What would you like to ask CBC News?

Have you ever wondered how journalists prepare for difficult interviews?
Or how reporters train for the dangers of conflict reporting?
What's it like to do your job while news breaks in places like Tahir Square, Syria or Russia?

We want to make it easier for you to ask questions and get answers from the CBC News team, journalists across Canada and around the world.  If you have questions about how we gather and report the news, we want to hear from you.

As part of our ongoing effort to increase transparency and engage with our readers, we are launching a new online feature: Ask CBC News.

Here's how it works.

You submit your question.

1) Think of a question. It can be about an editorial choice we've made or the story behind a story, or the important issues of the day. The best questions are open-ended and have a good shelf life.

So far we've answered questions about how journalists prepare themselves for the dangers of conflict reporting, whether or not they share food in famine zones, and how they find good stories through Freedom of Information requests.

2) Clearly indicate the specific journalist your question is for.

3) There are several ways in which you can submit a question:

• Email your question to yournews@cbc.ca with the subject line "Ask CBC News"
• Record yourself asking the question in a short video (upload here, or send us a link)
• Write your question in the comment thread below
• Tweet your question using the hashtag #AskCBCNews
  

The more thought and effort you put into your question, the more likely it will be answered.

Video questions stand the best chance of standing out and grabbing our attention. Your video will be included with the answer.

Don't forget to introduce yourself and tell us where you're from!

Our commitment to you

1) We will present your questions to CBC News reporters across Canada and overseas, who will record their answers in a video.

2) We will post the reporters' responses on CBCNews.ca and share them on social media.

3) We will email you to let you know your question has been answered.

Please note that our goal is to have a video response to a couple of questions each week, but we may begin with bi-monthly posts in the early stages of the project.

We cannot guarantee every question for our journalists will be answered, but we will try our best to field as many as we can.

Ask CBC News is part of our broad mission to be even more accountable to Canadians. We view it as a great opportunity for reporters to connect directly to readers.

Here is an example of what a video reply might look like.



Thank you for reading us here at CBCNews.ca and tuning in on TV and radio. We hope to hear from you soon!

• CBC's Adrienne Arsenault on famine reporting, tight deadlines
• CBC's Margaret Evans on conflict reporting, vulnerable interviewees
• CBC's David McKie on investigative reporting, independent research
• CBC's Derek Stoffel on staying professional and stomaching injustice
• CBC's Deana Sumanac on handling hot stars, bad interviews