Matthew

Amha Legenet

matthew.amha@gmail.com

Matthew Amha is a Toronto-based reporter, host, and producer with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, where he appears as a national news host on CBC Radio One, as well as a regular on-air commentator and culture critic. At present, he works as a producer and guest host of the CBC’s daily news podcast, Front Burner. He has previously functioned as host and producer of the CBC podcast ‘THE AFRICAS vs AMERICA,’ among other programs. More generally, his work has appeared at the international, national, and local levels in television, radio, and podcasts. His writing has also featured in the pages of Canada’s national current affairs magazine, Maclean’s.

MATTHEW AMHA

reporter, host & producer

 
Host & Producer, The Africas vs AMERICA

To those that remember, it’s known simply as the bombing of West Philly. In the spring of 1985, the City of Philadelphia became the first in U.S. history to drop a bomb on a family of American citizens. The attack killed 11 people, including five children, and the ensuing fire set a neighborhood to ruins. The targets that day? A family of Black radicals known collectively as MOVE, who found themselves ensnared in a city — and nation’s — domestic war on Black Liberation. Over seven episodes, host Matthew Amha investigates the events that culminated in the MOVE bombing, and the long afterlife of a forgotten American tragedy.

‘THE AFRICAS vs AMERICA’ was recognized with nominations in the categories of ‘Best History Podcast,’ ‘Best Documentary Podcast’ and ‘Best Limited Series’ at the 2023 Ambie, Webby and NABJ awards, respectively.

Select Works

‘Book bans and Black history in Florida’

‘Niger, and an era of mutiny in Africa's Sahel region’

‘Iraq still suffers, 20 years after invasion’

Guest Host & Producer, CBC's Front Burner

CBC Front Burner is the CBC's award-winning daily news podcast, providing listeners with a shortcut to a deeper understanding of the news of the day, from a distinctly Canadian perspective. It is Canada's leading daily news podcast.

Guest host, Day 6 on cbc radio one

Day 6 is a news magazine show that delivers a surprising take on the week.

Matthew appeared as a guest host of CBC Radio’s national news magazine show, Day 6. Topics covered include a discussion regarding the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov, the condition of Afghan women following the passage of the Taliban’s new morality laws, an interview with the sole member of the Palestinian delegation at the 2024 Paralympic games; a conversation with the most prolific video game actor of all time about why her peers have hit the picket line, and a conversation about ‘limitarianism’ and the prospect of a cap on the ultra wealthy. 

Producer & writer, Flamethrowers

“The Flamethrowers” captures the punch-you-in-the-mouth energy and sound of right-wing talk radio. Host Justin Ling takes us from the fringe preachers and conspiracy peddlers of the 1920s to the political firestorm that rages today. With humour and candour, Ling examines the appeal of broadcasters like Rush Limbaugh, who found a sleeping audience, radicalized it, and became an accidental kingmaker — culminating in the election of Donald Trump.

Select Works

Assorted works from The Current, The National & Q.

CBC's 'The National,' 'The Current,' and 'Q' are award-winning national flagship news and arts programs. 

Cultural  Criticism, CBC Commotion

On Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us,’ the gulf between Black America and Black Toronto, and a referendum on Drake’s Blackness.

On Rema’s sophomore record ‘HEIS,’ Africanity, music as a bulwark against assimilation, and the ‘wakandafication’ of African art.

ELLE Canada recently published an article celebrating 8 influential Canadian women. However after getting some backlash, they made changes to the piece online, and those changes are not sitting well with a lot of people. Elamin chats with Niko Stratis, Michelle Cyca, and Matt Amha about the controversy.

Big laughs. Smart takes. Every day. Commotion is where you go for thoughtful and vibrant conversations about all things pop culture. Host Elamin Abdelmahmoud calls on journalists, critics, creators and friends to talk through the biggest arts & entertainment stories of the day, in 30 minutes or less.

Matthew appears as a regular on-air contributor and culture critic on CBC Radio's flagship pop culture program 'Commotion.' Topics range from the nationalistic underpinnings of Kendrick Lamar's 'Not Like Us,' to a dissection of Rema's sophomore record 'HEIS' and the embrace of radical African cultural production.

FREElance Reporting & writing

Reportage & writing, Maclean’s magazine:

Media criticism:

The Invisible Africa:

‘Why have media portrayals of the African continent remained so firmly entrenched in voyeurism, cliché and indifference?’

The Objectivity Trap

This summer marked a reckoning on race in journalism that demands a fundamental reordering of conventional wisdom.

Black hockey players on loving a sport that doesn’t love them back

‘In 2020, hockey’s racial reckoning came to a head. Here, 10 Black hockey players share their experiences with racism on the ice.’

What Americans tend to get wrong about racism in Canada

‘NBA star Draymond Green’s ill-informed comments about Black Lives Matter in Canada have inspired a broader debate about the Black-Canadian freedom struggle’

Select Works

Assorted works:

Recent work history

CBC The Current,
2021

CBC Radio

CBC Podcasts, 2021-2023

CBC News

CBC Q, 2019-2021

CBC Podcasts

CBC The National,
2018-2019

CBC Television

CBC Front Burner,
2018-2019 & 2023

CBC Streaming