He’s gone: Tony Burman, journalist, reporter, editor, commentator…one of the very best in today’s media world.
Burman arguably was the best media commentator in the world of English-written news. Incisive, concise, precise, logical, analytical, intelligent…the adjectives do no do the man justice. If you had been reading him over a period of time, you would see that this man wrote with care, with intelligence and with logical clarity. He laid out his pieces like blueprints drawn by precision-caring architects, each piece developed with succinct building blocks leading to a logical conclusion.
Burman’s career started with the Montreal Star and has ended with the Toronto Star…kind of fitting, this literary star wrote for two other Stars. his career ranged far and wide, writing in locales that were dictatorships as well as democracies. He wrote about the inadequacies and socio-political failures around the globe. His columns were objective descriptions, observations without judgement or moralization. He tried to avoid subjective bias as much as possible. He laid things out clearly, honestly and openly, likely to the chagrin, dismay and anger of those who might have disagreed with him. No matter, like a lab technician, his commentaries were based on laboratory observations, his lab, the political world around him. He eschewed judgement and judicial decision though he could call a “spade a spade,” and occasionally did.
Sadly, after more than 50 years of writing, he has decided to put the quill back in the quiver as he retires and leaves in a state of discouragement and dismay. He praises the writers who continue his work to try righting wrongs in the world today but he is disappointed that this world we live in is a great fog, a stupor, as the world was prior to WWI, ‘sleepwalking to war.’
He leaves us with the foreboding conclusion that “In this chaotic 21st century, the forces of darkness are not winning the battle, not yet, but they are at the gates.”
Tony Burman, you will be sadly missed by your faithful readers.
Bon voyage on your new journey of retirement.
