Life and career

Kent was born in Medicine Hat, Alberta. His father, Arthur Parker Kent (now deceased), worked for Southam Newspaper Group and retired as associated editor of the Calgary Herald.

Kent graduated from Carleton University in Ottawa and worked as an independent journalist and later with Canadian media outlets during the 1980s. He worked at NBC as a foreign correspondent and host of Dateline NBC from 1989 to 1992. 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.

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. 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.

Kent has worked for the BBC, The Observer and Maclean's for more than two decades. He has hosted many History Channel shows including 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. It received the Gold WorldMedal at the New York festivals, and a Golden Eagle award from CINE.

In 2007 Kent launched Sky Reporter, an outlet for new & archived documentaries and short films. Composed of 1-2 minute pieces from Afghanistan, London, Bosnia, Iraq, and other places, Sky Reporter features Kent's independent reportage and commentary direct from the field. In November 2007, Kent was chosen by local party members as the Progressive Conservative candidate for the Alberta provincial riding of Calgary Currie. In the March 3, 2008 election he lost to incumbent Dave Taylor.

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. 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.

Affiliations

Kent is a member of various media agencies, including:

• International Federation of Journalists
• Britain's National Union of Journalists
• PEN Canada
• Writer's Union of Canada
• former board member, Military Reporters and Editors of America
• co-founder of TVNewscan, a project of The George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs

[ Source: Wikipedia ]