In 1988, Duffy joined Baton Broadcasting as the first host of its Sunday morning news program "Sunday Edition" based in Ottawa. When that series ended in 1999, Duffy moved to his role as a show host and interviewer with CTV Newsnet (now the CTV News Channel). Long known as an "Ottawa insider", he was able to get many elected officials to appear on his programs. Duffy hosted two programs on CTV Newsnet, "Countdown with Mike Duffy" and "Mike Duffy Live", which was broadcast in the supper hour news slot. Duffy was also a popular speaker at conferences, annual meetings and other events across Canada and, writer Stevie Cameron noted in her 1990 book "Ottawa Inside Out", was probably the most-recognized journalist on Parliament Hill.