01.22.2020 03:46 PM

Barton out at National, Hanomansing continues to be underused

Sounds like the CBC.

NOTE FROM ROB RUSSO

Hello all,

We are delighted to announce that a formidable editorial weapon is being added to CBC’s political reporting arsenal: Rosemary Barton moves into a new multiplatform role as the Ottawa Bureau’s chief political correspondent, the first female journalist in this role for CBC News. The title might sound familiar but this is a 2020 version of the role and in many ways will be an evolution that makes sense from her current role. Rosemary will lead special coverage, host political specials, conduct headline interviews and provide analysis, contextual reporting and documentaries for The National and our destination radio programs. The growing audience for Party Lines will welcome Rosemary back when the show is relaunched next week and her digital profile will expand to include regular analytical texts. She will do all this while continuing to shepherd the weekly televised and digital offering of At Issue on The National. Rosemary will be joined in the bureau by Phil Ling whose producing and reporting skills has served the bureau and the entire report in immeasurable ways. Phil will also be pivotal to the developing of a new top-flight political presence for Rosemary for CBC News. These additions represent a considerable muscling-up of our political reporting. The aim is to provide value-added news that complements the robust reporting coming from Ottawa ahead of a Conservative leadership race and a minority mandate that will see the Liberal government perched on a knife’s edge. Rosemary has already shown she is a wise mentor and editorial leader. I will be counting on her leadership to help make this bureau the best place to work in journalism. She will take on these new duties immediately while reporting jointly to leadership in Toronto and Ottawa. Let’s congratulate Rosemary and Phil.

NOTE FROM CHAD PAULIN

All – Today we are announcing changes to The National which will further position and support the broadcast as Canada’s nightly destination newscast. Television news viewership is driven by consistency, both in format and in presentation. Our audience told us they want to know what they can expect night to night: who will bring them the news and how it will be delivered. We listened. This season we have slowly introduced measures that lead to a more consistent program – including tweaks to our format and sharpened hosting roles. The National will now be broadcast from the Toronto studio with co-hosts Adrienne Arsenault and Andrew Chang, Monday through Thursday. We quietly made this change weeks ago. Effective immediately, it is permanent. Adrienne will continue to bring viewers to the heart of major stories, with frequent hosting from the field – as we’ve seen this season with road shows in Hong Kong, Halifax, Washington, Montreal, London and – this week – St. John’s. When Adrienne isn’t hosting on location, she brings the world home with in-depth reports, hosting alongside Andrew in studio. Andrew Chang skillfully guides viewers through the news of the day, with a special focus on stories that play out in the daily lives of Canadians – from health news to tech trends – and a renewed focus on newsmaking interviews with notable Canadians. Ian Hanomansing will solo-host the Friday and Sunday editions of The National from Vancouver and contribute special reports across the week, with a spotlight on Alberta and British Columbia. Ian and the Vancouver team will also continue to ensure we can update the program with breaking news in later editions – as we saw recently with the downing of Flight 752. And, as announced by Rob Russo today, Rosemary Barton is taking on a cross-platform role as CBC News’ Chief Political Correspondent. In this new position, Rosemary will bring her unmatched political insight to all of CBC News – including digital, podcasts, radio, and television political specials. She will continue to bring analysis to The National, including contextual reporting, long-form stories and key political interviews. Rosemary will also continue to host At Issue. The success of The National will be measured by our journalism and its ability to connect with Canadians. In these early weeks of 2020, viewers have turned to us to make sense of significant news events. These changes – effective immediately – will support that crucial work.

Chad Paulin Executive Producer, The National

 

8 Comments

  1. Pedant says:

    I’m sorry but…. LMAO! That’s what they call more consistent?? I agree that they should just give full hosting duties to Hanomansing already. If he prefers to stay in Vancouver, then simply shift the show from Toronto to Vancouver. What’s the problem?

    And while they are trying desperately to make their programming more geographically diverse, I presume they won’t do the same ideologically or philosophically. All Canadians will still be obliged to pay for a network that only knows centre-left, far-left, and alt-left.

  2. Chris Sigvaldason says:

    Maybe paying four people to do one person’s job is not such a smart use of government funds, even in Trudeau’s Canada. CBC must really be spooked by the precipitous drop in advertising dollars and viewership numbers. I wonder how the CBC supper-hour newscasters and crews are feeling right now, with their microscopic ratings?

  3. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Yeah, it’s unmatched political insight like that that earns you an F in Journalism 101.

  4. joe says:

    “A formidable editorial weapon”?

    So is this confirmation that as a reporter she was heavily biased?

  5. Mark D says:

    Does anyone even watch CBC anymore?

    I love Radio-Canada, but I cannot for the life of me recall the last time I actually found something broadcast on CBC to be interesting.

  6. William Morrison says:

    “Canada’s nightly destination newscast”. Thanks for my morning laugh CBC…

  7. Steve says:

    CBC TV is irrelevant; has been for decades, but even moreso since the world has gone digital. The whole reason for having a CBC was to provide broadcast services where it it was not economically viable for a private sector operator to set up shop. But even the most remote areas of the country can be served through satellite and internet service, and can receive content literally from around the world.

    Better that the money currently going to the CBC each year be redirected to further upgrades of the telecom infrastructure in remote areas to improve internet access. We already have two other national broadcasters, not directly supported by tax dollars; we no longer need a third.

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