CBC News is launching a multi-platform project to commemorate D-Day, as the broadcaster increasingly looks for ways to engage audiences beyond the traditional television broadcast.

“Our attention is turning so quickly and dramatically away from putting all of our pre-planning energy into the main television production,” said Michael Gruzuk, executive producer of CBC News specials and programming.

D-Day Live, a multi-platform project that will launch on June 5 and run until June 6, will release news bulletins about what happened during specific moments during D-Day 70 years ago.

The project will feature archival video, images and audio, recently-shot footage that will include interviews with Second World War veterans, text and photos. The project will also feature a dedicated Twitter account – @CBCDDayLive – which will tweet a minute-by-minute account of the battle at Normandy.

Some events from D-Day will be broadcast on CBC News and CBC Radio as they happened 70 years ago, with highlights from the D-Day Live project live-streaming during an anniversary special from Normandy that will be hosted by Peter Mansbridge on June 6.

All of the content for the multi-platform project was produced in-house, Gruzuk said, adding that the D-Day project is representative of the pubcaster’s evolving approach to creating content.

“Even on a traditional event like a 70th anniversary of D-Day, we’re having those conversations right away, saying, ‘how can we reach the most viewers to experience a special event, who are never going to be sitting in front of their TV at 8 in the morning?” Gruzuk said.

In addition, the multi-platform approach means that departments from across CBC can repurpose content to best suit specific audiences. For example, a 10-minute interview with a Second World War veteran may be cut down to a short clip for the web, Gruzuk said, while a longer, more polished version of that interview would go to The National for a television broadcast.

“Sometimes it’s through experimental projects like this that we learn some workflow things that we apply to our daily work,” Gruzuk said.