John Anderson Fraser

John Anderson Fraser, journalist (b at Montréal 5 June 1944). After study at several Canadian and British universities, Fraser worked as music and dance critic at the Toronto Telegram during 1971-72 and at similar duties at the Globe and Mail during 1972-77 before being chosen, rather unexpectedly, to be that newspaper's correspondent in Peking. By chance the term of his assignment, 1977-79, coincided with China's "Tiny Democracy Movement," during which the normally strict controls on the Chinese people were briefly relaxed by the authorities, and Fraser was able to report on aspects of the country ordinarily concealed from western correspondents.

His reports won a National Newspaper Award (his third) in 1978; and his book, The Chinese: Portrait of a People (1980) was a bestseller. His subsequent career, as columnist, editor and European correspondent for the Globe and Mail, was less spectacular. In 1987 he was named editor of Saturday Night magazine. He resigned from Saturday Night in 1994 to concentrate on writing.