ANALYSIS

Why CBC/Radio-Canada is bucking the trend of international PSM

25 September 2026

CBC/Radio-Canada is reversing the worldwide trend of public broadcasters downsizing their international services, by opening five new international bureaus to expand its global reach. Why are they doing so, and what is their strategy? 

– By Charlotte Pion, Journalist & Researcher 

2026 seems to be a year of expansion for CBC/Radio Canada. A few months apart, the Canadian public broadcaster announced it would bolster its local presence by creating eleven new bureaus across the country, and its global reach by opening five new international bureaux. New offices in Beijing, Mexico, Jerusalem, Los Angeles and one new branch in Europe, will add to their existing presence in London, Mumbai, New York, Paris, Taipei and Washington D.C.

It’s an expansion that swims against the flow. For several years, major international public broadcasters have faced heavy budget cuts and the necessity to downsize their global workforces, sometimes shutting entire services.

USAGM was the most dramatic case of all, when in 2025, the Trump administration sought to dismantle the umbrella international public media organisation. Despite a partial restoration of funding in 2026, the initial withdrawal of all federal funding prompted service suspensions and mass layoffs across all USAGM broadcasters, causing immense disruption and harm to Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia, and their partners.

Elsewhere, the BBC World Service, facing a 21 percent reduction in its budget over five years, reviewed its operations, and decided to close 19 radio and TV channels, as they prioritised digital platforms instead.

Read more: How Western governments are failing to support international public service media

Media organisations such as Swissinfo and Deutsche Welle have had to make the case for their very existence and role in providing quality information to regions of the world where access to independent and free information is scarce. DW had its 2026 budget cut by €10 million, while Swissinfo and its French-speaking counterpart TV5 Monde came close to extinction, had the Swiss Parliament decided to remove the federal contribution supporting Switzerland’s international service.

So, at a time of great vulnerability for international public media, and with others downscaling, what prompted CBC/Radio-Canada to scale up its international presence?

The whys of CBC/Radio-Canada’s expansion

Two key factors may explain CBC/Radio-Canada’s strategy. Firstly, there is the question of funding. In 2025, the newly-elected Mark Carney decided to boost CBC/Radio-Canada’s budget, which had until then been underfunded compared to other public broadcasters in France, Germany and the UK. An initial $150-million annual funding increase was provided as part of a new mandate for the public broadcaster to, among other things, bolster their local and international news coverage. Part of the reason is for CBC/Radio-Canada to have autonomy and control over how it presents international news to Canadian audiences.

“This investment comes at a time when geopolitical, hemispheric, social, and economic power dynamics are in significant flux, with international stories now having a direct and immediate impact on Canada’s own economy, security, and sovereignty,” Brodie Fenlon, General Manager and Editor-in-Chief, CBC News, and Crystelle Crépeau, General Manager, News and Current Affairs, Radio-Canada, told PMA.

Placing their journalism more permanently in regions would allow them to tell critical world stories and complex world-shaping issues through a national lens for a Canadian audience. In contrast to most international public broadcasters, whose remit is to provide information worldwide and in critical regions where access to independent information is limited, CBC/Radio-Canada’s priority is to bring news from the world to Canadians.

A new weekly international news program has been developed to complement this, with the aim of helping the Canadian public to better understand the current global context. By expanding its news coverage at home and abroad, CBC/Radio-Canada hopes to build on the trust Canadians place in them to make sense of the global world but also the impact on communities closer to home.

Secondly, there are the shifting political alliances between the North American countries and Europe. Following several months of strained relations between the US and Canada marked by repetitive economic sanctions and threats of annexation, Canada is finding a more natural ally amongst the European states, even to the point of being invited to become the first affiliate member of the European Union.  

A similar move can be observed at CBC/Radio-Canada, which, as US public media faces its own financial crisis, is turning to Europe, where a cohort of public broadcasters share similar public service mission and values.

Indeed, in parallel to its expansion, CBC/Radio-Canada has joined the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), anchoring its collaboration with other public media organisation on the old continent. “This new status will allow us to offer Canadians more high-quality international news content on topics or events through the Eurovision News Exchange” said Fenlon and Crépeau. This initiative from the EBU provides access to verified global news content and resources from over 70 EBU members and other media partners. By joining this network, CBC/Radio-Canada will also bring Canadian content to be shared more widely with European audiences.