Tuesday, February 27, 2007

“While the return of Compass as a one-hour suppertime newscast to Prince Edward Island is welcome, the CBC head office in Toronto needs to provide additional funding for the expanded newscast,” says Charlottetown Senator Percy Downe.

“In 2000, the locally produced Prince Edward Island early evening news broadcast was reduced from a one hour program, to a thirty minute segment, which resulted in corresponding budget and human resource cuts. Now that the program has been returned to its full sixty minute length, more resources need to be allocated to Prince Edward Island.

The issue that the CBC station in Charlottetown currently employs significantly fewer staff members than it did a decade ago must be addressed. Although there is an argument which will be advanced that new technology requires less people to run the news program, there is still a need for additional journalists, producers and support staff to produce a quality news program for sixty minutes,” continued Downe.

The CBC 6 p.m. newscast in Prince Edward Island has consistently ranked among the highest rated CBC early evening news programs in the country. It should be rewarded for its success with additional financial support so that it will continue to provide Prince Edward Islanders with an evening news program of the highest quality and excellence.

“When the cut to the half-hour program was first announced in 2000, many Islanders were justifiably upset. The return of a one-hour program is a positive development for the province, but CBC has to return the appropriate resources to the Charlottetown station,” concluded Downe.