[2] As a result of the Great Depression, Stursberg's parents suffered a reversal in their economic status and moved to a farm on Vancouver Island.
Curious about the situation in Europe, he embarked on a tour of the continent in 1938 visiting France, Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and the Soviet Union where he was briefly detained for a visa violation.
[2] With the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Stursberg returned to Canada to join the Vancouver Daily Province.
[citation needed] Stursberg spent his career as a foreign correspondent, newspaper editor, television newscaster and commentator, and author.
He was recognised as one of the best Canadian correspondents of the Second World War, reporting for CBC Radio from the front lines in Italy and France.
[citation needed] Stursberg joined Ernest Bushnell to apply for a license for what became CJOH Television in Ottawa.
"[6] Through his ancestors Captain Shaw and his Japanese wife, Stursberg is related to former British Conservative leader, Iain Duncan Smith.