CTV has a single primary anchor in Lisa LaFlamme; Global has a single primary anchor in Dawna Freisen. CBC has had 4 primary anchors on The National since November 2017.
The lineup featured Adrienne Arsenault (international reporter), Andrew Chang (local anchor), Ian Hanomansing (CBC News Network anchor), and Rosemary Barton (politics expert).
There were concerns from the start about the large number of hosts to replace the long-standing host Peter Mansbridge. Like we saw from Q, a transition host (Shad) is sometime the best option to figure out what you want to do in the future.
The new solution is to use Arsenault and Chang (Monday-Thursday), Hanomansing (Friday, Sunday), and Barton (CBC News chief political correspondent). Not sure how this addresses the problem of too many anchors.
Arsenault and Chang will anchor in Toronto. Hanomansing will anchor from Vancouver.
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Barton's expertise was helpful during the election cycle. With female anchors in the CTV and Global chairs, having only Hanomansing as the major anchor might not be seen as a good move. Arsenault is better in the field and is also a solid anchor.
As a viewer, having potentially all 4 of the hosts on any given night seemed exhausting for them much less the audience. The National doesn't air on Saturday nights during Hockey Night in Canada.
CBC doesn't have to be limited to a single anchor like CTV and Global. The private networks do a 30-minute newscast while CBC runs an hour with considerable world reporting and coverage. CBC does need a solid plan with its anchor setup. They didn't have one other than a lengthy on-air tryout.
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If I were in the decision chair, I might have flipped Hanomansing and Chang. Hanomansing has more national anchor experience. Chang makes a great weekend anchor and substitute weekday anchor. Hanomansing might be doing more reporting with 2 days as the host.
I would put Hanomansing in the anchor chair Monday-Thursday with Andrew Chang on Friday and Sunday. I would ask Adrienne Arsenault to be the fill-in anchor weekdays whenever she wanted when she wasn't reporting on a large story. I would have Arsenault anchor her own story within an anchor since she would explain that story better.
Peter Mansbridge thought of himself as chief correspondent for CBC News as well as anchor of The National. The on-camera people at CBC do a lot more than read off a teleprompter and anchor live news coverage. Hopefully, this lineup will help Canadian viewers focus on a rather strong national newscast that Americans would dream of having on their own soil.
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