CBC to reveal hosts of flagship news program ‘The National’ on Tuesday

TORONTO — CBC’s “The National” plans to reveal its new anchors on Tuesday, giving viewers more insight into the direction it hopes to take with its flagship news program.

The announcement comes after the public broadcaster said that it is revamping the format of the hour-long nightly news package. 

Among the changes, CBC News has already confirmed it will put more than one host in the anchor seat as it looks to appeal to a younger and more diverse audience.

Veteran broadcaster Peter Mansbridge stepped down from “The National” earlier this month after nearly 30 years as an anchor and chief correspondent.

CBC has been scouting candidates from within and outside the organization in recent months, leading to speculation over who could take one of the broadcaster’s most coveted jobs.

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On the list of expected favourites are CBC veterans like Ian Hanomansing and Rosemary Barton, while other viewers have suggested foreign correspondent Adrienne Arsenault as a potential contender.

Others who are considered possibilities include CBC Vancouver host Andrew Chang, CBC Radio host David Common, and award-winning investigative reporter Connie Walker who has extensively covered Indigenous issues for national broadcaster.

“We want it to be a show around active journalists,” Jennifer McGuire, general manager and editor-in-chief of CBC News, said in a recent interview with The Canadian Press.

“We want the hosts of the show to be able to do field-based work too, and that will be more manageable with more than one (person) in terms of how the show works.”

With its new anchors in place, the CBC will likely try a few other experiments with the show as well.

Producers have already been toying with how certain segments of “The National” are delivered, and the structure of long-form features and the regular panel conversations could also change.

The revamped edition of “The National” is slated to debut in mid-October.

Viewers can watch the CBC unveil its host plans on Tuesday at 1 p.m. ET through a Facebook live stream at http://www.facebook.com/thenational.

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David Friend, The Canadian Press