[1] For three years she did writing and researching for the Canadian War Museum[1] before her leap to journalism when she began hosting a CBC Ottawa television magazine.
[2] In 1981 she became co-host with Barbara Frum of CBC Television's nightly current affairs program, The Journal.
[1] In that year she became host of CBC Radio's current affairs program Sunday Morning, where she remained until the spring of 1994.
[2] Finlay became co-host with Barbara Budd of As It Happens on September 1, 1997, having to cover the death of Diana, Princess of Wales on her first day.
In 2008, she released The As It Happens Files: Radio That May Contain Nuts (Knopf Canada), a book of reminiscences of her time on the show.