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CBC closing P.A. bureau; local coverage to come from Saskatoon

Jun 25, 2015 | 7:17 AM

Shrinking federal budgets for the CBC are hitting home in Prince Albert.

The CBC will no longer have a video journalist stationed in the city as of next week, paNOW has learned.

“We’ll cover Prince Albert and the central and northern part of Saskatchewan, primarily from Saskatoon,” said John Bertrand, CBC’s senior managing director of the prairie north region.

Once Prince Albert’s CBC bureau closes, only Saskatoon and Regina will have CBC offices. About five years ago, La Ronge lost its CBC station as well.

Prince Albert’s position in its one-man bureau is one of 11 to be eliminated across the province as part of a five-year strategy announced in March. The process is underway right now.

“It wasn’t easy. It was part of the difficult decisions we had to make as we looked at reduction of resources and restructuring towards, much more, towards digital. So, you know, we had to make some difficult decisions and this was one of them,” Bertrand said.

He said the CBC has a track record of covering areas beyond their offices, with stories out of Meadow Lake and parts of northern Saskatchewan.

When asked if covering the aboriginal population of Prince Albert and northern Saskatchewan without the Prince Albert office is a concern, Bertrand said he and the CBC prioritize the diversity of “the indigenous community throughout Saskatchewan.

“It is a fundamental part of what we’re going to do and need to continue to do to deepen those connections, to deepen that relationship and that sense of understanding.”

There might no longer be a position dedicated to the northern region.

“I don’t think it’s been determined whether someone might get that as a beat but it will certainly be an ongoing kind of priority. I think it’ll be a sort of a collective priority rather than an individual person who’s doing nothing but that,” Bertrand said.

He said moving towards a digital focus and digital storytelling, CBC Saskatchewan will need to find the best way to cover the spread-out population over a large geographic area.

“That’s (online is) where our audience are going,” Bertrand said.

As for the local community value of the public broadcaster, he said he doesn’t see that going away.

“Through the collective efforts of CBC Saskatchewan, and telling stories in all kinds of different ways you reach more people, you connect with more people and actually at the end of the day you’re more local,” he said.

“Local focus is the very key of what we do and why, you know, what we’re charged to do within Saskatchewan.”

In March, spokesman Chuck Thompson said almost half of about 1,500 job cuts expected in the next 12 to 15 months had already taken place or were set to happen.

The cuts are part of a five-year strategy announced last June by CEO Hubert Lacroix in a bid to increase digital offerings by 2020.

The strategy attempts to deal with budgetary shortfalls due to federal funding and decreased profits.

The Prince Albert office will remain open until the lease is up in the fall, however it won’t be staffed on a full-time basis.

-With files from The Canadian Press.

claskowski@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @chelsealaskowsk