CBC News at Six renews local focus
Canadians will see a change in their CBC Television supper-hour newscasts beginning today.
In every region across the country, CBC’s News at Six will become one-hour newscast with a mix of local, national and international news.
The half-hour Canada Now national news show produced out of Vancouver was aired for the last time on Friday.
Instead of a half-hour of national and international news and a separate half-hour of local news, Canadians will see a supper program that is a single, locally produced show, said Diana Swain, host of the Toronto version of News at Six.
“Basically what they’ve seen was two half hours that filled up the time from six to seven ó one exclusively local and the other national,” she said in an interview on CBC Radio.
“We’ve taken away that line Ö so you’ll see a full seamless hour from six to seven.”
The intention is to renew CBC’s focus on local news, already a strength of radio and CBC.ca coverage, said Swain.
“The focus of the program will be local and we can put as much of that [local news] in as we want,” she said.
She admitted this new format is similar to the supper-hour newscasts that CBC had before the creation of Canada Now in 2000.
“For some people it must look as if we’re coming full circle and on some level we are. There’s a recognition now that local news really is important to people,” she said.
But she said CBC wants to “grow this show into something new,” and hopes to build local coverage on television that mirrors what is heard on radio.
Canada Now host Ian Hanomansing will be hosting the local newscast in Vancouver.
In an information session for employees when the changes were announced last year, CBC said no new resources will be devoted to the locally focused newscasts.
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