CBC News
CBC News is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC.ca. Founded in 1941, CBC News is the largest news broadcaster in Canada and has local, regional and national broadcasts and stations. It frequently collaborates with its French-language counterpart, Radio-Canada Info, although the two are organizationally separate.
The CBC follows the Journalistic Standards and Practices which provides the policy framework within which CBC journalism seeks to meet the expectations and obligations it faces from the public.
History
The first CBC newscast was a bilingual radio report on November 2, 1936. The CBC News Service was inaugurated during World War II on January 1, 1941 when Dan McArthur, chief news editor, had Wells Ritchie prepare for the announcer Charles Jennings a national report at 8:00 pm. Readers who followed Jennings were Lorne Greene, Frank Herbert and Earl Cameron. CBC News Roundup started on August 16, 1943 at 7:45 pm, being replaced by The World at Six on October 31, 1966.On English-language television the first newscast, part of CBC Newsmagazine, was given on September 8, 1952 on CBLT, the only English station then telecasting. Later that year CBC National News was introduced, then changing its name to The National in 1970.
CBC began delivering news online in 1996 via the Newsworld Online website. The CBC News Online site launched in 1998. In 2009, CBC's Television News, Radio News and Digital News departments were merged into CBC News with a central assignment and reporting structure. In 2013, CBC News relaunched its CBC Aboriginal website, based in Winnipeg, with journalists in Toronto and other cities. In 2016, the site was renamed CBC Indigenous. In 2017, CBC News relaunched its flagship newscast, The National, with four co-anchors based in Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver.
CBC News has won Canadian awards including Michener, Gemini, Canadian Screen, Canadian Association of Journalists and RTDNA awards and internationally, Prix Italia, Monte Carlo, Gabriel, Gracie and International Emmys.
Thousands of hours of archival CBC News programming are available at the CBC Digital Archives Website and Facebook page.
News output
Television
The Television News section of CBC News is responsible for the news programs on CBC Television and CBC News Network, including national news programs like , Marketplace, The Fifth Estate, The Investigators with Diana Swain and The Weekly with Wendy Mesley.They are also responsible for news, business, weather and sports information for Air Canada's inflight entertainment.
The distinctive music on all CBC television news programs was introduced in 2006 as part of the extensive rebranding of all news programming under the CBC News title.
Local news
Most local newscasts on CBC Television are currently branded as CBC News: , such as CBC News: Toronto at Six. Local radio newscasts are heard on the half-hour during morning and afternoon drive shows and on the hour at other times during the day.Radio
The Radio News section of CBC News produces on-the-hour updates for the CBC's national radio newscasts and provides content for regional updates. Major radio programs include World Report, The World at Six, The World This Hour and The World this Weekend. The majority of news and information is aired on CBC Radio One. All newscasts are available on demand online, via apps or via voice-activated virtual assistants.Online
CBC News Online is the CBC's CBC.ca news website. Launched in 1996, it was named one of the most popular news websites in Canada in 2012. The website provides regional, national, and international news coverage, and investigative, politics, business, arts and entertainment,CBC News Network
CBC News Network is an English-language news channel owned and operated by the CBC. It began broadcasting on July 31, 1989 from several regional studios in Halifax, Toronto, Winnipeg and Calgary. It was revamped and relaunched as the CBC News Network in 2009 as part of a larger renewal of the CBC News division. Current programs include CBC News Now and Aarti Pole and Michael Serapio ), Power & Politics, and The National, Andrew Chang and Rosemary Barton ).Weather Centre
In November 2005, the CBC News Weather Centre was established to cover local and international weather, using in part data provided by Environment Canada. Claire Martin was hired to serve as the primary face of the Weather Centre.In April 2014, the national Weather Centre was effectively disbanded due to CBC budget cuts ; weather presenters at local CBC stations were retained but with the added responsibility of supplying reports for The National and CBC News Network.
In November 2014, citing difficulties implementing this new system, CBC announced a one-year trial content sharing partnership with The Weather Network, the privately owned cable specialty channel, which went into effect on December 8. Under the partnership, in exchange for access to weather-related news coverage from the CBC, The Weather Network provides the national weather reports seen on The National and CBCNN daytime programming, as well as local forecasts for CBC Toronto's weekend newscasts. Apart from Toronto, weather coverage during local newscasts was not affected, and CBC Vancouver meteorologist Johanna Wagstaffe continues to provide weather coverage for the Vancouver-based editions of CBC News Now on CBCNN.
Most local CBC stations have retained their weather team to provide local weather information, including:
- Johanna Wagstaffe - CBC Vancouver meteorologist
- Ian Black - CBC Ottawa meteorologist
- John Sauder - CBC Manitoba meteorologist
- Jay Scotland - CBC PEI meteorologist
- Karen Johnson - CBC Toronto and Windsor weather specialist
- Frank Cavallaro - CBC Montreal weather specialist
- Tanara McLean - CBC Edmonton/Calgary weather specialist
Programming
Television
CBC News provides the following television programs.Current programs:
- The National, flagship news program
- CBC News Now
- The Fifth Estate, weekly news magazine
- Marketplace, consumer news magazine
- Power & Politics, political news program
- The Weekly with Wendy Mesley
- The Investigators with Diana Swain
- Local newscasts
- Documentary series Doc Zone, The Passionate Eye, CBC Docs POV and The Nature of Things air on CBC News Network but are not produced by CBC News.
- CBC News Magazine
- The Journal
- CBC Prime Time News
- Mansbridge One on One
- The Exchange
- On the Money, business news program
Radio
- World Report, morning newscast
- The World This Hour, hourly newscast
- The World at Six, national dinner-hour newscast
- The World This Weekend
- The House, weekly national political affairs show
- Local newscasts
Digital
- CBCNews.ca website and Digital News App
- Live and on-demand streaming of radio and TV news programming
- Podcasts
- Social media including Facebook. Instagram and Snapchat. CBC News Twitter feed has over 2.5M followers.
- Digital delivery of CBC News in airports, trains, elevators and coffee chain
CBC News standards
Allegations of bias
Several conservative outlets and politicians have accused the CBC of liberal bias in its news coverage, including the National Post, former prime minister Stephen Harper and columnist Barbara Amiel.In 2009, CBC President Hubert Lacroix commissioned a study to determine whether its news was biased, and if so, to what extent. He said: "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". The study, the methodology of which was not specified, was due to report results in the fall of 2010.
In April 2010, the Conservatives accused pollster Frank Graves of giving partisan advice to the Liberal Party of Canada, noting his donations to the party since 2003. Graves directed a number of public opinion research projects on behalf of the CBC as well as other media organizations, and also appeared on a number of CBC television programs relating to politics. An investigation conducted by the CBC ombudsman found no evidence to support these allegations, stating that personal donor history is not relevant to one's objectivity as a pollster.
The CBC itself has denied all allegations of bias, saying that "It is the duty of CBC News to inform its viewers across the country about what is happening, without bias or prejudice, and without telling them what to think. We believe that it is our obligation to report fairly and truthfully."
CBC News Hall of Fame
The CBC News Hall of Fame was established in 2015 to honour men and women who have shaped Canadian journalism. Located in CBC's Toronto headquarters, inductees include:- 2015 – Knowlton Nash
- 2016 – Joe Schlesinger
- 2017 – Barbara Frum
- 2018 – Trina McQueen
- 2019 – Adrienne Arsenault
Ombudsman
CBC News bureaux
CBC has reporters stationed in the following cities. Main cities are listed with the notation.- Whitehorse, Yukon
- Victoria, British Columbia
- Vancouver, British Columbia
- Kamloops, British Columbia
- Kelowna, British Columbia
- Nelson, British Columbia
- Prince George, British Columbia
- Prince Rupert, British Columbia
- Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
- Inuvik, Northwest Territories
- Calgary, Alberta
- Edmonton, Alberta
- Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
- Fort McMurray, Alberta
- Regina, Saskatchewan
- Winnipeg, Manitoba
- Brandon, Manitoba
- Thunder Bay, Ontario
- Windsor, Ontario
- London, Ontario
- Sudbury, Ontario
- Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario
- Hamilton, Ontario
- Toronto, Ontario
- Ottawa, Ontario
- Montreal, Quebec
- Quebec City, Quebec
- Sherbrooke, Quebec
- Fredericton, New Brunswick
- Saint John, New Brunswick
- Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador
- Moncton, New Brunswick
- Bathurst, New Brunswick
- Halifax, Nova Scotia
- Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
- Sydney, Nova Scotia
- Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador
- Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador
- St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
- Iqaluit, Nunavut
- Thompson, Manitoba
- Labrador City, Newfoundland and Labrador
- Hay River, Northwest Territories
International
- London, United Kingdom
- Jerusalem, Israel
- Beijing, China
- Washington, D.C., United States
- New York City, United States
- Los Angeles, United States
- Moscow, Russia
Foreign correspondents
- London - Nahlah Ayed/Margaret Evans with Thomas Daigle and Jared Thomas
- Jerusalem - Derek Stoffel
- Beijing - Saša Petricic
- Washington DC - Paul Hunter/Keith Boag with Matt Kwong, Ellen Mauro, and Lyndsay Duncombe
- New York - Steven D'Souza
- Los Angeles - Kim Brunhuber
- Moscow - Chris Brown
CBC News in other countries
- Newsworld International, an American cable channel that rebroadcast much of the programming of CBC Newsworld
- Trio, an arts and entertainment channel
In late 2004, as a result of a further change in NWI's ownership to the INdTV consortium, NWI ceased airing CBC programming on August 1, 2005, when it was renamed Current TV. It was sold to the Al Jazeera Media Network in 2013 and became Al Jazeera America.
On September 11, 2001, several American broadcasters without their own news operations, including C-SPAN, carried the CBC's coverage of the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C.. In the days after September 11, C-SPAN carried CBC's nightly newscast, The National, anchored by Peter Mansbridge. The quality of this coverage was recognized specifically by the Canadian Journalism Foundation; editor-in-chief Tony Burman later accepted the Excellence in Journalism Award – for "rigorous professional practice, accuracy, originality and public accountability" – on behalf of the service.
C-SPAN has also carried CBC's coverage of major events affecting Canadians, including:
- Canadian federal elections
- Six days in September 2000 that marked the death and state funeral of Pierre Elliott Trudeau
- The war in Iraq: The National aired on C-SPAN each night for about three weeks following the start of the war on Iraq
- The power outage crisis in summer 2003
- Key proceedings in Parliament of Canada
- U.S. presidential elections: In 2004, C-SPAN picked up The National the day after the election for the view from Canadians. In 2008, C-SPAN carried the CBC's coverage of the election.
- State visits and official visits of American presidents to Canada
- Barack Obama inauguration in 2009.
A joint investigation between CBC and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation revealed questionable sales tactics employed by the travel company the Global Work & Travel Co. CBC and ABC interviewed former salespersons who were quoted as saying they "felt like tricking people."