The license, if approved, would have forced cable and satellite company to carry the upstart station as part of the basic cable package, and forced consumers to pay the licensing fee.

The fees could have been substantial. CBC News Network earns up to $65 million a year from cable fees. Both CBC News Network and CTV News Channel currently hold the mandatory license, but they are being unwound.

Granting the license would have been an embarrassing about-face for the CRTC. They have previously said they would not grant any more must-carry licenses for news channels.

It would also have cast doubt of the CRTC’s independence given that Sun TV News is being headed up by Kory Teneycke a former high-level Tory operative.

For the CBC, the license decision means that CBC News Network will compete on a level playing field with Sun TV News once the CBC’s license is unwound.

Teneycke discussed the application with Kathleen Petty on her show, The House, in a testy interview last on June.

Norman Specter lead the charge in the Globe on yesterday:

How embarrassing it must be for the Corporation — centre of all that is “progressive” and a paragon of diversity — that both Ms. Friesen and CTV’s Lisa LaFlamme have broken through the glass ceiling, while [the CBC is] still stuck in a single-X-chromosome world in the anchor chair

This odd ode lead to the CBC’s Senior Washington correspondent Neil Macdonald to respond in a letter to the editor today. Macdonald wrote:

Norman Spector seems to think the CBC should immediately replace Peter on the grounds of his gender, just because the other two anchors are women (TV’s Last Man Standing – July 14). Perhaps that’s Mr. Spector’s background as a government functionary asserting itself, but speaking as a career reporter, I’m encouraged to see Canadian television news maintain a highly visible meritocracy.

Incidentally, I seem to recall Barbara Frum anchoring The Journal and Pam Wallin co-anchoring CBC’s The National. But I am sure Mr. Spector, as an expert commentator on the Canadian media, had some reason for overlooking their accomplishments.

In a article in yesterday’s National Post, Stursberg said

Maybe a few observations about “bias” are in order, from an organization that has been accused of bias from most points of the political compass for much of its nearly 75-year history.

Here’s the thing. Rabid partisans — of whatever view — will never agree with the CBC’s coverage of their areas of interest, unless we provide unqualified and uncritical support for their opinions. Nothing else will do. Everything else looks like “bias.”

Our news is never — and can never be — usefully addressed to those whose minds are already made up.

The CBC has been facing complaints of bias for weeks prior to the launch of Sun TV News, a new conservative-slanted all-news channel.

Kory Teneycke, a former communications director in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office is behind the new venture. During the launch event last Tuesday he said CBC News is boring:

Canadian TV news today is narrow, it’s complacent and it’s politically correct. It’s bland and boring. Our aim is not to bore people to death, we’ll leave that to the CBC.

In the months since the October relaunch, The National has in many ways returned to a calmer format. The new set remains, but the stories and nightly lineup have strengthened. The choreography has largely been done away with in favour of the camera focused on Mansbridge standing behind the desk. This can be credited to the show’s leadership under Harrison and Whitten, both of whom Stewart says kept the show functioning during the relaunch. Plus, they have succeeded in breaking away from what Whitten calls the traditional newscast format of intro, item, repeat. The National has been flashy, yes, but it’s also been consistently interesting.

Harrison and Whitten are both sensitive to the impact on the audience, but they also feel the show had to respond to the times if it were to continue. Whitten points to The National’s website and 10-minute downloadable podcast (updated every weekday at 6 p.m. ET before the main broadcast) as examples of the show’s attempts to adapt to the times. “It’s recognizing that, 10 years from now, are people really going to be still sitting waiting for 10 o’clock at night to get the news? And The National is a hugely important brand for CBC, so why have people wait until 10 o’clock at night?” Whitten says. “This was a pretty wide-ranging change in the way we do things. It didn’t really involve the set and whether Peter stood or not. And I think that gets kind of lost in a lot of the hubbub.”

The whole article is available here.

The report describes itself as “the most comprehensive and detailed examination” of CBC News in history. It was commissioned in January 2009 and this is the first glimpse at the findings. These interim findings are being released following weeks of criticism that CBC news coverage has a left-wing bias.

The executive summary of the report deals with both the tone of the CBC reporting and the amount of coverage the government receives. “Overall, the tone of CBC news is very close to that on competing sources,” the report says, noting that the tone on The National is very close to that on Global and CTV.

The study also looked at how much interview time each party received on from CBC News on both radio and TV at the network level. “The Conservatives had 70% of the interview time and the opposition parties 30%,” the study says. Comparing that to other networks, “the Conservatives had 74% of federal interview time on The National, 67% on the CTV National News, and 55% on Global National.”

Jennifer McGuire, the general manager and editor in chief of CBC News had this to say as the report was released:

Journalism isn’t a science. It isn’t a business. It’s unpredictable, sometimes chaotic. It’s frequently criticized. Some of our critics have skin in the game – the coverage we offer can have a material effect on their fortunes, as in the world of politics. We understand that.

In evaluating our political coverage, we see that the government gets more coverage than opposition. We have also evaluated the tone of our political coverage (with stories categorized as “positive,” “neutral” or “negative”). The majority of the coverage is neutral. However, the government attracts both more negative and more positive coverage than the opposition. Coverage of the opposition is more likely to be neutral. This is perhaps not surprising, since it is the government that makes decisions and is held accountable — and criticized — for them.

The interim report is available here.

The executive summary is available here.

The full report will be available later in the fall.

What do you think of the findings so far?

CBC president Hubert Lacroix aims to find out.

According to the Ottawa Sun:

The CBC has commissioned a study to determine whether its news is biased, the president of the public broadcaster told the Senate finance committee this week.

“Our job — and we take it seriously — is to ensure that the information that we put out is fair and unbiased in everything that we do,” CBC President Hubert Lacroix said.

He said CBC asked outside experts to conduct an independent review of its news gathering and delivery last year.

Lacroix’s comments come on the heels of weeks of criticism from Conservative loyalists who disagreed with the CBC’s decision not to acknowledge that one of its house pollsters and frequent guest on the air also donated substantial sums to the Liberal Party. There’s more on that here.

The study itself was commissioned in January 2009. Results are expected this fall.

What do you think? Is the CBC biased?

Conservative party strategists continue to accuse the CBC of a liberal bias.

On Friday Tory supporters seized on a viewer-inspired poll that came from a former Liberal candidate.

This is the latest round in an ongoing war of words between conservative loyalists and the CBC. The whole thing started weeks ago when Frank Graves, a pollster who frequently appears on Power & Politics with Evan Solomon, admitted that he had given the Liberal Party some advice on wedge politics. “I told them that they should invoke a culture war,” he said to the Globe and Mail at the time.

That provoked Doug Finley, a conservative strategist who is often described as Stephen Harper’s political hammer, to send out a fund-raising letter to the party faithful. “This episode demonstrates – once again – that we Conservatives are up against a powerful array of vested interests,” Finley wrote.

He then pleaded with them to fight back by first writing to the CBC ombudsman, and second by making a contribution “to the Conservative Party of $200 or $100 right now by following this link. Unlike the Liberals, we can’t count on the vested interests.”

Some Conservatives took Finley’s appeal to heart.

John Walsh, president of the Conservative Party of Canada, sent a  letter to the CBC ombudsman suggesting that the CBC’s relationship with Frank Graves, the pollster, is improper, because the CBC hasn’t acknowledged his political affiliations. Over the last few years Graves has donated $11,000 to the Liberals.

The whole thing then landed on Jennifer McGuire’s desk. She’s the boss of CBC News.

McGuire said the CBC uses Grave’s polling firm because it won the selection process. She said one of the criteria of that process is that polling firms have to “make a specific declaration that they were not affiliated with any political party.” She also said that the CBC confirmed that Graves has no client relationship with the Liberal party, but “we do not require firms or individuals to report on their voting history or donations to political organizations.”

“We believe that his commentary… is within the bounds of normal political analysis and discourse,” McGuire said.

Whether you agree with McGuire or not, it’s worth remembering one thing.

The CBC has become a lightning rod for both the right and the left.

And in both cases the cycle is essentially the same: furious accusations closely followed by fund-raising.

The whole ordeal reminds me of previous efforts from the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting.

The last time they rattled the cup, they said they’d learnt of secret Conservative plans to slash the CBC budget. Only a donation could save the CBC.

It’s essentially the same tune this time, a Goliath of well-funded vested-interests up against a flat-broke David. And once again the CBC is stuck in the middle.

The move surprised many because Global’s early evening national newscast is pulling in solid numbers, and, he could have easily stayed on for another several more years.

Newman said he has no future plans. He said he’s going to take a break for a while and re-evaluate. “Time for rest and renewal. After 10 amazing years August 20th will be my last Global National. Lots of time to say good-bye,” he wrote on his Twitter account.

The move has led to speculation that Newman may have his eye set on hosting the national newscast at CBC or CTV. Howard Bernstein, a former TV producer for CBC, Global and CTV, said he believes Newman’s agent has already been contact by CBC, CTV or both.

I have no concrete information on this, but there has been so much talk for over a year that I have to believe where there is smoke there must be fire.

He also said with The National’s revamp, Newman might be the right fit. “If younger and flashier is what CBC wants, Peter is not the flavor of the day anymore. Is Kevin Newman the right person to replace Peter? Is there anyone else?” he wrote.

The survey results paint a dispiriting picture of morale amongst national radio news reporters.

The survey revealed that 90 per cent of the reporters feel that the ‘radio culture’ is much worse than it was a year ago, many of them felt that the storytelling ideals of depth, intelligence, and investigation were disappearing under the news integration process.

The radio news division has for years maintained a strong concept of a unique radio ‘culture’. Ninety per cent of the reporters said this culture is an important factor in the success of the service. But they also said it’s in jeopardy. “Our culture is dying,” one reporter commented.

Most of the comments revolved around the loss of radio craft, the increased workload, and the perception that TV staff don’t understand radio and yet they’re swamping radio positions, especially senior positions.

Now before everyone gets the impression that this survey is indicative of a crisis at CBC News, it’s worth noting that this was a survey of less than 30 national radio reporters.

It doesn’t paint a picture of morale at the CBC in general, or even at CBC News in general. Nevertheless it does point to a problem in some quarters.

“The problem is not the HUB per se. The problem is that radio news has been overwhelmed by TV and no one up there seems to realize it or more importantly, care,” a reporter commented.

The survey was done in the wake of the news integration, in which the assignment desks for radio, online and television were brought together under the same department, called the Hub, to better coordinate and assign the news gathering process.

Cathy Perry, the Executive Producer of CBC News, was instrumental in creating the Hub.

“We’ve all been through a tremendous amount of change. And not all of it has been easy,” she said.

Perry, who worked in radio news for years, also said “radio assignment was the thing we changed the least… We hoped to protect radio in the issues of assignment and craft.”

“We still have radio reporters whose primary responsibly is radio. And TV reporters whose primary responsible is TV, because we want to protect their craft,” she said.

But she admitted that the integration has been hard, “It’s a learning process for everybody,” she said.

That sentiment was echoed last December by Todd Spencer, the Executive Director of News Content in a note to staff. He said the Hub had notched some significant achievements since it launched, but “it’s not perfect.” He wrote that there are no overnight successes in a change of this magnitude.

Perry said that the management team within news is reacting to the survey. She said they had a conference call about it, and they’re trying to make some immediate changes to address the concerns of the radio reporters. She said there are ongoing discussions about other changes.

“We’re talking about how to make the hub work better for everybody.”

We’ve had a bit of revolution, we brought everybody together. it hasn’t been easy, but the hub is only six months old.”

I asked her if these issues are growing pains, or something else. To which she replied it’s hard to tell. “If we’re still having this conversation in 5 years, then we’ll know.”

Perry said that she thought it was unfortunate that the survey ended up online. “I think we just hurt each other here,” by doing that, she said. “We should be able to have these debates and share opinions without having it go out on the internet.”

In a post on the MacLeans blog Dunn says:

Known mainly for her work on CBC’s Marketplace, and a regular contributor to The National, Mesley has that extra something, that star quality that Mansbridge has always lacked. Armed with all of the credentials for the job, including three decades of reporting experience, Mesley also connects big-time, diving headfirst through that lens and into the hearts of the audience… Crusty old judges and mean-spirited spinsters all like Mesley. A modern day Mary Tyler Moore—warm and human, making the occasional flub, as she tilts her head one way, then the other with that disarming grin, anchor Mesley keeps gaining fans.

What do you think of Mesley’s work on The National or Marketplace?

When the show launched in October the Lang and O’Leary Exchange ran half an hour between 4:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern, not an great TV time slot. Now, starting March 1st the show will run a full hour between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. The new prime-time spot for Lang and O’Leary means Mark Kelley’s show Connect, will lose an hour, chopping its original two hour slot in half.

Additionally Lang will also provide a business update at 4:30 during Carole MacNeil’s show, which was also given an extra half hour. Lang seems to have made a positive impression at the CBC since she joined the corporation, she frequently appears on The National and has hosted the flagship news program several times since she came over from BNN last fall.

Jennifer McGuire, general manager and editor-in-chief of CBC News didn’t say what prompted the change, but did say in a press release that “Viewer feedback to the new CBC News Network has been extremely positive.”

Now before you dismiss the quote from McGuire as spin, I should tell you that I spoke with CBC spokesperson Jeff Keay to find out where McGuire was coming from. Keay said that despite the the reaction online, the CBC got “extremely positive” feedback from a bunch of focus group testing after the relaunch.

Shortly after the earthquake struck in Haiti, Kim Fox, the social media producer at CBC News, started working on a photo site to help friends and family in their search for loved ones.

The site currently has 315 submissions, and it not only does it put a human face on the scale of the disaster in Haiti, but in some cases it has also helped find the missing.

“We have these tools, we use them everyday to get content, as far as I’m concerned if I can leverage the CBC’s web site and it’s traffic to help get the word out, you never know how you’re going to connect people.” she said, adding that some of the people in the pictures have been found alive and some had been found dead.

The project is a novel example of the ability of the internet to crowd-source content and make connections. “That’s what this project is about. It’s about really trying to create a common space to communicate and share information.”

“On the gallery we’re just trying to provide the service, we’re not rescue workers, but we’ve sent emails to rescue organizations to try and spread the word.”

The Google Person Finder is another site that news organizations are using to help connect families with victims of the earthquake.

Greg Quill of the Toronto Star wasn’t overly impressed, in his article “CBC’s revamped The National glitzy but a little contrived” he wrote:

Reporters and host Mansbridge are a little overexcited with their impressive new circumstances and crackling format. There was certainly a breathless, first-date ambience to last night’s debut presentation, and a few smirks.

Meanwhile the Toronto Sun told the story of how “American consultants helped in CBC makeover”

Canada’s public broadcaster’s new look was partly crafted with the help of American consultants… CBC’s new focus on breaking news, faster graphics and personalities was evident on the first day of its re-launch. But some changes, such as anchor Amanda Lang’s clear glass desk with view of her legs, surprised industry watchers.

Over at the Maclean’s blog, Paul Wells wrote:

It needs to be said that the stem-to-gudgeon relaunch of CBC news today — radio, cable network, flagship newscast, website — shows a hearty re-dedication to the proposition that news matters, and that the public broadcaster should be putting news at the centre of its mission, that should be applauded….

But the CBC relaunch is a bit of a mixed bag. The deeper news hole is, clearly, a hell of a challenge to fill on a day when there actually isn’t all that much going on in the world. And no amount of frenetic urgency from a dizzying succession of hosts, all of them bolt upright on hind legs as though they had been forbidden the use of their asses (jazz hands, everyone! Motion motion motion!) can substitute for the purposeful use of the extra time the network has allotted itself.

The pop-culture blog Mondoville says “it feels like the last stand — figuratively and literally,” while Bill Brioux wrote on his blog:

CBC made the leap into the age of short attention spans with the premiere of their new news look Monday night. Segments zipped by in the blink of an eye and the newscast seemed to pick up speed as it went along…. The crazy fast pace caught up with the news which flagged a bit towards the end. Still, a pretty impressive opening.

Finally, over at The National’s blog, viewers weighed in with a mix of comments, this being the most popular from Middlesister:

I really do not quite understand the logic of having Peter Mansbridge stand up, but honestly, LET HIM SIT DOWN……it is silly, don’t fix it if it’s not broken.

Calling it “biggest change in the history of CBC News,” Jennifer McGuire, general manager of CBC News today announced the revamp of CBC Newsworld as CBC News Network, a new host for World Report on CBC Radio, and a bunch of new shows that together dramatically change the face of CBC News.

Among other things, the revamp includes a bunch of new websites, including a revamped site for The National, a website for Mark Kelley’s new show Connect and a new politics portal.

“We are not content to sit back and passively let the revolution in the news industry hit us. Rather, we went looking for solutions so we could continue to set the standard for others in Canada,” McGuire wrote in a blog posting today.

As you can see the news fonts have changed, as have the on-air graphics. You’ll also notice that there are a few shots in the video with the new look for Newsworld, I mean, CBC NN! Here’s a screengrab (sorry it was cropped in the original):

What do you think of the new look?

“Late in the day, someone from CBC tweeted that some hostages had contacted us. We weren’t reporting the fact that we had become involved for a bunch of reasons.

But here is a really important principle. We should not tweet what we wouldn’t put on the air.

One reason we didn’t let on is because we didn’t want every other news organization jumping in. Not for competitive reasons, but because the chaos could be dangerous…

What could we say about this that wouldn’t inflame the gunman? Are we putting the hostages more at risk if we report this conversation or anything we learn from it?”

Esther Enkin, the CBC’s executive editor of news operations, explains some of the issues that came up during the hostage taking in Edmonton when one of the hostages and the hostage taker himself contacted the CBC newsroom in Edmonton. Her full blog post is here.

The Current covered the conversation between some of the hostages and CBC producer Gareth Hampshire this morning. You can listen to that here.

Some big announcements were made today at the CBC News renewal presentation. The presentation unveiled the on-air face of CBC News after months of work on the news renewal project and included a new look and format for The National, a new host for CBC Radio’s World Report and a name change for CBC Newsworld – which is to be renamed the CBC News Network.

As part of The National’s new look, which include a new set of graphics, opening animations and a set roster of 14 reporters, it was also announced that the show would release an early digital edition at 6 p.m. Eastern which will allow viewers to create their own lineups. “What Canadians are telling us is, ‘Let me decide what’s important.’” Peter Mansbridge said to cbc.ca.

“We’re constantly changing,” Mansbridge said, adding it is necessary to “understand our audience and the challenges we face in a constantly changing technological world.

“We had a disastrous relaunch in ’92 or ’93, after Barbara Frum died. The National went from 10 p.m. to 9 p.m. with no research, no thought, just change for the sake of change — it was disastrous. But this doesn’t smell like disaster,” Mansbridge told the National Post.

The revamped show will include more business and consumer coverage, and Wendy Mesley will also be hosting a regular segment on the show that aims to discuss the main news story of the day.

The announcement also introduced three the names of three new shows, The Lang & O’Leary Exchange with Amanda Lang and Kevin O’Leary, Connect with Mark Kelly and Power & Politics with Evan Solomon.

“These are the most significant changes ever undertaken by CBC News,” Richard Stursberg, Executive Vice President, English Services, said “The new CBC News is the result of the single, biggest audience research project ever undertaken by CBC – Canadians told us what they wanted and we listened.”

The news renewal project has been ongoing for months with the aim of integrating radio, television and online news into a single operation and to provide more immediate news coverage to Canadians. The new look will launch of October 26th.

Here are some story links about the announcement:
National Post, there’s some great quotes here from both Peter Armstrong and Peter Mansbridge about their thoughts on the relaunch of The National and World Report: Mansbridge gets on two feet, Armstrong takes over World Report — details of the CBC News relaunch
cbc.ca: Changes to The National as CBC unveils new look
The Canadian Press: Move over CNN, BNN; CBC Newsworld rebrands all-news channel as CBC NN
Hollywood Reporter: CBC rebrands CBS Newsworld
The Globe and Mail: Changes coming at CBC News

The full press release is available after the jump.

CBC News today previewed the much anticipated transformation of its news programming, just days before its official unveiling for CBC audiences on Monday, October 26.

The new CBC News is the result of comprehensive research asking Canadians what they want from their public broadcaster. The result: an updated CBC, designed to keep Canadians informed across all platforms and modernized with a new look and sound for The National, Newsworld and World Report.

The National with Peter Mansbridge is transformed with an expanded roster of correspondents – among the most trusted, experienced journalists in Canada. CBC Newsworld has a new schedule, format and a new name – CBC News Network (CBC NN). CBC Radio’s World Report launches with a new format and new host, veteran foreign correspondent Peter Armstrong. And in locations across Canada a brand new late night local newscast will air on CBC Television.

“These are the most significant changes ever undertaken by CBC News,” said Richard Stursberg, Executive Vice President, English Services, CBC/Radio-Canada. “The new CBC News is the result of the single, biggest audience research project ever undertaken by CBC – Canadians told us what they wanted and we listened.”

CBC’s research also found people want more control over what, when and how they access CBC News. The new programming will engage people across all CBC platforms so they feel more empowered and well informed while making the news more personally relevant.

“The people we surveyed said they want a more transparent and ‘open’ CBC so we’re bringing the news closer to our audiences, in our presentation and by allowing audiences access to the news gathering process,” said Jennifer McGuire, general manager and editor-in-chief, CBC News. “We are excited to showcase not just a ‘new and improved’ CBC News, but a revitalized CBC News that will keep Canadians engaged and well-informed with timely accessible information across all platforms: television, radio and online.”

At the heart of the change to CBC News programming is an integrated approach to news gathering with a multi-platform assignment desk called The Hub. The Hub will assign and direct all reporting resources (radio, tv, online) including content units arts such as entertainment, health, business, sports, and environment. Two other units, investigative and consumer, are managed by CBC flagship programs, the fifth estate and Marketplace respectively.

Here are some details about the new CBC News:

THE NATIONAL

Hosted by Peter Mansbridge, CBC News Chief Correspondent

• Peter Mansbridge joined by 14 correspondents
• Adrienne Arsenault (based in London)
• Neil MacDonald (Washington)
• Nahlah Ayed (Montreal)
• Terry Milewski (Ottawa)
• Wendy Mesley (with a provocative new program segment)
• Amanda Lang (Senior Business correspondent)
• Gillian Findlay (Investigative correspondent)
• Rex Murphy (returning with his unique point-of-view)
• Susan Ormiston (Toronto)
• Mellissa Fung (Toronto)
• Reg Sherrin (Winnipeg)
• Kim Brunhuber (Calgary)
• Duncan McCue (Vancouver)
• Krista Erickson (Consumer Affairs correspondent)
  • New format – including a new feature several times a week with Wendy Mesley seeking answers to the provocative question of the day
  • In addition to an enhanced program website, The National will have on-demand and mobile versions available by 6 p.m. ET, which will also soon be customizable and available in different languages
  • Seven nights a week
  • Monday-Sunday 10 p.m. (10:30 NT) on CBC-TV
  • Saturday at 6 p.m. ET on CBC-TV
  • CBC News Network at 9 and 11 p.m. ET/PT and Sunday at 9 p.m. ET/PT
  • Program wraps with local news coverage

CBC NEWS NETWORK

• Formerly CBC Newsworld
• Seven days a week, 24 hours a day
• Dayside on the network is known as CBC News Now, showcasing the best of CBC journalism with more live coverage from CBC bureaus across Canada and around the world
• CBC News Now with Heather Hiscox from 6-9 a.m. ET
• CBC News Now with Anne-Marie Mediwake from 9-11 a.m. ET
• CBC News Now with Suhana Meharchand from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. ET
• CBC News Now with Carole MacNeil from 2-4:30 p.m. ET

The Lang & O’Leary Exchange

• Hosted by Amanda Lang, joined by Kevin O’Leary
• Monday-Friday, 4:30-5 p.m. ET
• CBC NN’s new business show bringing the day’s breaking business news, complemented by astute analysis, lively debates and key interviews

Power & Politics with Evan Solomon

• Hosted by Evan Solomon
• Monday-Friday, 5-7 p.m. ET
• CBC NN’s new political show from Ottawa covering stories of policy, power and the people who make Canada run, both on the Hill and across the country

Connect with Mark Kelley

• · Hosted by Mark Kelley
• Joining Mark will be Reshmi Nair, formerly with CFTO-TV (CTV) in Toronto
• Monday-Friday, 7-9 p.m. ET (repeats at midnight PT)
• CBC NN’s new news talk show covering breaking events in Canada and around the world – the show takes a personal perspective on the news and looks at stories through people

Weekend daytime programming has the same emphasis on live coverage on breaking news stories. Weekend anchors are Nancy Wilson, Dianne Buckner and Jacquie Perrin

CBC NEWS WORLD REPORT, CBC Radio One

• Hosted by Peter Armstrong
• Monday-Friday at 5, 6, 7 and 8 a.m. ET
• Saturday at 6, 7, 8 and 9 a.m. ET
• An additional national report has been added for a total of four 10-minute live morning newscasts that cover breaking news and updates and developing stories in Canada and around the world

CBC LOCAL NEWS

On August 31 supper hours were expanded to 90 minutes

The local news footprint is expanding with more online coverage and more local radio newscasts – an update at 6:30 p.m. and a newscast at 7 p.m. on CBC Radio One

CBC News Late Night – a 10 minute newscast following The National will begin on October 26

CBCNews.ca

A new political portal will launch on October 26 and will include blogging by Kady O’Malley, and others including well-known veteran Ottawa journalist Don Newman

A new website for The National also launches on October 26 and will offer viewers additional opportunities to get the program online

I don’t know if you have watched the new 90 minute CBC local newscasts where you live. If it happens to be Toronto, don’t bother. The good folks at CBC local news in Toronto have managed to squeeze 20 minutes of news into their 90 minute package. I sure hope it is better elsewhere in Canada but I fear it can’t be. Let’s face it, a city of 5 million has a lot more stories than a city of 250,000 or even a million.

I tried to be fair. I didn’t review the show during the first week to give the producers, reporters, hosts and writers time to get their act together. I even chose an excellent local news day to tape and parse the program. But I was highly disappointed by the effort.

If filling 90 minutes was the goal, then the local news team delivered. There was no dead air. On the other hand the constant repetition of the same facts and pictures over-and-over again was enough to drive even the most passive viewer to throw a brick at the television.

The newscast is broken up into three shows: 5:00, 5:30, and 6:00. None of the programs have a distinct personality and none of them deliver a comprehensive take on the day’s news. Basically each half-hour is the same as the last. Same stories. Same reporters. Same basic feel.

The five o’clock show had three produced news stories, none of them one of the major local stories of the day and only one produced by the Toronto team. The report out of Ottawa on a possible federal election by Julie Van Dusen was dropped in as a kicker, the last story. It was a dreadful piece that broke all the conventions of television reporting, had few pictures and didn’t really explain the story. So maybe it was good to bury it at 5:28. There were two weather casts, the second one overly long and there were about eight minutes of commercials; excessive no? But what was most bothersome was the way the main stories were treated. Four different reporters standing around on the street telling us radio style, what they found. Sure they dropped in the odd clip and picture, but they did not produce reports. Oh, and there were 10 promos for what was coming up later on the 5:30 and 6:00.

The 5:30 newscast opened with the same story done in exactly the same way as on the 5:00. I would have thought it impossible but the “Breaking News” host fumbled her way through the same script making even more mistakes than her first try.
Once again produced stories were hard to find. There were three in the half hour. This time two were produced locally and one was actually on one of the big stories of the day. The “i-desk” sort of produced another story on Ryerson University orientation using a tiny camera that made it look like a bad internet piece. I don’t know why, but the “i-desk” host then promoted the camera he used. Was the camera a freebie? Since when does CBC plug product in the news?

Once again the show was dominated by eight minutes of commercials and two weather casts. It’s easy to fill 90 minutes when half the time is eaten up by weather and commercials. In this half-hour there were ONLY six promos for stories coming up later on the news.

Okay, I said to myself, the plan is to pack all the good stuff into the six o’clock package. I was prepared for a dynamite production in the time slot with the most available viewers.

It was not to be. The six began exactly the same way as the five and the five-thirty. The “Breaking news” desk host once again fumbled her way through the same facts and pictures as we had seen twice before. In this half-hour there were four produced stories. I am being generous. One was a series of man-in-the-street interviews; the lowest form of what passes for journalism. A second was a repeat of one of the produced stories from the first half-hour.

In this portion of the 90 minutes there were, count ‘em, three weather casts and 7 ½ or 8 more minutes of commercials. In fact the newscast was mostly made up of more repetition of the same facts presented in the same way as the first two half-hours.

On a day in which there was a lot of news CBC local produced 8 stories to fill a 90 minute newscast. By my calculation that’s about 15 minutes or ¼ of the time, in comparison there were about 24 minutes of commercials and about 13 minutes of the same weather over-and-over.

90 minutes of bad smoke and crappy mirrors is not going to cut it with even the most unsophisticated audiences. I don’t blame the producers. I blame CBC management. You can’t add airtime to an already starving show and expect success. Without more money and more staff you are dooming the local news to failure. The news people are doing their best with what they have. It would be either folly or stupidity to expect more. From where I sit, the latter wins.

If the local CBC local news is better where you are, please let us know.

O’Leary will join Amanda Lang, who also left BNN recently, at the helm of the new show. Their new show will air weekday afternoons. “Amanda Lang left alone in a show with her liberal views is dangerous,” he joked to the Globe and Mail. “I have been hired on behalf of all Canadians who believe in the capitalist system to keep her in check.”

More seriously O’Leary told the paper “We built something together and I didn’t want to lose it – I like working with her.”

The new show is part of a massive overhaul of CBC News, that is being described internally as the news renewal project. Other changes as part of the project include a new politics show from Ottawa, hosted by Evan Solomon, a new prime-time Newsworld show hosted by Mark Kelly and integrating the news division to improve coordination and communication.  The changes are intended to make the news division more nimble, better coordinated with cbcnews.ca, and to improving and expanding local news.

CBC News recently launched a Blackberry widget. Once you’ve registered for the service an icon will show up on your desktop. When there’s a breaking news story the icon will change colour.

To sign up for this service go here.