Paul Boyd (journalist)
Encyclopedia
Paul Graham Boyd is a Canadian-American
television journalist.
He is a correspondent for the syndicated newsmagazine Inside Edition
and co-anchor of Inside Edition Weekend produced by CBS Television Distribution
.
He worked previously as a journalist in Canada
.
. His family moved to Port Alberni, British Columbia
in the early 1980s where his parents raised him and his two older brothers. He worked as a paperboy for his hometown newspaper and graduated as class valedictorian from Alberni District Secondary School in 1994.
Paul credits his high school media production program for sparking his interest in journalism when he was 16 years old. He appeared on a daily morning television show that was produced by students and broadcast throughout the school via closed-circuit television
. One of his high school video segments was called Fire Marshall Paul, an adaptation of the Jim Carrey
character Fire Marshall Bill from the television show In Living Color
.
While a senior in high school, Boyd placed 2nd in a national video contest promoting safe driving. He was named top male vocalist at the West Coast Vocal Jazz Festival when he was 18 years old.
in Calgary, Alberta. He also worked for his college radio and television stations.
In 1997, he graduated from Mount Royal College with a diploma in Broadcasting and received the prestigious Toby Towbridge Award as a top broadcasting student in his class. Shortly after graduation he was hired as a part-time sports reporter and fill-in anchor at CICT-TV
Calgary.
Later that year he joined “The Movie Show”, an internationally syndicated entertainment program produced by Pyramid Productions
. In 1998 he was hired as a reporter for Calgary’s 24-hour news channel Now-TV operated by Shaw Communications
.
Boyd returned to Manitoba
, his birth province, in 1999 to work as a reporter for CHMI-TV
Winnipeg and was later promoted to co-anchor of the 10:00 pm newscast.
as a correspondent
in August 2001 and moved to New York City
to start the job three weeks before the September 11th attacks. He reported from “ground zero” the day of the attacks and investigated the terrorism links in Florida where several of the hijackers spent time in the days leading up to 9/11.
In the early stages of the war in Afghanistan
Boyd gained access to the dangerous tribal region known as Waziristan
where he documented the hunt for Osama bin Laden
in early 2002. Boyd was reporting for Inside Edition from Pakistan
when journalist Daniel Pearl
was kidnapped and killed.
During his coverage of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, Boyd was interviewed live on CNN
after discovering hand-written messages from Saddam Hussein
in an abandoned Iraqi government office building. The most significant message uncovered by Inside Edition was written by Hussein on March 20, 2003 immediately following the first missile attack in Iraq at Dora Farms and read, “The frivolous criminal Bush and his missiles didn’t hit my house. God has protected us.” Saddam Hussein was captured nine months later.
Inside Edition dispatched Boyd to the scene of the London bombings on July 7, 2005. Later that year, he spent weeks documenting the human tragedy and destruction of Hurricane Katrina
.
In 2007, he reported from the campus of the Virginia Tech massacre
the day 32 people were killed by a student gunman. Then in 2009 from Texas, the day of the Fort Hood shooting
that left 13 people dead.
In May 2010, he filed reports on the Time Square car bombing attempt
and documented the Connecticut apartment of terrorist Faisal Shahzad
.
Boyd reported extensively for Inside Edition during the 2004 and 2008 U.S. presidential elections
and national conventions.
He was named co-anchor of Inside Edition Weekend in July 2003 and he continues in that role today.
Canadian-American
A Canadian American is someone who was born or someone who grew up in Canada then moved to the United States. The term is particularly apt when applied or self-applied to people with strong ties to Canada, such as those who have lived a significant portion of their lives in, or were educated in,...
television journalist.
He is a correspondent for the syndicated newsmagazine Inside Edition
Inside Edition
Inside Edition is a thirty-minute American television syndicated news program, first aired on CBS on October 9, 1988. It was originally similar to the programs Hard Copy and A Current Affair, but now more closely resembles a condensed version of breakfast television, exclusively with pre-recorded...
and co-anchor of Inside Edition Weekend produced by CBS Television Distribution
CBS Television Distribution
CBS Television Distribution is a global television distribution company, formed from the merger of CBS Corporation's two domestic television distribution arms CBS Paramount Domestic Television and King World Productions, including its home entertainment arm CBS Home Entertainment...
.
He worked previously as a journalist in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
Early life
Boyd was born in Selkirk, ManitobaSelkirk, Manitoba
Selkirk is a city in the western Canadian province of Manitoba, located about 22 km northeast of the provincial capital Winnipeg on the Red River, near . As of the 2006 census, Selkirk had a population of 9,515....
. His family moved to Port Alberni, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
in the early 1980s where his parents raised him and his two older brothers. He worked as a paperboy for his hometown newspaper and graduated as class valedictorian from Alberni District Secondary School in 1994.
Paul credits his high school media production program for sparking his interest in journalism when he was 16 years old. He appeared on a daily morning television show that was produced by students and broadcast throughout the school via closed-circuit television
Closed-circuit television
Closed-circuit television is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors....
. One of his high school video segments was called Fire Marshall Paul, an adaptation of the Jim Carrey
Jim Carrey
James Eugene "Jim" Carrey is a Canadian-American actor and comedian. He has received two Golden Globe Awards and has also been nominated on four occasions. Carrey began comedy in 1979, performing at Yuk Yuk's in Toronto, Ontario...
character Fire Marshall Bill from the television show In Living Color
In Living Color
In Living Color is an American sketch comedy television series, which originally ran on the Fox Network from April 15, 1990 to May 19, 1994. Brothers Keenen and Damon Wayans created, wrote, and starred in the program. The show was produced by Ivory Way Productions in association with 20th Century...
.
While a senior in high school, Boyd placed 2nd in a national video contest promoting safe driving. He was named top male vocalist at the West Coast Vocal Jazz Festival when he was 18 years old.
Career
Boyd began his broadcasting career in 1995 working as a reporter with the CKUA Radio Network while attending Mount Royal CollegeMount Royal College
Mount Royal University is a public university in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1910 as a primary and secondary school, Mount Royal became a post-secondary institution in 1931 as Mount Royal College offering transfer courses to the University of Alberta and later to the University of Calgary...
in Calgary, Alberta. He also worked for his college radio and television stations.
In 1997, he graduated from Mount Royal College with a diploma in Broadcasting and received the prestigious Toby Towbridge Award as a top broadcasting student in his class. Shortly after graduation he was hired as a part-time sports reporter and fill-in anchor at CICT-TV
CICT-TV
CICT-DT is a Canadian television station, licensed to and serving Calgary, Alberta. It is owned by Shaw Media, and is an owned-and-operated station of the Global Television Network...
Calgary.
Later that year he joined “The Movie Show”, an internationally syndicated entertainment program produced by Pyramid Productions
Pyramid Productions
Pyramid Productions is a large independent Canadian television series producer with multiple series in production and more than 20 on the air around the world...
. In 1998 he was hired as a reporter for Calgary’s 24-hour news channel Now-TV operated by Shaw Communications
Shaw Communications
Shaw Communications is Canada's largest telecommunications company that provides telephone, Canada's fastest Internet and television services as well as broadcasting and soon Wifi. Shaw is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta...
.
Boyd returned to Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
, his birth province, in 1999 to work as a reporter for CHMI-TV
CHMI-TV
CHMI-DT is a television station licensed to Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Canada, with most of its operations in Winnipeg. It is part of the Citytv system, and the only Rogers TV station not part of any duopoly ever since CIIT-TV was sold to S-VOX in 2008.-History:The station was licensed by the...
Winnipeg and was later promoted to co-anchor of the 10:00 pm newscast.
Inside Edition
Boyd joined Inside EditionInside Edition
Inside Edition is a thirty-minute American television syndicated news program, first aired on CBS on October 9, 1988. It was originally similar to the programs Hard Copy and A Current Affair, but now more closely resembles a condensed version of breakfast television, exclusively with pre-recorded...
as a correspondent
Correspondent
A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is a journalist or commentator, or more general speaking, an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, location. A foreign correspondent is stationed in a foreign...
in August 2001 and moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to start the job three weeks before the September 11th attacks. He reported from “ground zero” the day of the attacks and investigated the terrorism links in Florida where several of the hijackers spent time in the days leading up to 9/11.
In the early stages of the war in Afghanistan
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
The War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001, as the armed forces of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Afghan United Front launched Operation Enduring Freedom...
Boyd gained access to the dangerous tribal region known as Waziristan
Waziristan
Waziristan is a mountainous region near the Northwest of Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan and covering some 11,585 km² . The area is entirely populated by ethnic Pashtuns . The language spoken in the valley is Pashto/Pakhto...
where he documented the hunt for Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
in early 2002. Boyd was reporting for Inside Edition from Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
when journalist Daniel Pearl
Daniel Pearl
Daniel Pearl was an American journalist who was kidnapped and killed by Al-Qaeda.At the time of his kidnapping, Pearl served as the South Asia Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal, and was based in Mumbai, India. He went to Pakistan as part of an investigation into the alleged links between...
was kidnapped and killed.
During his coverage of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, Boyd was interviewed live on CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
after discovering hand-written messages from Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
in an abandoned Iraqi government office building. The most significant message uncovered by Inside Edition was written by Hussein on March 20, 2003 immediately following the first missile attack in Iraq at Dora Farms and read, “The frivolous criminal Bush and his missiles didn’t hit my house. God has protected us.” Saddam Hussein was captured nine months later.
Inside Edition dispatched Boyd to the scene of the London bombings on July 7, 2005. Later that year, he spent weeks documenting the human tragedy and destruction of Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
.
In 2007, he reported from the campus of the Virginia Tech massacre
Virginia Tech massacre
The Virginia Tech massacre was a school shooting that took place on April 16, 2007, on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States. In two separate attacks, approximately two hours apart, the perpetrator, Seung-Hui Cho, killed 32 people...
the day 32 people were killed by a student gunman. Then in 2009 from Texas, the day of the Fort Hood shooting
Fort Hood shooting
The Fort Hood shooting was a mass shooting that took place on November 5, 2009, at Fort Hood, the most populous U.S. military installation in the world, located just outside Killeen, Texas. In the course of the shooting, a single gunman killed 13 people and wounded 29 others...
that left 13 people dead.
In May 2010, he filed reports on the Time Square car bombing attempt
2010 Times Square car bombing attempt
The attempted car bombing of Times Square on May 1, 2010, was a planned terrorist attack that was foiled when two street vendors discovered the car bomb and alerted a NYPD Patrolman to the car bomb threat after they spotted smoke coming from a vehicle...
and documented the Connecticut apartment of terrorist Faisal Shahzad
Faisal Shahzad
Faisal Shahzad is a Pakistani American who attempted the May 1, 2010, Times Square car bombing. On , 2010, in Federal District Court in Manhattan he confessed to 10 counts arising from the bombing attempt...
.
Boyd reported extensively for Inside Edition during the 2004 and 2008 U.S. presidential elections
United States presidential election
Elections for President and Vice President of the United States are indirect elections in which voters cast ballots for a slate of electors of the U.S. Electoral College, who in turn directly elect the President and Vice President...
and national conventions.
He was named co-anchor of Inside Edition Weekend in July 2003 and he continues in that role today.