Canadians will likely need no introduction when it comes to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation – just as someone from the UK would need no introduction to England’s federal broadcasting network, the BBC. However, if you are reading this review, there is a good chance that you are not familiar with the CBC, and, so, I will give a little bit of background information on it anyway. Canadians: feel free to skip ahead if the following info starts to feel a little too familiar!
CBC is the oldest broadcasting network in Canada (even though certain networks that currently air on CBC predate it), and it is a huge network of television and radio networks that make up the vast majority of programming that airs in Canada. Even if you are already a little too familiar with CBC, you might be less familiar with the CBC’s news site, CBC.ca/news. Furthermore, did you know that within the CBC’s news site lives a very rich collection of regularly published articles that pertain specifically to entertainment news?
It might be the CBC’s best-kept secret – housed deep in the recesses of the CBC website is one of the best written, vigilantly updated, and user-friendly entertainment news sites on the web. It can be easy to overlook in lieu of all the actual television and radio content that the CBC provides. But once you do finally stumble upon CBC Entertainment News, you may find that you have no need to visit another entertainment news site again.
If you are looking for the latest in TV, film, theater, and literary news (from Canada and abroad), CBC will keep you busy with plenty to read. From reviews and op-eds about the hottest movies and shows in the industry to the latest news on upcoming films and actors, CBC Entertainment News shows us all how an entertainment news site should be executed, even if it does so rather quietly while staying comparatively under the radar.
History
The first time that the CBC made a bilingual (English and French) news broadcast, the year was 1936. And it became inaugurated during WWII, on January 1st, 1941. Therefore, from its very origins, CBC News was tasked with delivering some of the most historically important and journalistically rigorous broadcasts. This led CBC News to earn a reputation globally as one of the few national news outlets with outstanding journalistic integrity, year after year.
This mentality shifted from radio to TV to the internet, finally, in 1996, when CBC launched its first website, Newsworld Online. The CBC News site that we know of today, however, did not go live until 2 years later, in 1998. And in 2009, CBC rolled all of its news outlets into one super site, merging CBC Television News, Radio News, and Digital News into a more centralized structure.
In 2013, CBC News went on to launch its Aboriginal site, which is based out of Winnipeg and houses journalists who report from Toronto and other major cities throughout Canada. This site, however, was renamed to CBC Indigenous in 2016. And in 2017, the CBC launched its flagship newscast, The National, featuring 4 main co-anchors based in Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver.
The journalistic rigor that has won CBC numerous national and international media awards (including several International Emmys, the Prix Italia, Monte Carlo, Gabriel, and the Canadian Association of Journalists and RTDNA awards) has carried over into CBC Entertainment News as well – resulting in some of the highest-quality entertainment journalism that I have ever had the pleasure to read.
Design
The first thing that really caught my eye about CBC Entertainment News is how well designed it is. In a word, the site is professional. In fact, much more professional, probably, than any other entertainment news site that I have ever visited. This is, frankly, a breath of fresh air for me. Entertainment news sites have a bad habit of being juvenile, in my opinion. They get caught up in the glitz and glam of celebrity and lose sight of the fact that, regardless of topic, these stories are still news at the end of the day.
Thankfully, though, CBC Entertainment News retains the same air of professionalism and seriousness in its entertainment department as it has in its politics or world news departments. The design stays the same throughout the whole site, which makes not only for a more user-friendly experience but a more mature one as well when compared with other entertainment publications.
A tasteful (and nationalistic) white and red theme present bursts of color in subdued urgency and pride. The splashes of deep Canadian red, however, are sparse and, thus, create a very minimalistic look. Beyond the aesthetics of it, though, CBC Entertainment News is very cleanly arranged and organized. You’ll simply find one main featured story appearing with an extra-large thumbnail toward the top center of the home page, leading to a stack of smaller columns, arranged 2 by 2, vertically down to the bottom.
And should you ever want to jump to any other section of CBC News, you’ll find a convenient site menu bar that allows for easy navigation. Select either Top Stories, Local, The National, Opinion, World, Politics, or Indigenous. It is simple and easily accessible – precisely the way that news should be.
Content
Another thing that I love about CBC Entertainment News is the fact that the stories are not overly base or superficial, as is often the case with these kinds of sites. CBC is not going to be where you’ll want to go for celebrity gossip or tabloid-style speculation on who’s going to be wearing what on the red carpet. As I’ve said before, the articles on CBC are real works of journalism, even if the topic is entertainment as opposed to international conflict.
Therefore, the pieces on CBC Entertainment News are thoughtful, compelling, well-researched, expertly written, and fact-checked. If you want an entertainment news site that does not waste your time with vapidity or trite fluff, you have come to the right place.
Mobile and Desktop Experience
I have already gone on and on about how much I adore the CBC in-browser site experience. And I am happy to report that the app offers an equally excellent user experience and design. In fact, the CBC News app is one of the best news apps currently on the market – at the very least, it is one of the highest-rated. It is available for both iOS and Android, but on the Apple App Store, CBC News has received an average rating of 4.7 stars (out of 5) from 2.1 thousand individual reviews.
Pricing and Plans
Nothing on CBC Entertainment News will cost you a loonie to view. There is no paywall or subscription fee necessary. I suppose this is one of the perks to a national news network, it is subsidized. However, that is not to say that CBC is not without ads. Luckily, though, you won’t have a problem avoiding most of them with a halfway decent adblocker extension.
Suggestions that I have for CBC Entertainment News
Honestly, for the first time as a reviewer of entertainment news sites, I do not have a single suggestion for CBC Entertainment News. The content is top-notch; the site is professional, clean, and easy to use; the app is great; it is 100% free. You can’t go wrong here. The only thing that I can think of is that I want there to be a way for me to give them my money! Meaning, of course, a premium version of the site would be a nice touch (although not necessary!).
Oh, and if I’m getting picky about it, perhaps a few more accompanying videos with the articles couldn’t hurt!
Conclusion
All in all, if you are sick of entertainment news sites pandering to the lowest common denominator and want a site that will report on breaking entertainment news with journalistic integrity, CBC Entertainment News is probably the site you’ve been looking for. Add to this amazing site and app design and the fact that it is free of charge and you have a recipe for quite possibly the best-executed entertainment news site on the web!
