Memo: Robyn Urback joins CBC News as producer of new opinion and columns section
A new opinion site is launching on CBCNews.ca in November.
The following memo was sent to CBC employees on Sept. 29 from Brodie Fenlon, Senior Director of Digital News, and Jennifer McGuire, General Manager and Editor in Chief.
We are pleased to announce a new initiative that will see the views and opinions of more Canadians reflected on CBCNews.ca and our broadcast platforms.
In November, we will launch an Opinion site on CBCNews.ca. It will feature a mix of regular freelance columns and commentary on news and current affairs, representing the widest range of viewpoints available in this country. Our goal is to showcase opinion from established writers and thought leaders, while also giving voice to a new generation of columnists. This new Opinion section will be built mainly around outside contributions and will be clearly separated from our news coverage and the analysis columns written by our own reporters.
Reflecting the views of Canadians is a key pillar of our mandate and the CBC does this in many ways already, from our website comment section to our point-of-view documentaries to call-in radio shows such as Cross-Country Checkup. An Opinion site will allow us to offer more, and more digitally where our audiences are growing so rapidly.
We are also happy to announce today Robyn Urback will join CBC News as our new producer of opinion and columns.
In this role, Robyn will also write a regular column for CBCNews.ca. She will help us find, edit and curate freelance commentary. Robyn will also ensure that the breadth and totality of commentary on our Opinion site meets the high standards of accuracy and balance mandated by our Journalistic Standards and Practices.
Robyn comes to us from the National Post, where she is a columnist and has been on the editorial board for the past three years. Before that she was the lead writer for Blog.to and also spent several years at Maclean’s writing for its On Campus portal.
Her work isn’t limited to print. She’s been a regular panelist at Newstalk 1010, SiriusXM and AM640 and often appeared on CTV as a commentator.
Robyn will start on Oct. 17.
