A Canadian news anchor named Farah Nasser is currently trending online. Reports claim that the anchor swallowed a fly live on air while reporting on Pakistan for a live TV story. The public’s attention was drawn to the incident after social media users shared its video widely. Some are praising her professionalism for continuing to report even after the fly flew right into her mouth while others are laughing at it. The following article has more information.
However, since they are frequently tested by awkward situations, being a TV anchor requires more than just reading from a script. However, Nasser was having none of it as she scanned the room and insisted on keeping everyone’s attention on the topic she introduced as being a first-world issue. Pakistan has never known a continuous monsoon cycle quite like this, the anchor said. It continuously rained for eight weeks. She said as the fly got stuck in her mouth and made her cough, “A national emergency has been invoked.
Farah Nasser’s Video Went Viral
One of Toronto’s most recognizable news personalities and an award-winning journalist, Farah Nasser, brings years of experience to her role as anchor on Global News at 5:30 and 6.
For more than 20 years, she provided viewers in the GTA with much-needed clarification by covering important events like the Toronto van attack, the London, Ontario, terror attack that killed a Muslim family, and Joe Biden’s election in Washington. She was the first journalist to have a one-on-one with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after the country reopened in 2020 following the pandemic lockdown.
Due to her reputation as a dependable journalist with a keen interest in politics, Nasser has been given the opportunity to moderate significant political discussions, including the sole broadcast of the 2018 Toronto mayoral debate and the primary debate for the Ontario provincial election.
Nasser has won praise for advancing public discourse through her perceptive reporting and motivational public speaking. As the inspiration behind the digital series #FirstTimeIWasCalled and #LivingInColour, which examine the lives of underprivileged people, she attracted a lot of attention on social media. She received praise for her “The Power of Intellectual Humility” TEDx talk as well.
Who Is Farah Nasser?
She twice won the RTNDA Sam Ross Award for her popular commentary pieces What if Toronto was the scene of the fighting in Aleppo? (2017) and 93 Killed a Day at the Barrel of a Gun (2018), the latter of which amassed 3.5 million views and was utilized in classrooms to explain the Syrian conflict. For her special Living in Colour: Being Black in Canada, she also received an Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Nasser began her career at Rogers TV before accepting a position there, where she eventually rose to the position of reporter. After landing his first significant reporting job, Nasser held a number of positions before joining Global News, including Toronto 1, A-Channel News, Citytv, and CP24.
She graduated from the Radio and Television Arts program at Toronto Metropolitan University after attending the University of Westminster in London, England, and working as an intern for CNN in New Delhi, India.
When she’s not covering the news, Nasser spends her time volunteering. She serves as a mentor for the Canadian Association of Journalists, the board of directors of the Canadian Journalism Foundation, and CivicAction, a nonprofit that brings together seasoned and rising leaders from various backgrounds. Nasser frequently speaks at public events and has worked with organizations like the Journalists for Human Rights, Aga Khan Foundation, and Canadian Economic Club.
Nasser resides in Toronto with her husband and their two young children. She cultivated her children’s love of travel by taking them on family vacations across Asia, Europe, and other parts of Canada.
Farah Nasser, however, did not allow the fly to disrupt her recording and she resumed her broadcast after a brief pause. She continued to report even though her voice started to falter, and now everyone in the vicinity is taking notice of her professionalism. Sharing this because everyone needs a laugh these days, Farah Nasser tweeted a video of the aforementioned incident with that caption. It turns out I swallowed a fly on the air today, the anchor continued.
Farah Nasser was six years old when she first encountered a racist slur. While at the playground, she decided to climb the red monkey bars. She heard someone yell, “Get off the monkey bars, you Paki,” as she reached for the first bar.
Over thirty years later, Nasser discussed this traumatic experience with a white, male coworker in the newsroom. She claims that the visceral reaction she had to it astounded him. I said to him, “You know, it’s pretty tough when people pick on you for something you can’t change about yourself. You think you’re not deserving.
Such hostility has not subsided. Every day of the week, Nasser co-anchors Global Toronto’s evening news. I receive a lot of criticism for being a Muslim woman on television, according to Nasser. One person thought my wife was an ISIS member. Many people think I’m trying to convert people to Islam and have an agenda.
Given the rise in Islamophobia and the misconception that Canada is an open, welcoming, and diverse country, Nasser has made the decision to use her platform to fight systematic racism and promote diversity.
Nasser was chosen as one of the featured students in the Toronto District School Board’s October 2018 Islamic Heritage Month campaign because, in Haniya Sheikh’s words, “Farah has had such a tremendous career as she has climbed up in the ranks and is now an anchor on Global.” As it is not an easy feat, “this is an accomplishment worth celebrating for a woman of color.”
“The First Time I Was Called,” a Nasser-produced series from 2018, explores different people’s experiences with racism and prejudice and features interviews with body image activists Jully Black and Kathleen Wynne. Nasser also takes part.
All of these individuals reportedly stated, “I would have said that if someone had approached me later and said, “This doesn’t reflect Canada, this doesn’t represent everyone. If someone had said to them, “You have every right to feel as you feel because that was not fair,” Nasser continues, “[Each person] would have felt a lot better in that moment.”
Personal life of Farah Nasser
Nasser, who frequently works with the Aga Khan Foundation, visited Syria in 2008 to observe some of its humanitarian programs. Aleppo was in a state of war when she got back. She decided she had to take something in Canada despite the distance as she monitored the events in Syria.
She built a virtual set with the help of Global’s graphic designers. Toronto was thus startlingly compared to Aleppo. What if violence in Aleppo were taking place in Toronto? is the video’s title. Nasser received the Sam Ross Award from the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTNDA) in 2017 after his video went viral. The following year, for “93 Killed a Day at the Barrel of a Gun,” she received the same honor.
Nasser, an East African-born first-generation Canadian, never imagined being so open about her Muslim heritage or discussing her experiences with racism when she first entered the field. After September 11, she only began to consider how race, and particularly Islam, is covered in the media.
She continues by mentioning how frequently her peers or coworkers would make fun of her religion, so she “almost hidden it and wouldn’t really talk about it.” Nasser says, “I can’t wait to eat in front of you in the meeting. Someone made fun of me when I was recently fasting.” It’s treated as if it were a joke and is mocked. But given my situation and the years I’ve spent dealing with it, it makes up such a large part of who I am that I feel compelled to speak out now.
When Nasser was a young girl, her alarm clock was her father reading a daily newspaper story while standing over her. Nasser expresses a typical adolescent response when he says, “I’d be like, ‘Oh god, I don’t want to read it.’” Her dad, who wasn’t affected, told her to read it before she brushed her teeth.
Although Nasser acknowledges that she was probably too young to watch the news, she did so every evening with her parents. Her natural career choice was journalism because she enjoyed public speaking.
In 1999, Nasser enrolled in the Radio and Television (RTA) program at Ryerson. Naomi Parness, senior manager of digital content and storytelling for the United Jewish Appeal, was an RTA student at the time. Both of them will acknowledge that even though they are now the closest of friends, they were rivals in school. She is “very enthusiastic, hardworking, caring about people and the globe,” according to Parness.
According to Parness, Nasser put in a lot of work, did well in school, and also participated in internships and volunteer work. She kept walking. She was willing to do anything to achieve her goals.
When he attended Ryerson University, Nasser worked as a call-screener for the radio station CFRB1010’s Generation Next program. At the time, she was daydreaming about replacing Christiane Amanpour.
Career of Farah Nasser
Using the radio station’s computers, Nasser submitted an application for an internship to each CNN bureau. She had the option of going to Miami or New Delhi.
That summer, she took her entire family to New Delhi. “My great, great grandparents came from India. Therefore, even though neither of my parents had ever been to India, we are of Indian descent. So, we all went together.
My life was altered by the encounter. She was thrust into covering important world events like the Agra Summit, which took place in July 2001 and was the first significant summit between India and Pakistan in a long time.
The contrast between being a Canadian journalist attending parties and gatherings and seeing slums and poverty changed her perspective of the world forever. “I could clearly see the wage gap and the gap between rich and poor. It “truly expanded my mind to inclusivity,” she asserts. The author said, “I really learned that people existed within the caste system and that everyone should have a voice.”
Over the next 20 years, Nasser held positions at Rogers TV, Newstalk 1010, Toronto 1, A-Channel News, Citytv, and CP24. In October, the TDSB selected Nasser as one of the faces for its Islamic Heritage Month posters. In February, Nasser will speak at TEDxDonMills about the diversity of perspectives.
Nasser can research diverse perspectives and stories at Global, but she is aware that there is a problem with race in the field. The director of Global News, Mackay Taggart, immediately contacted Nasser after Sunny Dhillon’s article “Journalism While Brown and When To Walk Away” appeared in The Medium to get her feedback on how Global could advance. “That spoke volumes,” she exclaims. Since then, I’ve spoken to people and compiled a list of grievances because I think it affects more than just our station. I believe that many stations could operate more effectively.
Even though there are fewer media outlets, Taggart is committed to making sure that underrepresented viewpoints, like Nasser’s, are heard and respected. I can’t change our business overnight, but I can make sure that team members have the opportunity to be heard, respected, and permitted to share the experiences that are significant to them, the manager continues.
The moment has arrived. “Decision-makers need to answer for their actions. People need to be informed and educated. All of them are journalistic requirements, but Nasser adds that we also need to show the variety of viewpoints. Every story has more than two sides, there are always multiple perspectives. She claimed in an interview that she yelled, “Not today, fly, get away,” as the fly was fluttering around at the beginning of the broadcast, adding that she would not allow it to distract her. When asked if she had swallowed the bug, Farah confessed that she had actually thrown it aside because she still had a paragraph to write. It’s true that a reporter has experienced a similar incident before, given the numerous instances that have occurred in the past.
