Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. I am very pleased to be with you today to talk about news and information at Radio-Canada. Exactly one year ago today, Sylvain Lafrance, CBC/Radio-Canada's Executive Vice-President of French Services, announced the integration of all Radio-Canada news and information services under a single structure, and entrusted me with the mandate of managing this revamped news department.
The key objective of this restructuring was to allow us to respond even more coherently to the challenges of the 21st century. It was about strengthening our public broadcasters' French services so that they remain a touchstone for citizens looking for references, and seeking to better understand the world they live in. Radio-Canada already possesses many assets enabling it to fully assume its role as a public broadcaster.
First of all, I remind you that Radio-Canada is the only French-language media organization in the country to provide such a broad spectrum of news coverage. How many francophone news operations can boast of having reporters in Toronto, Vancouver, Moncton and Calgary? You know the answer without even asking the question. All media considered, we have the largest contingent of French-speaking reporters in the country.
We are also the only French-speaking media outlet that presents international news reports and analysis. With our 11 foreign correspondents and several hundred regular contributors posted on 5 continents, our international news gathering presence exceeds that of all other francophone media in the country. Were it not for Radio-Canada, French-speaking Canadians would increasingly have to rely on the English media and on international news agencies to get a sense of what is happening around the world. No other media outlet, print, radio, television or web, offers as much content in French about the world, and the world in our backyard, as Radio-Canada does. Unlike others, we are not limited by our national territory. With a presence from coast-to-coast and spanning the globe, Radio-Canada is uniquely positioned to explain to Canadians what is happening in their regions, in their country and worldwide.
For this Fall, we have implemented a regional strategy across all of our services with the goal of strengthening our regional roots and ensuring better reflection of regions on our national networks. In news, for example, this has meant a greater presence in Toronto, as well as the addition of regional Saturday and Sunday editions of the Téléjournal newscast in Atlantic Canada. About a year, we began transforming RDI into a bona fide continuous news service. Given an increasingly competitive media environment and in the spirit of the unique mandate entrusted to RDI, our goal was to simultaneously strengthen our regional presence and develop a more seamless approach, while ensuring greater editorial consistency. Decompartmentalization of our workday 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. programming now allows us to provide better news coverage all across the country, live and regardless of where or when stories are breaking.
Of course, no matter how hard we try, we can't always please everyone. We continually strive to strike the ideal balance of news and information content across all of our networks. Yet we must ask ourselves: What would happen if we were not present and accessible to the largest possible number of TV viewers, right across the country? Would a private all-news network be the solution? What kind of content would the French speakers be given to watch? News from Toronto, Moncton, Vancouver and Calgary? International stories from Canadian reporters posted abroad? Not a chance! What we offer is unique.
In dealing with complaints, we make our responses public, when appropriate we acknowledge our mistakes and take the necessary corrective action. Incidentally, anyone can now view these complaints and our responses, as well as the ombudsman's annual reports, via the CBC/Radio-Canada website.
By consolidating our TV, radio and web services under a single-management structure, we have sought to clearly position the Radio-Canada mandate as an instrument of democracy and culture. This combined strength is what allowed us to maintain a news gathering presence in Afghanistan for 12 consecutive weeks, with seasoned reporters like Céline Galipeau, Alexandra Czacka and Frédéric Nicoloff filing stories. By the way, I am pleased to announce that we will again be reporting from the front in Afghanistan as of this fall.
On the radio, we are the only media organization to offer such first-rate news content at all hours of the day. And we know that this content is being appreciated by listeners: our radio newscasts, to cite one example, reached record audiences according to the latest BBM survey results, from winter 2007. Moreover, what television network besides Radio-Canada can boast 10 current affairs programs on its schedule, including 6 that air in prime time? You won't find any: current affairs programming is simply non-existent on the private networks. Nowhere else but on Radio-Canada will you find programs like La Facture, a magazine that covers the everyday problems faced by citizens. La Facture is seen by an average of more than 705,000 viewers each week. Then there is L'épicerie, a magazine program focused on food, which each week reaches an average audience of 658,000. Découverte, one of the only French television magazine programs in this country devoted to science, draws an average viewership of 600,000 on Sunday nights, and in recent weeks has even posted audience numbers near the one million mark.
This fall, having leveraged the combined expertise of our TV, radio, and web team, we will become the only Canadian French language TV network to air a weekly prime time newsmagazine on international affairs. This brand new program will be produced in front of a live studio audience with renowned guests and one-of-a-kind reporting that will enable us to better comprehend the world--the whole world and your world.
We provide Canadians with quality programming as witnessed by the many national and international awards bestowed upon our programs over the past year. Découverte, for example, won no less than four awards, including the Gémeaux for best public affairs program, and the CAID Prize at the International Science Film Festival in Athens. The program Dimanche magazine, which air on the Première Chaîne radio network, won a prestigious Peabody Award in 2006 for a report about climate change. And the series 109, produced in Toronto and aired on RDI, won a Gold Ribbon Award at the most recent convention of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters.
As we look to the future, Radio-Canada is called upon to create a public broadcasting space that is stronger than ever before. This is vitally important. In a multi-channel universe and given the phenomenal number of different news sources, we must create an "island of trust", where citizens can be secure in the knowledge that the news and information they get from their public broadcaster is reliable and credible. To be able to enrich citizens' democratic and cultural life, and properly pursue its mission as a public broadcaster, Radio-Canada must maintain its ability to promote social cohesion and be a reflection of true diversity.
Thank you.