A Toronto television journalist is believed to be Canada’s first anchor to don a Muslim head scarf at one of the city’s major news broadcasters.
Ginella Massa, 29, who was asked to fill in on the anchor desk for CityNews’ 11 pm broadcast last week, created a buzz after the broadcast ended. She moved to Toronto earlier this year to take a reporting job at CityNews.
Massa recognised the personal career strides she had made after stepping out of the anchor desk, but mentioned that it was her editor who had pointed out the larger significance.
It wasn’t until my editor said, ‘Hey, great job! Was that a first for Canada? A woman in a hijab?’ And I said yes. And so I tweeted about it. As much as I knew it was important, I didn’t expect the reaction that I received. My phone hasn’t stopped buzzing for the last week.
Her achievement comes amid heightened concerns about anti-Muslim sentiment in the US and Europe. During the US presidential election campaign, Donald Trump called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out”.
I’ve talked to many women who are journalists in the US who work behind the scenes and they’ve told me that they face multiple challenges trying to get on air. They’ve been told because of their hijab, that’s not going to happen. That makes me really sad because they’re being held back by someone else’s idea of what the public can or cannot handle.Ginella Massa
Although the reaction to Massa’s anchor stint and reporting role has been mostly positive in Canada, she said she has received a handful of negative comments and tweets.
“But this is all the more reason in today’s climate to see positive images of Muslim women,” she said. “They are a symbol of Islam – when they wear the hijab – and that carries a powerful image. It’s so important to see positive images of us in the media.”
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