Martin Seemungal

Martin Seemungal is the Middle East correspondent for CTV. Joining CTV News in 2011 was a homecoming Seemungal, who served as a CTV Ottawa reporter early in his career, from 1984 to 1988.

Since his return to CTV, Seemungal has reported history unfolding with his coverage of the Arab Spring, and he was in Egypt for the Tahrir Square revolution and the fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Seemungal reported on the death of Gadafi from Libya, and continues to deliver ongoing coverage of crises in Syria as Middle East Bureau Chief.

Seemungal’s stories have taken him from the violent townships of apartheid South Africa to wars in the Persian Gulf, Somalia, Afghanistan and Angola, to the genocide in Rwanda.  Seemungal has a vast knowledge of developing world issues, with a focus on Africa, where he lived and worked as a foreign correspondent for more than 20 years. In 2004, Seemungal’s portrayal of the devastation in Sudan’s Darfur region for ABC World News Tonight With Peter Jennings earned him a second Emmy Award for Outstanding Continuing News Coverage. In 2002, Seemungal won his first Emmy for Outstanding Coverage of a Current News Story while reporting on the Congo for ABC News Nightline With Ted Koppel.  

Travelling the world as a foreign correspondent for CBC, ABC, CBS and PBS, Seemungal reported on diverse stories including the Ethiopian famine of 1984; the Tsunami in Asia; man-made catastrophes like the crisis in Eastern Congo; the Christmas earthquake that leveled Iran; the death of Pope John Paul II; Saddam Hussein’s capture; and the spectacular volcano eruption in Congo.

Born and raised in Belleville, ON, Seemungal earned a diploma in Television Broadcasting from Loyalist College in 1980.

Career Highlights:

• Nominated for an Emmy Award for coverage on 21st Century Africa for PBS / Worldfocus, 2009
• Won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Continuing News Coverage of a News Story in a Regularly Scheduled Newscast, ABC World News Tonight With Peter Jennings. “Hidden War: Genocide in Darfur”, 2004
• Won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Coverage of a Current News Story – Long Form. ABC News Nightline With Ted Koppel. “Heart of Darkness”, 2003
• Won the Peabody Award: ABC NEWS NIGHTLINE WITH TED KOPPEL. “Heart of Darkness”, 2002