:NBC News people Category:People from Medicine Hat Category:Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta candidates in Alberta provincial elections