It reports on major Canadian and international news stories, airing on CBC Television stations nationwide Sunday to Friday at 10:00 p.m. local time (10:30 p.m. NT).

On CBC News Network, the weekday editions continued to run a full hour during this period; separate final segments, both pre-taped, were used for the 55- and 60-minute versions.

On September 17, 2012, with many CBC O&Os extending late local news to 30 minutes, The National reverted to a single 60-minute format on weeknights and Sundays.

(Those stations which continue to produce 10-minute late local newscasts now air them starting at 11:00, followed by a condensed 20-minute version of The Exchange before rejoining the network schedule at 11:30.)

He hired veteran radio newsman Larry Henderson to anchor the broadcast which soon expanded to a nightly thirteen-minute program airing at 11 pm.

Henderson, who had hoped to become Canada's answer to Edward R. Murrow, had spent several years travelling the world with his Headliners radio broadcast.

[5] Henderson left the broadcast in 1959 and was succeeded by Earl Cameron, who had been presenter of the National News Bulletin on the CBC's main radio service, the Trans-Canada Network, since 1944.

Burke was replaced by Warren Davis, at which point the show was renamed The National and the program was broadcast in colour.

In 1978, Knowlton Nash—who had been director of news and current affairs, three management levels above being Kent's supervisor—became the newscast's new anchor, after winning an audition process whose result was upheld in arbitration.

This allowed him to participate in the writing of the show's script as well as act as a news editor with influence over the stories selected for the newscast and other questions of editorial judgment.

That same year, the CBC, which was undergoing major changes, replaced The National and The Journal with Prime Time News, an integrated package which aired at 9:00 p.m. with two hosts, Mansbridge and Pamela Wallin.

During this time, the title The National was retained by a separate newscast on CBC Newsworld, hosted by Alison Smith.

The program acquired a new look and format in the eventful fall of that year with the CBC's latest corporate redesign.

The interactive website initially made "available both information about the program and more in-depth content to supplement what we broadcast on television.

[8] In May 2007, The National launched a redesigned website featuring the latest broadcast, recent documentaries, and an extensive online archive that opens the floor for comments from the viewers.

[12] On August 1, 2017, the CBC announced that Adrienne Arsenault, Rosemary Barton, Andrew Chang, and Ian Hanomansing would host a revamped version of The National beginning on November 6, 2017.

During the series run the anchor duty stations shifted, with Hanomansing principally hosting from Vancouver and Chang from Toronto.

CBC News executive Jonathan Whitten stated that the new format will be designed to focus more upon in-depth and "personal" coverage of ongoing stories, rather than merely recapping all of the day's headlines.

[14] The inaugural episode with the new format received mixed to negative reviews; John Doyle wrote in The Globe and Mail that the show was no longer a newscast, but a "chatty, visually bewildering assessment of some news stories of the day" that felt "disjointed, surreal and sadly lacking in coherence".

Although acknowledging that its hosts were "superb" journalists, he argued that its opening story on the Sutherland Springs church shooting featured "a reporter, skilled at doing traditional TV reportage, suddenly doing deep feelings and expected to be personally raw.

'"[16] On January 22, 2020, CBC News announced revisions to the program, dropping the four-anchor format and having Arsenault and Chang co-anchor from Monday through Thursday.

The broadcast's original opening, used from 1969 through 1982, was known as "the Bloops" and featured the title of the program in a "space-age" font in green on the bottom of the screen, superimposed over a wide shot of the set.

Accompanied by synthesized beeps that resembled an old computer, different letters rapidly cycled from left to right until they spelled "The National".

On January 11, 1982, the CBC relaunched The National with a radically different format and presentation style that looked very hi-tech for its time.

The title sequence would then continue, and cut to an aerial view of Toronto (new shot every Monday which then ran the entire week) and Lisa Dalbello announcing up and under the theme saying "The National; from the Canadian Broadcasting Centre, here is Peter Mansbridge."

Host Peter Mansbridge began delivering all segments of the news standing up, a style pioneered in Canada by the Citytv system.

Other personalities who have anchored The National as weekend or substitute anchors include George McLean, George Finstad, Alison Smith, Wendy Mesley, Diana Swain, Carole MacNeil, Mark Kelley, Brian Stewart, Ian Hanomansing, Heather Hiscox, Asha Tomlinson, and Evan Solomon.