By Canadian Press

CBC making changes to four-host format of flagship news program ‘The National’

Jan 24, 2020 | 1:35 PM

TORONTO — The CBC is making changes to the four-host format of its flagship newscast “The National” in response to feedback from viewers.

The public broadcaster said Wednesday that Adrienne Arsenault and Andrew Chang are the show’s two main hosts from Monday through Thursday.

“The National” will be broadcast from the Toronto studio, with Arsenault continuing to frequently host from the field. In the previous format, anchors were located across the country.

Meanwhile, Ian Hanomansing will host on Friday and Sunday from Vancouver.

He’ll also “contribute special reports across the week, with a spotlight on Alberta and British Columbia,” Chad Paulin, executive producer of “The National,” said in a memo issued to staff Wednesday.

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Rosemary Barton is taking on a new position as the CBC News chief political correspondent. She’ll work across all platforms, appearing on “The National” to report on big political stories and continue to host the “CBC News: At Issue” panel.

Barton will also return to the CBC podcast “Party Lines,” which is being relaunched next week.

The CBC said Barton is the public broadcaster’s first female chief political correspondent.

“Any of the changes that we have made and will continue to make are in response to what we’re hearing from the audience,” Chuck Thompson, head of public affairs at CBC English Services, said Wednesday in a phone interview.

“We’re an audience-first organization and we’ve always said when we launched the show a year and a half ago, we would continue to iterate. And the changes that we’re announcing today are just about the show evolving.”

Arsenault, Chang, Hanomansing and Barton were announced as the hosts of a revamped edition of “The National” in August 2017, following the retirement of longtime anchor Peter Mansbridge.

At the time, the CBC touted the new show as being more nimble, multiplatform and “truly national,” with four recognizable journalists who vary in age and background anchoring at various locations across the country.

But it seems viewers wanted something different.

“A lot of the changes that we’re talking about today have been in place for some time now. We’re just formalizing it,” Thompson said.

“If you’ve watched of late, Andrew and Adrienne have been hosting ‘The National’ for some time now, before even the holiday break.”

Thompson said “The National” ratings have also been picking up lately and the CBC feels they’re “going in the right direction.”

“We’re on a good trajectory, because on any given night we have as many as 690,000 people watching on CBC television and CBC News Network.”

Victoria Ahearn, The Canadian Press