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THE HIDDEN GEM OF CBC SPORTS: A WOMAN ON A MISSION
NOVEMBER 26, 2024
AVA PEARSON
A woman on a mission. In an environment where high-quality storytelling and live event coverage take place daily, content creators are the men and women behind your screen who produce those tear-jerking moments of sport. Carla Rawson, producer at CBC, is no stranger to pulling on your heartstrings through multimedia platforms. Rawson covered the Tokyo, Beijing and Paris Olympics, producing content that highlights Canadian athletes’ top moments. With the world’s infamous global crisis of 2020 that upended the Olympics, Canadian broadcast coverage wouldn’t be the same. In a controversial time of the Tokyo Olympics and the aftermath of the Paris 2024 Olympics, producers decide what stories to share, sheltering audiences from the world’s heartache. Rawson was given that privilege. From Tokyo to Paris, Rawson is a woman always on a mission to find the best story.
Rawson didn’t just stumble into her position at CBC by accident. Her journey to becoming a producer culminated in hard work, passion, and a love for sports. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Western University’s MIT (Media Information Technology) Program. In her fourth year in the program, she came to a realization that much of the content she produced was on women’s representation and that fed a lot of the content she would later generate at CBC. Starting as an intern at CBC, Rawson quickly climbed the ranks, becoming an associate producer and then a producer. From the start of her journey at CBC, it was clear Rawson was trusted with a lot of responsibility. With over a thousand people who work on the Olympics, there are only about three people who run CBC’s Social Olympic Coverage: “At CBC, I feel I’ve been handed keys to the cars a lot of the time” (Rawson, 2024).
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, Rawson had been asked to produce content for what would be her first time covering the Olympics. However, as the virus spread and countries began to shut down, the fate of the Olympics became uncertain. By March, it was official: the 2020 Olympics would be postponed to 2021.
When the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics finally took place in 2021, it was a Games unlike any other. The usual fanfare was muted, as international spectators were banned from attending, and athletes competed in near-empty arenas. There was much controversy on whether the athletes should even be participating, putting themselves at risk. From across the globe, Rawson had to adapt to working from home with limited resources to gain all the information needed to help cover the socials and updates during a time of isolation. 2020 was a seismic shift for Rawson, “Tokyo, there was a lot of news, Beijing, there was a lot of news and Paris may be a little bit less so, but like every once in a while, you had to stick on your news cap and make sure that you were telling the story the way it needed to be told” (Rawson, 2024), this was that moment for her.
In a time of crisis, there was no one else to create content that would resonate with Canadians, “I will never forget being in my childhood bedroom, Julia Grosso scores the gold medal winning penalty kick. I’m sitting there crying because, like, who would’ve thought they would’ve won, crying, and I look around, and I’m in my childhood bedroom, just tweeting. I was like, wow, this is like the coolest and the lamest thing that’s ever happened to me”(Rawson, 2024). Rawson Idealizes the humanity of Sports Broadcast creation, tweeting, sharing, and producing major Olympic moments from halfway around the world despite being isolated and alone.
Fast forward to 2024, the world has changed significantly. While the immediate crisis of the pandemic has passed, its effects lingered in many aspects of life, including sports. 2024 shed new light on the Olympics, “I think what Paris gave people, I think especially when you listen to athlete voices, it felt like a real Olympics” (Rawson, 2024). Rawson was once again at the forefront of content creation for the Paris Olympics.This new era is where the power of producers like Rawson is critical, “now we’re in an era of like TikTok and social, so many athletes were able to find a voice on social media and share their experience and find relevance, I think beyond just their events” (Rawson, 2024). Whether it’s the story of an athlete overcoming personal adversity or the major medal moments of Paris, Rawson left no stone unturned when sharing with Canadians the stories that mattered.
Rawson’s colleagues would agree, describing her as quick, creative, detail-oriented, somewhat ridiculous at times but ultimately takes her job very seriously. Always striving for the best, Rawson prides herself on producing high-quality content. Who knew competition went beyond the athletes, “I also view social media as something you can win, which is very toxic and something that you can’t do. But I think in a way that how can I do the story the most justice? How do I help this clip do the best it can? How do I help the show find its audience?” (Rawson, 2024), Rawson finds a way to compete alongside the Olympians and with the content she produces.
In an environment where high-quality storytelling and live event coverage take place daily, content creators are the men and women behind your screen who produce those tear-jerking moments of sport. From moments of global uncertainty, like the Tokyo Olympics during the pandemic, to the vibrancy of the Paris 2024 Games, Rawson’s work has connected audiences with the human side of sports. Her ability to adapt, innovate, and capture the essence of athletic triumphs in the highest level of competition in sport, with an eye for detail and a heart for the stories that resonate with Canadians. Whether behind the screen or on the front of Olympic coverage, she remains a woman on a mission—sharing stories that inspire and unite.“There are obvious things when you watch sports, and then there are the little gems, and I think the gems I find are so special and so important” (Rawson, 2024).
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