Dyeing her hair in a Baghdad bunker: Lisa LaFlamme gets candid in NYT interview

All of Canada came out in support of veteran journalist Lisa LaFlamme last year, after she was ousted from her CTV position by Bell Media unexpectedly.

“On June 29, I was informed that Bell Media made a quote, ‘business decision,’ to end my contract bringing to a sudden close my long career with CTV News,” she said in a video posted on Twitter in August, 2022. “I was blindsided. And I’m still shocked and saddened by Bell Media’s decision.”

Following the incident, LaFlamme’s grey hair, which allegedly played a role in CTV cutting ties with her, became a major topic of discussion. The 58-year-old journalist had begun dyeing it in her twenties due to premature greying, and stopped doing so due to salon lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ouster expanded the conversation on ageism and sexism in journalism.

Now, LaFlamme has opened up about her journey as a female reporter in a new feature interview with The New York Times, written by Norimitsu Onishi.

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“People are so amazingly kind. The support has been mind-blowing,” she told Onishi. “It’s really been a shock to me.”

LaFlamme also talked in depth about her hair. “The most comments I ever received were not for months in Baghdad or Afghanistan, or any story, but when I let my hair grow grey — bar none.”

She added that the comments on her social media are 98% positive, and those that leave mean comments are “summarily destroyed on social media because women do support women.”

LaFlamme told stories from her early days as an on-field reporter, colouring her hair in the bare-bones bathroom of a Baghdad bunker with some over-the-counter dye.

She further went on to share “vivid memories of not being taken seriously” as a female reporter. Senior journalists laughed at her stories and perfectly professional clothing choices.

“How is anybody going to take you seriously in that?” one told her while she was sporting a blue suit with a skirt.

The interview will be featured in The New York Times’ “The Saturday Profile” section this weekend. You can read the paywalled article here.