During the COVID-19 pandemic, Barton led CBC's coverage of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's daily press briefings[5] from March to July 2020, in which he spoke directly to Canadians and took questions from journalists about the state of the pandemic and newly announced government support programs including the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) and targeted support programs.

[13] Barton called Alexander's statements "completely false," offered to provide clips of previous shows where the Syrian refugee crisis had been discussed, and challenged him to admit he "[wanted to] avoid the question.

[15] On November 6, 2017, Barton debuted as a co-host of The National, CBC Television's flagship newscast, alongside Adrienne Arsenault, Andrew Chang and Ian Hanomansing.

[4] She hosted the weekend political talk series Sunday Scrum on CBC News Network, which was retitled Rosemary Barton Live as of November 1, 2020.

[17] Barton continues to contribute to The National as host of "At Issue" panel discussions featuring Andrew Coyne, Althia Raj and Chantal Hebert.