CBC News further expands local journalism, bureaus

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Two weeks ago, we rang in the new year across Canada with a CBC News live countdown special that celebrated the midnight turnover of the calendar — repeated six times, across each of this country's time zones. 

It was only the second year we've done the New Year’s Eve special as a rolling, 7.5-hour live event, and already we've seen significant audiences, as several million Canadians tuned in at various points in the night across TV, CBC Gem, YouTube, TikTok, CBC Radio One and our streaming channels.

Much of the program's appeal is that it allows us to "visit" communities across our nation in a shared moment. We learn about our neighbours and how life is lived (and celebrated) differently across this vast country, but also about how much we have in common. 

CBC News can only mount this kind of live special because we have journalists and crews living and working in these locations. 

That proximity to Canadians is a key pillar of CBC's new strategic plan. It aims to position the national public broadcaster closer to where people live, to their stories, their concerns and their perspectives in order to build relevance, trust and a relationship with Canadians everywhere.

So I'm delighted to announce today another significant investment in local public service journalism in communities where CBC has little to no presence. 

This year, CBC News will add 33 local journalists and create 11 new bureaus, increasing its Canadian footprint from 66 to 77 locations. This "boots-on-the-ground" investment is in addition to last year's local service expansion of 30 journalists hired in 22 communities across Canada. Many of the new positions are based in Central and Western Canada.

Taken together, it's a historic investment in local journalism by the CBC. And it comes at a critical moment, with local news in steep decline across Canada as traditional media business models falter and tech platforms (including AI companies) dominate our information ecosystem. 

To be clear, we are committed to preserving and improving on the diversity of trusted news sources that local communities can rely on. As we set up these new bureaus, we will continue to champion the work of other community news organizations and seek opportunities to support and partner with them when we can. We believe a healthy media environment composed of private, community and publicly funded news organizations is essential for Canadian democracy and culture. 

The 11 new CBC News bureaus are (from west to east): 

• Richmond, B.C.
• Haines Junction, Yukon.
• Dawson City, Yukon.
• Swift Current, Sask.
• Yorkton, Sask.
• Moose Jaw, Sask.
• Selkirk/Interlake Region, Man.
• Flin Flon, Man.
• Peel Region, Ont.
• Sept-Îles/North and Lower North Shore, Que.
• Châteauguay/Montérégie, Que.

We are also adding 11 journalists to bolster the following one-person bureaus (from west to east):

• Abbotsford, B.C.
• Terrace (Northwest), B.C.
• Medicine Hat, Alta.
• Banff, Alta.
• Lloydminster, Alta.
• ​​Grande Prairie, Alta.
• Hinton/Jasper, Alta; 
• Fort Smith (South Slave), N.W.T.
• North Battleford, Sask.
• Brandon, Man. 
• Steinbach, Man. 

In order to showcase all of this new local journalism, we recently launched 44 additional regional web pages on CBCNews.ca. You can find them at CBC.ca/local. We also began publishing weekly newsletters from our new bureaus in Fort St. John, B.C., Medicine Hat, Alta., and Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., with more local newsletters planned. Sign up for these and others under the "community" section of our newsletter subscriptions page.

CBC News's local podcast slate also continues to grow, offering audiences an additional platform to stay connected to what's happening in their communities. The 13 current local podcasts span from Vancouver Island to Newfoundland and Labrador, and include the recently launched New Brunswick podcast. New This Is podcasts will launch in Kelowna, B.C., and Quebec City in February, bringing the total number of CBC News local podcasts to 15. 

You can learn more about the expansion of CBC News's local service and the proximity pillar of our new strategic plan in this video.