CBC News today released an interim report of a large-scale review and analysis of its news content. Initiated in early 2009, this study, when complete, will be the most detailed and comprehensive of its kind in Canada and likely among any in the world. It's already creating something of a buzz in the academic and research communities. It will also be a powerful tool for our own journalists in terms of long term strategic planning and program development.

We'll have a complete report available in the fall. Known formally as The News Balance Report, it adds to a considerable body of research we use to ensure our journalism continues its leading role in establishing and performing to best industry practices. It is related to our Journalistic Standards and Practices and our accountability to Canadians through the independent CBC Ombudsman.

Here's what I've said in the news release we've distributed about the report:

"Trustworthiness and transparency are two of our key attributes. Quite rightly, as Canada's public broadcaster, our news and current affairs operations are held to a higher standard. We believe an important part of that responsibility is to regularly evaluate what we do and how we do it as part of our accountability to Canadians."

For more than 30 years CBC News has methodically evaluated its news product. Nobody else in the news business in Canada, and probably most of the world, takes as much time and effort in this area. Mostly, we see this as a way to gather data and other information that will allow us, in a methodical and empirical way, to ensure our journalism is solid, and to give us measurable data so we can continually assess what we do in an effort to do better.

We have many of the best journalists in the country working here. We're extremely proud of our journalism and the work we do on behalf of Canadians. Journalism isn't a science. It isn't a business. It's unpredictable, sometimes chaotic. It's frequently criticized. Some of our critics have skin in the game - the coverage we offer can have a material effect on their fortunes, as in the world of politics. We understand that.

But the analysis we do on our content takes much more into account than just our political coverage (although as politics is a big part of our mandate, we scrutinize our political coverage closely in terms of content and tone, especially around periods of heightened political activity like elections). We also think it's important to look at how we represent gender, how we reflect Canada to Canadians in terms of our geography, how we pay attention to some issues versus others, and when we focus on a particular issue, whether the things we focus on are the right ones.

Results so far have been very interesting and will no doubt form the basis for a lively discussion among ourselves and in the greater journalistic community.

In many ways, we're similar to other news organizations in what gets our attention. Not surprising, when you have huge developing and continuing stories like Haiti or H1N1, which affect literally millions of people.

There are also some interesting contrasts between CBC News and other news organizations. We tend to devote more coverage to politics. We tend to have more stories about visible minorities and aboriginal people, although both groups are arguably under-represented on all networks.

We also see that news coverage in general portrays men much more than women. This is perhaps not surprising, given their preponderance in positions of leadership and influence in the world. But are men naturally more newsworthy? It is worth discussing. In terms of news presenters, CBC News has more women hosts and anchors than our competitors. That's not an accident. We've been working at it.

In evaluating our political coverage, we see that the government gets more coverage than opposition. We have also evaluated the tone of our political coverage (with stories categorized as "positive," "neutral" or "negative"). The majority of the coverage is neutral. However, the government attracts both more negative and more positive coverage than the opposition. Coverage of the opposition is more likely to be neutral. This is perhaps not surprising, since it is the government that makes decisions and is held accountable — and criticized — for them.

Lots of people have opinions about news, ours and others. Nothing wrong with having an opinion, of course. But subjective judgments can only take you so far. We're interested in facts — those things that can be measured — which will help us to gain insights about what we do.

Our news operations are highly collaborative. Every hour of every day, our reporters, editors and producers engage in conversations — not always quietly — about what our audiences need to know, first and most. Those conversations get to the heart of a news organization's mission. We think it's important that we back up those conversations with material that gives us something tangible to work with. We owe this effort to our journalists and our audiences.

Our current report is based on a 10-week sample of television, radio and internet news between October 26, 2009 (perceptive readers will note this is the day we relaunched CBC News) and January 17, 2010. The full study will span a 25-week period ending May 2, 2010. Produced by ERIN Research Inc. and overseen by an independent panel of media experts, the final study will include both detailed content analysis and audience perception research. While its focus is CBC News, both network and local/regional, it includes competitors on each platform. It covers approximately 440 hours of radio and television news and 2,400 stories on the internet.

We'll have more for you in coming months.

The interim report is available here.

The executive summary is available here.