Personalities - Bridge City News

Anchors

Hal Roberts News Director

Hal is a veteran journalist with 30 years in the industry. He worked as a parliamentary reporter on the Hill interviewing federal leaders and cabinet ministers. Hal also covered the Ottawa terrorist attack in 2014, and has worked as an anchor/reporter in Toronto, Peterborough and Calgary. He worked as a reporter and anchor for business shows airing on BNN, Global and CHCH-TV. During his 10 year radio career he hosted a show called Roberts on the Road on KG Country. Hal was blessed to win a few awards in his career including one as TV News Director for Bridge City News and another as Senior Producer for a TV show on human trafficking which aired on YES TV. Hal is a born and raised Calgarian. His first job upon graduating the Broadcasting program at Mount Royal College (University) was working the 1988 Winter Olympics for CTV. He was also fortunate to land a role in the Hollywood Blockbuster “Arrival” as a TV news anchor. The film starred Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker. Hal is proud to be leading a team of passionate and talented journalists in Lethbridge, Alberta.

Jeannette Rocher

Jeannette is a graduate of the Creative Communications program at Red River College in Winnipeg where she studied Broadcast Journalism. After completing an internship with the CBC, she embarked on her journalism career by moving overseas to take a job on the island of Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands. While overseas she covered stories in Fiji, Guam and Japan including the 2011 tsunami that hit Japan and its surrounding islands. She covered a mass shooting, an Earth quake, the disappearance of two little girls, murder cases and other huge court cases. In 2013 she moved to Alberta where she covered the devastating floods of High River and Medicine Hat for CTV News. She then went on to produce and host Go! Southern Alberta for Shaw TV.

Video Journalists

Naveen Day

Naveen’s career in broadcast and production spans close to 30 years. Prior to his move to Alberta, he was Senior Producer for two factual entertainment shows for Shaw and BellMTS, which were produced in his hometown of Winnipeg. He also served as a Producer and Production Supervisor at one of Canada’s largest and fastest growing churches, and helped lead a production team of 75 volunteers. Naveen came on board with the team at Bridge City News in 2018 and performs on both sides of the camera lens as Producer, Editor, Production Coordinator, Back-up Anchor, Interview Host, and Video Journalist. In February 2022, Naveen went to Ottawa to provide daily, boots-on-the-ground coverage of the Freedom Convoy – an experience he describes as a monumental moment in Canadian history. He is also a recipient of an Excellence Award from the 2023 Communicator Awards in New York for a news piece he did on Alberta’s disability workers.

Heidi Echavarria

Heidi was born in Bogota, Colombia and lived there until she was 18, then she moved to Caracas, Venezuela where she finished a bachelor’s degree in journalism. Since 2010 she covered political issues related to the government of former president Hugo Chávez and his political opponents, management, death and transition to a new government. Likewise, Heidi did research, wrote chronicles, reports and news in the social, community, and cultural areas. In 2019, Heidi, along with her husband and three children, moved to Aurora, Ontario where she worked at Teen Challenge Canada. In September 2023, she moved to Lethbridge, Alberta, and is finishing her diploma in Addictions and Community Health. In 2024, she joined Miracle Channel team as a Video Journalist to produce a wide range of stories including those which are faith based glorifying Jesus Christ.

Correspondents

Lisa Daftari

Lisa Daftari is an award-winning investigative journalist focusing on foreign affairs with expertise in the Middle East and counter terrorism. She is a political analyst and commentator who frequently appears on Fox News, CBS, NBC, PBS, Voice of America and SiriusXM. She has been interviewed in Spanish, English and Persian (Farsi). Lisa also serves as director and founding editor of The Foreign Desk, a newswire service launched in late 2015 covering stories from around the globe.

Brian Lilley

Brian Liley has covered politics across Canada for the last 17 years. Starting in radio Montreal covering local politics and the PQ government of the day before moving up to Ottawa. He spent five years as the Ottawa Bureau Chief for Canada’s largest private radio network before helping launch Sun News Network where he hosted a show and wrote columns for the Sun papers. He currently hosts Beyond the News in Ottawa.

Tyler Dawson

Tyler Dawson is the Alberta correspondent for the National Post, based in Edmonton. A graduate of Carleton University’s journalism program, he was previously the deputy editorial pages editor at the Ottawa Citizen/Sun and has worked for the Edmonton Journal and the Quebec community newspaper the Low Down to Hull and Back News.

We want to help you share your message with our loyal viewers.

Right now, we’re offering great advertising rates to help you effectively promote your organization to our engaged and loyal audience.
‍
We know that what you do is important and has value for our viewers. We want to work with you as we anticipate people going back to work, children once again playing in the parks, and friends and family meeting at churches and restaurants.

For all advertising inquiries, please contact:
Michael Klassen
Account Manager
michael.klassen@bridgecitynews.ca