TORONTO – Saying it wants to try different things, CBC is canceling its early evening national newscast, Canada Now.
Canada Now is anchored out of Vancouver by Ian Hanomansing but will be replaced in early February by a new show in that city. Other markets will see an expansion of local news shows from 30 minutes to a full hour. Until now, the CBC’s suppertime news hour consisted of a 30-minute Canada Now and the local newscast. Ratings are poor.
Staff were informed by CBC executives Thursday afternoon in a conference call.
No jobs will be lost due to the move as Hanomansing will help lead a news "incubator" in Vancouver where the CBC is hoping new ideas to capture and present the news across all CBC platforms will spring forward. Hanomansing will head a new local program out of Vancouver beginning in early February whose format will then spread across the country. However, the format of the new show has not yet been finalized.
"We’re going to build a news offer for the 21st century," CBC spokesperson Jeff Keay told Cartt.ca on Thursday. "It will be a fully integrated multi-platform deeply local news offer across the country."
While the Corp. hasn’t yet decided what all that means, what it doesn’t mean, said Keay, was that reporters will simply be filing reports for the web, TV and radio all at once. It’ll be deeper than that. "It’s about a shift in editorial decision making," using bottom-up thinking, beginning with the viewer," he added.
It will embrace the notion of public service "and be built upon the principles of: deep local connections – audiences want stories about their community first; giving communities a stronger voice on the national stage; and providing audiences with the news and information they want, when, where and how they want it," he added in an e-mail.
So, why this and why now?
"Because the world around us is changing fast and if we want to stay relevant to Canadians we have to change with them by adapting to new technologies, platforms and ways of generating content," said Keay. "Because Canadians want broader, deeper news and information about their communities (and) while we’ve had considerable success in delivering a strong local radio service, we’ve had less success with our local online offer and our local television services."
– Greg O’Brien
