Christopher Waddell is an associate professor and director of Carleton University’s School of Journalism and Communication in Ottawa. He also holds the school’s Carty Chair in Business and Financial Journalism.

He joined Carleton in July 2001 after 10 years at CBC Television News. From 1993 to 2001, he was the network's Parliamentary Bureau Chief in Ottawa. From 1995 to 2001 he was also Executive Producer News Specials for CBC Television, responsible for all national news specials and federal and provincial election and election night coverage during those years.

Between 1984-91 he was at the Globe and Mail where he served in a number of positions including reporter in Report on Business, economics reporter in Ottawa covering among other things the Canada-US free trade negotiations, Ottawa bureau chief in the 1988 federal election In the period from 1990-91 he was associate editor and then national editor of the paper.

He has won two National Newspaper Awards for business reporting and programs he supervised at CBC Television won six Gemini awards for television excellence.

He received a Ph. D in Canadian history from York University in Toronto in 1981, completing a thesis on price and wage controls and consumer rationing in Canada in World War II.

With David Taras of Mount Royal University in Calgary he is the editor of and a contributor to How Canadians Communicate IV: Media and Politics published in May 2012 by Athabaska University Press and How Canadians Communicate V: Sports to be published by Athabaska in 2014.