Although ratings were strong at first, with its first week seeing a full 30 per cent improvement over "The National"'s average ratings during the previous year, the approach proved unpopular, both within the CBC and with network audiences and critics. "The National" had been produced by the CBC's news department, while "The Journal" belonged to current affairs; bringing the two departments together was fractious, and the on-air rapport between Wallin and Mansbridge was visibly tense at times. Critics especially lambasted the debut episode, whose lead story was the last full day of the 1992 United States presidential election, as "an uninspiring collection of newsreading, charts and cutaways to foreign correspondents" more reminiscent of a local television station than a national network with the high reputation of CBC News, and viewer response to the new program's format was highly unfavourable.