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Add network boss Harold Redekopp's remarks that the show is "a symbol of what we are all about at CBC," and it's small wonder co-hosts Wendy Mesley (Undercurrents) and Diana Swain (Canada Now) are claiming pre-show jitters.
With Disclosure set to debut Tuesday at 9 pm. on CBC Ch. 2, both hosts are just waiting to exhale after six months of intense preparation.
"We've actually produced the first one. Right now I've got seven or eight pieces in the works," Swain says, adding she may be on a plane to Montreal when the show actually goes to air. In fact, she's done so much travelling for Disclosure that Air Canada crews are now on a first-name basis.
"In the last six weeks alone I've been to Europe, Central America, the U.S. -- I was in the U.S. on Sept. 11 in fact, in Florida no less, and stuck there for four days."
Mesley says it's a luxury to have committed financial resources after working on a tight budget for six seasons on Undercurrents.
"It used to be that I could only fly somewhere if I stayed over a Saturday night," she says. "That's lovely to have that kind of support."
A CBC spokesman says the Disclosure budget is comparable to that of 27-year-old newsmagazine The Fifth Estate, but the publicly funded network doesn't disclose specific figures on current affairs budgets. Kinda ironic considering one of the first segments involves politicians and travel budgets.
That segment, by the way, is a humourous piece put together with help from CBC Sports. Executive producer Cecil Rosner says he's aiming for variety in the premiere to give viewers a taste of what's coming up.
"Hopefully people will judge our first few shows. We have many, many stories in production and you can't get them all into the first show."
Based in Toronto and Winnipeg -- which is the main production centre -- Disclosure has bureaus in Vancouver, Edmonton, Halifax, Ottawa and, for the rest of this fiscal year, Montreal and St. John.
Rosner says he's not in a position to discuss the budget, but says the initial pitch to CBC was for a commitment to resources to allow strong investigative work. Over the first 16-show season, he says there will be four segments per show on average. A companion Web site at www.cbc.ca/disclosure will expand on information from the program and put up some stories that don't make it to air.
Tuesday's debut refers to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. Swain's main story looks at Canadian resident who's been convicted of Second World War crimes in Italy, while Mesley interviews the dethroned king of Afghanistan's grandson, who has lived in Canada.
Swain says the opener sets the tone for the series and highlights her and Mesley's involvement as reporters. While she had to get used to the newsmagazine process, Swain says she's enjoying having more time, both on air and off, to go deeper than daily news formats allow.
"Here there's room for expansion and observation," she says. "Investigative journalism picks up where daily news leaves off."
Mesley says she hopes Disclosure will open up the news-gathering process to viewers. And she wants to avoid being self-reverential, a fault she finds with American newsmagazines.
"I'd like us to be fresh and serious without taking ourselves too seriously," she says.
"I always try and inject a little bit of humour into my stories. I think there's always room for humour in good journalism."