Why not more hosts?

Re: CBC revamps The National; four hosts take helm, Aug. 2 The CBC’s decision to replace recently retired Peter Mansbridge’s nightly reading of the news with four anchors or “hosts” is bold and creative but not all that innovative. NBC had Chet Huntley and David Brinkley; CTV had Lloyd Robertson and Harvey Kirk, a formula that worked well, having provided different talking heads, but not necessarily different perspectives.

The CBC has chosen four hosts who have proven themselves to be competent journalists and news readers and who satisfy gender balance ( no need to explore more than that in these gender- orientation times); however, the broadcaster has yet again failed the Canadian populace by excluding im- portant regions from coast to coast. One host will be reporting from Vancouver, another bleating from Ottawa, and two addressing the country from the centre of the universe, Toronto. Why did the CBC forget about Quebec, the Maritimes, the Indigenous people in the northern territories? Don’t these beautiful regions deserve a dedicated host to read the news?

Since the CBC has opted to recruit multiple readers of the news to relieve the monotony, the national broadcaster could have been more boldly creative and selected a gaggle of hosts, perhaps one from each province, to represent all the regions of our great country. The CBC already delivers a diluted serving of biased news, and neglecting fair representation is in keeping with its philosophy. Typical, eh? Lawrence B. Cohen, Toronto