Anchor Steve Paikin states that the show practices long-form journalism.
[1] It replaced Studio 2, a current affairs program that was hosted by Paikin and Paula Todd;[1] it also subsumed Paikin's Fourth Reading, which continued for a number of years as a weekly panel discussion segment on The Agenda.
[2] For a period, on the last Thursday of every month, the program broadcast live from the University of Toronto Munk Centre for International Studies, and focused on world issues with Paikin taking questions from the live audience and online.
[3] The network also devoted more resources to expanding the program "as a multi-platform hub for civic engagement in the big issues of the day".
Video blogs, timelines of key events, slide shows, and polls, surveys and statistics are also available online.