CTV News has partnered with Politico’s recently launched newsletter, Politico Pro Canada, mirroring an industry-wide trend and investment in cross-border journalism.
The partnership, which marks Politico’s first move into Canadian linear television, will include content on the CTV News website and a co-branded weekly segment, “Inside Washington with Politico Pro,” airing Fridays on CTV’s political program, Power Play, beginning Oct. 26. The program will be hosted by CTV Ottawa bureau chief Joyce Napier alongside Politico Pro Canada reporters Alex Panetta and Lauren Gardner.
Politico launched its subscription newsletter, Politico Pro Canada, in September. The newsletter focuses on Canadian and U.S. political relations on topics such as trade, financial services, technology and cyber-security.
This isn’t the first time this year that Canadian and American media brands have joined forces. In June, Torstar partnered with the Wall Street Journal to bring American business, economic and tech coverage to Canadian audiences alongside digital subscription offering, the Star Business Journal.
According to Luiza Savage, executive director of Politico Pro Canada, CTV News and Politco Pro Canada shared a vision for a regular broadcast that dug into cross-border relations.
“What I’ve wanted to do for years was to find a broadcast home for a weekly segment that could really dive deep into Canada, U.S. relations that wasn’t just playing off of that day’s headline, but really digging into some of these issues,” she said. “This is something that will do that.”
According to Savage, what will set the program apart is its team of reporters, which spans both the Politico Pro Canada reporters who cover daily news for the subscription offering, as well as the wider Politico team, which includes its policy and politics newsroom alongside 15 policy verticals covering everything from energy and agriculture and trade to cyber security and technology.
“If we’re going deep on a particular topic, we have a lot of expertise that we can pull on in this newsroom,” she said.
As for the first episode airing this Friday, Savage says while it’s still in the works, she expects the show will dive into the cross-border implications of two top of mind topics in particular: trade and marijuana.
CTV was unable to comment on the partnership, however, in a written statement, CTV News president, Wendy Freeman said the partnership will “share valuable perspectives from both side of the border,” at a “critical time for Canada-U.S. relations.”
