Global News

Global News is the news and current affairs division of Global Television Network in Canada, overseeing all local and national news programming on the network's twelve owned-and-operated stations (O&Os).

National programs

Global's lineup of national news and current affairs programming is as follows:

• The Morning Show: Weekdays 9:00 a.m. ET/CT/MT/PT, 10:00 a.m. AT
• Global National: Nightly 7:30 p.m. NT, 6:30 p.m. AT/ET, 5:30 p.m. CT/MT/PT, 6:00 p.m. Kelowna
  • Global National Mandarin (Global National 国语新闻): Weeknights 7:00 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. Vancouver, 10:00 p.m. Calgary (on Shaw Multicultural Channel)
• 16x9 – The Bigger Picture: Fridays 8 p.m. AT/MT, 9 p.m. CT, 10 p.m. ET/PT
• The West Block: Sundays 10:00 a.m. PT/MT, 11:00 a.m. ET/CT, 12:00 noon AT

Although Global stations had always carried local news in various forms, the first tentative steps towards a national presence came in 1994 with the launch of First National with Peter Kent, an early-evening program focusing on national and international news but airing only in central Canada. After acquiring the Western International Communications (WIC) group of stations, Global cancelled First National in February 2001 and briefly aired the similar WIC newscast Canada Tonight in its place.

In September 2001, Global replaced Canada Tonight with a new network newscast, Global National, anchored by Kevin Newman (now presented by Dawna Friesen). It aired from the network's new national news centre at CHAN-TV's studio in Burnaby, British Columbia. The program initially aired only on weekdays, then launched a weekend edition anchored by Tara Nelson (now at CTV Calgary) in February 2005 (now presented by Robin Gill). Originally airing in different timeslots around the country, the program moved to a standard 5:30 p.m. (6:30 p.m. Atlantic) start time nationwide in 2006. Since then, Global National has quickly gained ground on longtime number-one CTV National News, overtaking it on several occasions. A Mandarin version of the newscast, titled Global National Mandarin, launched on January 23, 2012 with anchor Carol Wang, and is seen weeknights on Shaw Multicultural Channel in Vancouver and Calgary.^[1]

On January 7, 2013, the network extended its Toronto O&O's morning program (The Morning Show) by 30 minutes, with this additional half-hour airing across its other O&Os;^[2] prior to this, Global did not air a national morning show. In addition, the network's O&Os in select markets produce their own local morning shows (see below); stations which do not produce a local morning show either air the morning show from a larger market, or run daytime programming repeated from Shaw Media's cable specialty channels, such as Crash Test Mommy and The Mom Show.

Global launched its first investigative newsmagazine series on November 30, 2008. The weekly program, titled 16x9 - The Bigger Picture, features a high-gloss, tabloid format, and is the network's first foray into the field long occupied by CTV's W-FIVE and CBC's the fifth estate. Global also formerly aired a weekly documentary series, Global Currents.

During the 2011 federal election, Global News also produced a weekly series, Focus: Decision Canada, covering news and issues in the election campaign. The show, hosted by weekend Global National anchor Carolyn Jarvis, was a nominee for Best Information Program or Series at the 2011 Gemini Awards.

The West Block, a Sunday morning national political affairs show hosted by Tom Clark,^[3] debuted on November 6, 2011.

Local programs

Global BC's live van

In the network's original form as an independent station based exclusively in Ontario, the original local anchors were Peter Trueman and Peter Desbarats.^[4] Until 1997, the name Global News was used only for the local newscasts on Global Ontario, and Canwest's other local television stations all had different newscast titles.

With the nationwide launch of the Global brand in 1997, Global News was also adopted as a standard title for local newscasts on Global O&Os. The long-dominant CHAN Vancouver (BCTV) had been an exception; its news operation was renamed BCTV News on Global when it became a Global O&O in 2001, and its individual newscast titles (e.g. News Hour) were also retained.

As part of a network-wide branding overhaul, local newscast titles and timeslots were standardized effective February 6, 2006,^[5] following the BCTV model, as follows. Note that the exact lineup of newscasts and titles varies by station. The only station that does not follow the BCTV model is CHBC Kelowna, which has kept its call sign as part of its news branding.

• Morning News: weekday mornings
  • Exceptions: The Morning Show (Toronto)
  • Saturday/Sunday Morning News: weekend mornings
• Noon News Hour: weekdays at noon
  • Exceptions:
    • Scene and Heard (non-news regional lifestyle show on CISA)
    • "News at Noon" (Toronto)
• Early News: weekdays at 5:00 pm
• Evening News or News Hour: nightly at 6:00 pm (5:30 pm Toronto)
• News Final or News Hour Final (Global News at 11 in B.C.): nightly at 10:00 pm or 11:00 pm
• Focus: Weekends (Regina/Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal)

On October 4, 2007, Global's then-parent company Canwest announced it would be centralizing news production control room functions for all O&Os (except CHBC Kelowna) at four broadcast centres - CHAN Vancouver, CITV Edmonton, CICT Calgary, and CIII Toronto. The company stated this would allow all of its stations to make a transition to high definition broadcasting, and create around 50 new jobs at the four stations. Approximately 250 positions were to be eliminated in the other stations, the majority of which were behind-the-scenes/technical positions.^[6]

A press release from the company has also stated that on-air talent (including weather anchors), reporters, producers, photographers, editors, and other news gathering positions will remain at the affected stations. Global Edmonton took over production of Global Maritimes' newscasts in mid-August 2008, and on September 4, 2008, took over production of all newscasts at CHCA-TV (the E! station in Red Deer, Alberta). Global Calgary began production of Global Lethbridge's newscasts in mid-September, and later in the year Global BC took over CHEK Victoria, Global Regina, Global Saskatoon, Global Winnipeg and Global Montreal. In August 2009, production for Global News Montreal moved from Vancouver to Edmonton. The stations whose controls were taken over began using virtual sets. In September 2009, CHBC's controls were moved to Calgary (master control) and Vancouver (production control), and the station launched its own virtual set in July 2010.

On May 31, 2011, Shaw Media announced that new weekday local morning shows would be launched on Global Toronto, Global Winnipeg, Global Saskatoon, Global Regina and Global Maritimes in late 2011. Local Sunday morning newscasts were also announced for Global Edmonton and Global Calgary, which launched in September 2011. The increase in news programming is part of a benefits package that Shaw Media has promised to fulfill as a condition to purchasing the network.^[7]

On May 30, 2012, Shaw Media announced further expansions to Global's news programming offerings, with the launch of a new half-hour noon newscast on Global Toronto on August 27, and the expansion of primetime newscasts on Global Winnipeg, Global Saskatoon, Global Regina to one hour (and in turn, re-branding them from Prime News to News Hour Final) on August 20. The previously announced weekday morning newscasts on Global Montreal and Global Maritimes were also confirmed to launch in fall 2012 on dates yet to be determined (their launches were later postponed to early 2013). Local morning newscasts on Global BC, Global Edmonton and Global Calgary were also expanded, with the weekday morning newscasts on all three stations lengthened to four hours on August 27, and the Sunday morning news programs expanding to three hours starting September 2, 2012. 16:9 was also moved from Saturdays to Friday nights, and Global News' website also received a redesign in early 2013 with compatibility for mobile devices in mind.^[8]

2015 changes

On April 9, 2015, Shaw announced cutbacks of Global's local news operations and a subsequent re-organization. Under these changes, which began to take effect in August 2015, production of late night and weekend newscasts in markets outside of Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, and Toronto, are centralized out of Global's studios in Toronto. Anchors, meteorologists and sports anchors are provided by the centralized news operation, while local stories are presented by the station's reporters.^[9] Local morning shows also switched to a hybrid local/national format with an eight-minute long national segment per-half hour. Local morning shows and evening newscasts otherwise continue to be produced locally. Troy Reeb, Global's senior vice president of news and station operations, explained that these changes would allow individual stations to devote more resources to the creation of local news content for television and digital platforms, and reduce redundancy in their coverage of national headlines. Reeb also explained that the changes were meant to allow staff reductions, whilst allowing the network to "find innovative ways" to distribute news content; at least 80 jobs will be lost nationwide as part of these changes.^[10][11]

In June 2015, Global announced that it had picked up Canadian rights to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, to air in simulcast with CBS. Due to this change, late newscasts were kept at or shortened to 35 minutes in Halifax, Kelowna, Montreal, New Brunswick, Toronto, and Vancouver (Shaw had previously announced that it would extend its late newscasts in Halifax, Montreal, and New Brunswick to a full hour). To compensate for the change, Global Montreal instead introduced a half-hour noon newscast, and expanded its evening news to an hour.^[12][13]

News channels

On January 11, 2012, Shaw Media announced it had filed an application with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to launch a 24-hour Vancouver-based regional news network (to be licensed as a Category B digital cable specialty channel). The channel, tentatively named Global News: BC 1,^[14] will become the fourth regional news channel in Canada and the first located outside of Ontario, and will be operated by Global BC and utilize its news staff. Proposed programming includes a primetime talk show hosted by Global BC senior reporter Jill Krop.^[15] Initially slated to launch in summer 2012, CRTC licensing delays have led the launch to be rescheduled for March 14, 2013.^[14]

On September 22, 2014, Shaw Media filed an application with the CRTC to launch a national news channel, to be branded as Global News 1.^[16] Billed as a "hybrid" local and national news channel, the service would broadcast news reports from Global's national news bureau its local stations open 8 new newsrooms and can launch in 2016.^[17] The application is pending CRTC approval.

Criticism

Over the network's history, there has been some evidence that Global considers its news coverage subordinate to its usual primetime lineup of entertainment programming. While coverage of some breaking events has increased since the launch of Global National, the network attracted controversy in 2003 when CKND aired its usual programming schedule on the night of the Manitoba provincial election rather than providing any special news programming, and when CIII bumped its Ontario provincial election coverage to then-sister station CHCH in order to avoid preempting Survivor. Both stations aired full election night coverage in those provinces' 2007 elections.

In July 2010, Global National included video footage shot at another time and place into a segment about street demonstrations in Toronto. Correspondent Mike Drolet reported on a Toronto march held by groups demanding a public inquiry into police actions during a G20 conference. The report included clips of violence that erupted on Toronto streets during the event but Global added a scene shot months before in a Vancouver demonstration during the 2010 Winter Olympics. After this was reported in Canadian blog Northern Insights, Global claimed this was an unintentional editing error.^[18]

References

External links

• Global News
• GlobalNews - Global National