America, where he found his first big story: Vilcabamba, often called the valley of longevity and reputed to be one of the sources for modern fountain of youth mythologies. From 1982 to 1984, Burman contributed a dozen essays on international relations to The Globe and Mail. CBC Radio Burman joined the CBC in 1972. He worked for CBC Radio in Montreal as a contributing producer to As It Happens and, later, as executive producer of Cross Country Checkup. Television After working in Montreal as a current affairs story editor with the nightly news program City At Six he moved to Toronto, where he ultimately landed as senior writer on The National under the guidance of Lloyd Robertson (1975–76), Peter Kent (1976–78), and Knowlton Nash (1978–88). From 1980 to 1982, Burman was executive producer of The National and created the redesign of the newscast when it moved in 1982 to its new prime-time slot at 10 p.m. After this, he spent three years based in London (1982–85) for CBC Television news. In London, he and correspondent Brian Stewart were the first North American journalists on the ground to cover the 1984 - 1985 famine in Ethiopia, where they found Birhan Woldu (the "face of famine" that inspired both Live Aid and Live 8). Burman produced many documentaries during his five-year tenure as senior producer with The Journal (1985–90). These included, among others: Nelson Mandela: A Profile, the first television biography of Nelson and Winnie Mandela (Gemini Award nom. 1986); Air India Crash, a film about the bombing of Flight 182 (Canadian Association of Journalists award for Best Documentary 1987); Spanish Civil War: The Last Great Cause, a look back at the Spanish Civil War on its 50th anniversary (Gemini Award 1988); Human Tragedy in the Sudan, about the odyssey of children who marched half way across Sudan to seek refuge in Ethiopia to escape slavery and starvation or death in the civil war raging in their homeland (Michener Award citation of merit 1989); Sudan: Children of Darkness, an inside look at the kidnapping of children as part of the second Sudanese civil war (Gemini Award 1990; Prix UNDA (Unda Dove), Festival de Télévision de Monte-Carlo 1991). In 1989, The Journal also won TV Guide's Most Popular Program Award. From 1990 to 1993, Burman was chief news editor of CBC Television. In 1993, he returned to The National as executive producer, creating