MONTREAL—Grass Valley has announced that Australian News Channel (ANC), operator of Sky News Australia, has deployed Grass Valley AMPP to transform its newsroom production operations as part of the move to a new national headquarters.

The deployment replaces a long-standing legacy system with a cloud-based production architecture, enabling more than 250 journalists, editors, and producers to collaborate through browser-based workflows. The platform now supports the delivery of over 1,500 hours of content each week across broadcast and digital platforms.

“This transformation has fundamentally changed how we operate as a newsroom,” said Jesse Hicks, deputy head of operations and innovation, Sky News Australia. “Our teams can access editing tools from anywhere, collaborate in real time, and turn around content faster without compromising quality. It gives us the flexibility needed for modern news production while maintaining the reliability required for a 24/7 environment.”

ANC deployed the AMPP ecosystem, as part of a relocation project replacing an SQ based news production system from Grass Valley’s Quantel lineage. The solution includes Framelight X for browser-based editing, Playout X for cloud playout, and integrated asset management, ingest, and storage services. Journalists can now create and edit content directly in a web browser, removing reliance on physical workstations and accelerating production workflows.

The new workflow also supports fully distributed production, enabling teams to work across the newsroom, field locations, and remote environments. By streamlining processes and reducing manual tasks, ANC is reporting improved efficiency and its employees have been able to spend more time on content creation.

“Undertaking a full newsroom transformation alongside a headquarters relocation is a complex challenge,” said Jon Wilson, CEO, Grass Valley. “ANC took a clear, strategic approach – moving to an integrated software defined model that delivers greater flexibility, scalability, and resilience across its operations. This project reflects our long-standing partnership and a shared commitment to modernizing news operations live production.”

Since going live in November 2025, the platform has delivered continuous 24/7 operation without downtime, demonstrating the reliability of cloud-based production at scale. As an early adopter of AMPP for newsroom workflows, ANC continues to work closely with Grass Valley, providing operational feedback that informs ongoing platform development.

NEW YORK—A new survey from Video Advertising Bureau (VAB) finds that TV news remains the most consumed, most trusted news source and that key consumer groups for advertisers are more likely to turn to TV rather than social media for breaking news.

The new report called “That’s The Way It Is: How TV News Provides Scale, Attention & Engagement For High-Value Audiences” explores viewership of TV news versus other media platforms among three key audiences valued by advertisers: adults 35-54, individuals in $100K+ households and full-time employed adults.

The report—based on findings from a December 2025 survey conducted in partnership with Dynata of 2,319 U.S. adults—found that about half of these audience cohorts — 52% of those aged 35-54, 46% individuals in households making more than $100,000 a year and 56% of full-time employed adults — are watching more TV news compared to the previous year.

They are also much more likely to go to TV news first over social media for breaking news coverage and updates on major news stories. TV news is also their top source by far for vital information that personally impacts their daily lives, like weather and traffic.

“Multiscreen TV news plays a central role in keeping influential audiences informed,” said Jason Wiese, executive vice president of strategic insights and measurement, VAB. “From breaking headlines and defining political moments to local community updates, multiscreen TV news keeps key audiences connected to the stories shaping their world. In a media environment filled with misinformation and noise, it continues to stand out for its quality, reliability, accuracy and integrity.”

“The results underscore the value of multiscreen TV news as a credible, brand-safe platform for reaching influential audiences at scale, especially in comparison with social platforms and technologies like AI,” added Wiese. “Across linear and streaming, multiscreen TV news offers advertisers an environment that pairs trust and attention with meaningful consumer engagement and action.”

The VAB researchers described the other key findings as follows:

• Viewers are more than twice as likely to have a higher opinion of the advertisers in local TV news. Additionally, high-income households and employed viewers are more than 2x more likely to buy from advertisers seen during national TV news.
• Collectively, households with an income of $100K+ are almost 13x more likely to trust TV news than social media platforms — with TV the most trusted news source as both local and national TV far outpace search, social media and AI across these audiences.
• Social media is seen as a far greater source of false information — with 46% of A35–54, 58% of HHI $100K+ and 50% of full-time employed adults saying it is the most likely to provide fake or misleading information, compared to 20%, 13% and 17% who say TV.
• TV offers a range of engaging political content throughout the election season, and that heightened viewer engagement increases the likelihood of buying from advertisers that are adjacent to political programming or political ads. In fact, high-income households are 114% more likely to buy from advertisers during a political debate or town hall.

The full report—which includes in-depth data, charts and analysis—here.

NEW YORK—Amagi has launched Newspulse, an Agentic AI platform that automatically creates social-ready clips, vertical videos, and news bulletins by watching live news broadcasts and scanning VOD libraries.

"The newsroom's historical hesitation around AI has centered entirely on the fear of losing editorial control and brand integrity," said Srividhya Srinivasan, co-founder and CTO at Amagi. "With Newspulse, we are changing that equation. Our policy engine ensures the AI acts strictly within the newsroom's defined guardrails, autonomously handling the heavy lifting of multi-platform formatting. This liberates journalists to focus on the story, and allows broadcasters to aggressively capture younger digital audiences without inflating their baseline production budgets."

The launch comes at a time when 93% of young adults (ages 18–29) get their news via digital devices, and 76% rely directly on social media for news (Pew Research Center), making it increasingly important for traditional broadcasters to either reach those audiences on digital platforms or risk losing them entirely. Yet most newsrooms still stitch together a patchwork of point solutions to repurpose broadcast content—a workflow that inflates costs and burns out editorial teams.

Newspulse eliminates this fragmented approach with a single, unified platform that handles the full pipeline—from broadcast ingest to social publishing. It scans live feeds in real time, identifies individual story segments, and converts each one into publish-ready content for digital channels.

For example, when breaking news unfolds, Newspulse instantly captures the moment and the story. Rather than applying a static centre-crop, the AI dynamically tracks on-screen subjects, lower-thirds, and graphics to intelligently reframe the video into multiple aspect ratios (16:9, 9:16, 4:5, 1:1). In parallel, it generates platform-specific captions., and post information, and publishes the tailored clips directly to the newsroom's digital end points —all within minutes, without an editor touching the timeline. The platform offers human-in-the-loop checkpoints for greater editorial control. Beyond individual clips, Newspulse can seamlessly sequence a series of these stories to generate comprehensive news bulletins of varying lengths.

Crucially, Newspulse places editorial control, brand integrity, and compliance at its core through policy-driven Agentic AI. Newsrooms define their brand voice, stylistic rules, and content priorities—such as focusing heavily on specific regional updates or local sports teams. The AI operates entirely within these guardrails, ensuring that autonomous formatting perfectly aligns with the network's overall mission.

Amagi Newspulse is currently in limited availability testing with select newsroom partners, with general availability expected in June 2026.

To learn more, visit https://www.amagi.com/products/newspulse

NEW YORK—As local stations, TV news outlets and networks ramp up their efforts to secure a larger share of what promises to be record political spending in the fall mid-term 2026 elections, the Video Advertising Bureau (VAB) has released a new study that examines how effective political messaging is likely to be on various platforms.

The December 2025 survey based on findings conducted in partnership with Dynata of 2,319 U.S. adults examined behaviors and sentiments across five key voting and party affiliation groups, potential voters, non-voters, Republicans, Democrats and Independents. It also examined how viewers spend their time, what sources they trust most and how different TV contexts influence outcomes for political messaging.

Results, published as “The Lead Story: How Multiscreen TV Drives Cross-Partisan Engagement for Political Ad Campaigns” found that Americans overwhelmingly trust TV news over any other digital media source like search, social or AI. Collectively, potential voters are almost 9 times more likely to trust TV news than social media platforms, while 50% of total respondents rank AI lowest for trust.

In addition, the survey found that audiences turn to TV news sources to stay informed on political issues far more than any other platform. Further, voters are 60% more likely to use TV news to stay informed than they are social media, and twice as likely than non-voters to be pay-TV subscribers.

TV news is also the primary starting point for understanding current events or issues for voters, while social media is viewed as more supplemental. Moreover, voters are much more likely to watch TV news—with 61% typically watching local news and 57% typically watching national news, compared to 38% and 25% of non-voters, respectively.

Social media is far more likely than TV programs to be viewed as a source of fake or misleading information, as potential voters are almost 3x more likely to believe social media platforms are most likely to provide fake or misleading information vs. TV.

Beyond political ads, people are much more likely to purchase products from advertisers in TV news, as potential voters are 42% more likely than not to buy from advertisers adjacent to a breaking news story on local TV news.

"Today's voters, regardless of political involvement or party affiliation, move fluidly across trusted multiscreen TV platforms, spanning both linear and streaming, to stay informed on current events and political issues," said Jason Wiese, executive vice president of strategic insights & measurement, VAB. "TV news delivers the scale, trust, credibility and authenticity that no other media can for both political and non-political advertisers. This creates the opportunity to reach audiences in high-quality viewing environments that are positively perceived and can inform, engage and ultimately drive action."

The full report is available here.

ATLANTA—Former news anchor Valeria Sistrunk has officially announced the launch of RateMyStation, a digital platform that aims to bring more transparency to the broadcast journalism industry by offering a kind of "Glassdoor for News," where journalists, producers, and newsroom staff can rate their work environments, share experiences, and advocate for healthier professional cultures in a secure, anonymous environment.

The launch comes at a time when broadcast stations are under increasing financial pressure to produce more local news with the same or fewer resources, a dynamic that has made it difficult for some stations to recruit new talent or retain existing talent. Stations have also come under fire for offering low pay to entry level journalists and producers, a problem that could become even worse if the ongoing industry-wide consolidation results to layoffs.

The inspiration for RateMyStation stems from Sistrunk's personal experiences navigating toxic newsroom dynamics. Recognizing a systemic lack of accountability in the industry, she developed the platform to empower media professionals with the data necessary to make informed career decisions. By centralizing reviews on management, pay equity, and workplace safety, the site aims to bridge the information gap between station leadership and prospective employees.

As part of the effort to provide journalists with more transparency about work environments, RateMyStation said that it serves as a dual-purpose tool for both employees and newsroom leaders. For journalists, it offers a collective voice to highlight excellence or signal red flags regarding newsroom morale. For station groups and local managers, the platform provides a clear metric of internal reputation, offering a roadmap to improve retention and foster more supportive environments.

The initiative also focuses on the specific challenges of the media industry, including high-pressure deadlines, contract negotiations, and the mental health toll of daily news cycles.

To help fund the effort, the site includes merchandise shop featuring products designed to resonate with the unique lifestyle of media professionals. Proceeds from the shop directly support the platform's mission to provide advocacy resources and maintain the digital infrastructure required for verified, anonymous reporting.

More information is available at https://ratemystation.com.

Despite a slew of major international stories, including a trade war that’s having a major impact on the U.S. economy, a new survey suggests that Americans are turning inward with little or no interest in foreign news.

When they do access international news, the respondents said, TV was their most trusted source.

The survey from SmartNews found seven in 10 Americans (71%) consume little to no foreign news (news coverage about countries outside of the U.S.). That figure broke down to 47% consuming less than 30 minutes a day and 24% never consuming foreign news. In contrast, 63% of all respondents report consuming 30 minutes or more of U.S. national news each day.

Nearly half of Americans (46%) said when they do consume foreign news, they are closely watching news from Europe followed by the Middle East, Canada, Mexico, Asia and Africa. Roughly half of Americans (51%) identified economic issues and military conflicts are the leading global topics capturing their attention.

About four in 10 of all respondents (41%) cited TV news as the most trusted foreign news source. Less than a quarter (22%) chose cable news channels (e.g., CNN, Fox News) as the most trustworthy source, while 19% chose network TV (e.g., ABC, NBC).

When asked which news outlet they believe provides the most trustworthy foreign news coverage, respondents most frequently chose BBC, followed by CNN and Fox News, SmartNews reported.

Social media is the most popular source of international news, with 35% of all respondents using social media to get foreign news. This is followed by network TV and cable news channels —both of which are watched by 29% of all respondents for foreign news.

While social media is the most-used platform for foreign news, only 19% of respondents trust it, highlighting a significant gap between usage and credibility.

The survey also found that younger generations are more interested than their elders in foreign news. More than one-third (36%) of millennials and 34% of Generation Z consumers spend 30 minutes or more each day consuming international news. In contrast, only 26% of Generation X and 24% of baby boomers spend this same amount of time reading foreign news each day.

When asked why they weren’t accessing international news, the top reason by far was lack of interest, with 40% using that explanation. One in 10 of respondents (10%) indicated that they were more concerned with what is happening in the United States than with international events. Just 6% of respondents don’t read foreign news because they said it was too stressful or caused a negative mental health reaction.

This survey of 1,284 U.S. adults was conducted on April 7.

More information about SmartNews is available here.

Broadcast and cable TV news outlets saw strong social media growth in March, according to new data from the social video analytics company Tubular Labs .

Fox News, for example, grew its U.S. unique viewers across Facebook and YouTube by 32% month-over-month, to 60.1 million, while minutes watched soared 26% to 1.6 billion (both 13-month highs).

CBS News saw a 51% bounce in unique viewers to 38.5 million and a 29% increase in minutes watched to 140.4 million in March, Tubular reported.

The growth comes amid a busy news cycle in March, with major news involving policy changes, tariffs and economic concerns.

CNN in March saw unique viewers grow by 21% to 31 million, while minutes watched grew 80% month over month to 426.3 million.

MSNBC had 35.2 million unique viewers, up 20% from a month earlier in March, but its minutes view hit 1.4 billion, up 28% month over month, according to Tubular. That made it the only one of the news organizations to come close to Fox News in minutes viewed.

ABC News had the second highest unique viewers, with 54 million, but the slowest growth, up 5% month over month in March. Its minutes viewed only grew 1% in March to 346.5 million.

More information about Tubular can be found here.

CINCINNATI—E.W. Scripps has named veteran journalist Matt Simon as vice president of Scripps News. In the new role, Simon will be responsible for the vision, overall leadership, editorial identity and programming for Scripps News' national, centralized news organization.

Prior to the promotion, Simon was deputy managing editor and senior executive producer of Scripps News. He manages the production of distributed and syndicated content across Scripps News and Scripps Local Media. These productions include the programs “Scripps News Reports” and “Good to Know,” as well as daily co-produced newscasts across local stations. Simon joined Scripps News in 2018 and has launched or revamped several primetime programs.

Before Scripps News, Simon worked for GCTN, Chinese television's English language network, leading international productions and special events including its first-ever live coverage of a U.S. presidential election. He also produced programs for The Weather Channel in Atlanta and WJZ-TV Baltimore.

In September, Scripps announced it would end the over-the-air broadcast of Scripps News on Nov. 15. Its national news programming will remain on all streaming and digital platforms with weekday live coverage from the field—now aligned more closely with Scripps’ 60-plus local stations.

The national Scripps News team will serve as a news service for local stations. Simon will report to Scripps Senior Vice President of Local Media Dean Littleton in executing the content strategy for Scripps' local and national news teams.

“Matt has been a key member of the Scripps News leadership team over the last six years—overseeing several award-winning productions, reimagining primetime programming and leading joint reporting initiatives between our national and local teams,” Littleton said. “I look forward to working alongside Matt to deepen the integration between Scripps News and Local Media.”

The E.W. Scripps company has decided to wind down the 24/7 national news coverage on Scripps News on Nov. 15 and end the over-the-air broadcast feed of Scripps News, citing lower than expected advertising revenue. The move will results in more than 200 job losses. 

It will, however, continue to stream the Scripps News on digital and streaming platforms. 

In an internal email sent to employees on Sept. 27, Adam Symson, president and CEO of The E.W. Scripps Company, said that “after Nov. 15, we will be winding down Scripps News’ 24/7 national news programming.”

“Scripps News will no longer broadcast over the air, although it will remain on streaming and digital platforms with weekday live coverage from the field,” he wrote in the email obtained by TV Tech. “A core reporting team, based primarily in Washington, D.C., also will serve Scripps’ local stations’ news operations with national and international journalism. As a result of these changes, we expect to eliminate more than 200 jobs.”

Symson called the news “difficult and painful” and said “our plans are still developing, but as rumors have spread this week, we felt we owed it to you to tell you what we could as soon as possible.”

“Over the last two years, Scripps News’ live anchored coverage and documentary programming have grown its linear television audience, but the prospects for the necessary revenue growth haven’t materialized, despite our sales teams’ efforts,” Symson added. “Scripps News’ current financial position is what has led me to the decision to scale back our approach to 24-hour news and over-the-air coverage.”

“Amidst an already difficult linear television advertising marketplace, many brands and agencies have decided that advertising around national news is just too risky for them given the polarized nature of this country, no matter the accolades and credentials a news organization like Scripps receives for its objectivity. I vehemently disagree, but it is hurting Scripps News, along with every other national linear and digital news outlet,” he noted. 

Symson stressed that the decision “is not the end of Scripps News as an important part of our company. We expect approximately 50 Scripps News staff members will remain to report for our local news audiences and produce the streaming and digital content, all under the Scripps News brand. We will prioritize field reporting, our strong political coverage, investigative reporting and our digital and social media presence. This company has a long history of national reporting for local audiences, and Scripps News will continue to connect our viewers to the important events and ideas outside of their communities.”

“I want to be clear that this move in no way reflects disappointment with Scripps News’ work,” he also stressed. “I am very proud of the news organization that Scripps President of News Kate O’Brian and the Scripps News team have built over the past several years. The investigative work, the documentaries, the long-form storytelling, the talent, the daily content did not take a back seat to anyone. The commitment to journalism and the dedication to excellence by the entire team has been unwavering.”

New survey data from the Pew Research Center shows that a significant majority of Americans (58%) continue to prefer to get news on digital devices versus only 32% preferring TV. 

The new data on Pew’s "News Platform Fact Sheet", shows, however, a slight rebound in preferences for TV news. 

About 33% of those surveyed in 2024 said they often got their news from TV with another 31% saying they sometimes turned to TV for news. That represented a slight improvement over 2023, when 32% said they often got news from TV and 30% said they sometimes got news from TV. 

About 57% said they often got their news on digital devices while 29% said they sometimes did. 

News websites or apps and search engines are the most common source of news, Pew reported. About two thirds (66%) often or sometimes got their news from news websites or apps while 65% got their news from search engines. More than half (54%) at least sometimes get news from social media, and 27% say the same about podcasts.

Overall, at 86% got their news often or sometimes from digital devices, versus 63% for TV, 42% for radio and only 26% often or sometimes from newspapers. 

The 2024 data is from a survey of U.S. adults conducted July 15-Aug. 4, 2024.

More data and charts are available here. 

Some of the biggest news stories of all time — the Chilean Miner Rescue, the O.J. Simpson Trial, and the Miracle on the Hudson — started with high-quality reporting from local news.

Today, local news broadcasters face unprecedented challenges. According to Pew Research, Americans increasingly turn to social media platforms or other online sources. Younger US adults are now reported to trust social media information as much as information from national news outlets.

While local channels have seen a large audience decline, they still attract the biggest audience compared to cable and network stations — and that presents a huge opportunity for local broadcasters. In fact, despite that viewership decline, local TV stations have seen an increase in revenue from both advertising and retransmission fees in recent years, particularly during election years.

Using Technology to Make More with Less

Even simple weather forecasting graphics involve ingesting and processing multiple data sources. If local news created graphics from scratch every broadcast and updated them manually, they could never keep up with national organizations.

Automated data ingestion and templated graphics expedite and simplify this process, allowing local news producers to use the highest-quality graphics without overburdening their creative teams, saving a lot of time and resources from repetitive manual creative work.

Local news network Graham Media Group uses ‘super-templates’ to create and distribute high-fidelity, on-brand graphics for their network of stations from a single creative hub.

Watch this video to see how Graham Media use XPression to do more in less time.

Ensuring Brand Consistency & Integrity Across Platforms

Brand consistency conveys professionalism and credibility. Automated templates like lower-third graphics, over-the-shoulder graphics, transitions, etc., give local news the ability to quickly incorporate consistent graphics, even when covering novel topics.

Automation also makes it easier for newsrooms to distribute content to multiple platforms. 86% of Americans “sometimes” or “often” get news from a smartphone, computer, or tablet, so news stations must leverage creative technology to configure their news broadcast graphics to fit different aspect ratios, screens, orientations, and contexts.

Leveling the Playing Field with Smart Content Creation

There is a huge opportunity for local TV news stations in this election cycle. High-quality stories told with a true local voice, real on-the-ground reporting, and clever use of high-fidelity graphics can give local news stations an edge over larger broadcasters in an age when people are ever more discerning in the sources they choose.

Ross Video’s technology like XPression and Streamline Pro help local broadcasters around the world take full advantage of modern graphics and compete with national broadcasters. To learn more about how Ross Video solutions can make your newsroom more efficient and effective, reach out to one of our team here.

Keeping Pace in the Election Race

2024 is a big year for newsrooms with a record number of elections taking place around the globe. For advanced insights on how newsrooms can get ahead in addressing their elections needs with cutting-edge graphics, download our guide.

The fledgling political news channel PurpleTV continues to rapidly expand its footprint with the announcement that it is now available in 20 additional markets.

With the new launches, PurpleTV’s broadcast footprint will now cover cities in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, Nevada, and Arizona—the six swing states in the upcoming presidential election—plus Florida and North Carolina. About 34 million people in those states can watch PurpleTV; nationwide, the channel now reaches more than 40 million people nationwide.

"Millions of people watch free over the air (OTA) television but only 50,000 go to the convention, so we are going to serve blue, red, and purple viewers by broadcasting the DNC over the air," said Matthew Davidge, CEO of PurpleTV.

PurpleTV said that its market footprint will now expand from three television markets to 23 television markets. It will also continue to focus on states where Democrats polled between 47% and 50% in the 2020 election.

In addition, PurpleTV announced that it recently added daily content from popular YouTuber, podcast host, political commentator, and author Brian Tyler Cohen, who has more than six million subscribers on social media and who has interviewed such people as Mary L. Trump, Gavin Newsom, Beto O’Rourke and Vice President Kamala Harris.

PurpleTV currently broadcasts in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (WWMW), Columbus, Ohio (WXOH), and West Palm Beach, Florida (WBWP). It’s expanded channel list will be:

• KDVD 31.8 Phoenix, AZ
• W16CC 16.7 Miami, Fla.
• WBWP 19.1 West Palm Beach
• WTBT 45.7 Tampa, Fla.
• WSWF 10.7 Orlando, Fla.
• WKBJ 20.2 Jacksonville, Fla.
• WMMF 19.7 Vero Beach, Fla.
• WANN 32.2 Atlanta
• WJDO 44.5 Macon, Ga.
• W36FH 36.7 Traverse City, Mich.
• KPVT 2. 2 Las Vegas
• KRMF 7.5 Reno, NV
• WHEH 41.1 Charlotte, N.C.
• W35DW 45.1 Greenville, N.C.
• WZPA 33.1 Philadelphia
• WWMW 16.1 Milwaukee
• W23FC 53.7 Eau Claire, Wisc.
• WMWI 16.1 Verona, Wisc.
• KODF 26.1 Dallas, Texas
• WXOH 25.1 Columbus, Ohio
• K14PX 14.1 Topeka, Kans.
• KEVA 34.1 Boise, Idaho
• K32FW 32.1 Pierre, S.D.
  
  

ATLANTA—Gray Media has announced comprehensive coverage plans for the 2024 Democratic National Convention that include Gray’s Washington DC Bureau and news teams from 13 Gray affiliates reporting from Chicago on the local impact of the presidential and vice presidential nomination process and the Democratic party platform.

Starting Monday, August 19, through the conclusion of the convention on Thursday, August 22, the coverage will be carried on Gray’s local affiliates and Local News Live, Gray’s national news network that provides live streaming coverage on more than 500 Gray station websites, connected TV apps, and mobile apps.

“The combined reporting power of Local News Live, the DC Bureau, and Gray newsrooms will provide substantial DNC coverage with a unique local perspective to our 113 markets across the country,” Gray’s COO Sandy Breland said. “All Gray-owned Wisconsin news operations will send reporting teams to the convention, including WMTV in Madison, WBAY in Green Bay, WEAU in Eau Claire, WSAW in Wausau, and KBJR in Superior (Duluth). In addition, news crews from Gray affiliates WANF in Atlanta, Georgia, AZ Family in Phoenix, Arizona, WNDU in South Bend, Indiana, KHNL in Honolulu, Hawaii, WCAX in Burlington, Vermont, KTTC in Rochester, Minnesota, KEYC in Mankato, Minnesota, and KVLY in Fargo, North Dakota will be on site to provide daily coverage.”

“We are dedicated to covering the biggest stories through a local lens,” added Lisa Allen, general manager of Gray’s Washington Operation. “With journalists in more than 100 markets, Gray’s teams can cover more ground than any other news source through Election Day.”

ATLANTA—Scripps News continues to revamp its programming line-up with the announcement that it will debut five new programs this month.  

The new Scripps News programs premiering in April are:  

• “Scripps News on the Scene” airs weekdays from 12-3 p.m. ET beginning Monday, April 1. Each weekday, anchor Del Walters, along with Scripps News national reporters and local correspondents, will take you to breaking news and live events across the country.
• “Trump on Trial” will air weeknights from 7:30 – 8 p.m. ET starting Monday, April 15. Anchored by Chris Nguyen. Four courtrooms, one history making defendant: In the first unprecedented trial of a former U.S. president, Scripps News takes you beyond the legalese of each proceeding. Each day Chris Nguyen, correspondents Alex Miller and Ava-joye Burnett and former Manhattan prosecutor Michael Scotto will analyze the developments from court that could shape the future of the country.
• “Scripps NewsLine” airs weeknights at 9 p.m. ET beginning Monday, April 22. Anchored by Lauren Magarino, this show will thoroughly examine a single topic of the day, providing in-depth storytelling on a range of subjects from hard news to talkers of the day in American culture.
• “Scripps News National Report” will air weekdays at 5 p.m. ET beginning late April. Anchors Chris Nguyen and Christian Bryant will look at the big stories impacting the nation from Washington, D.C. to Hollywood – and cities and towns in between. “Scripps News National Report” will feature national stories that affect local communities, and the local stories that will influence the national scene.
• “America Tonight” will air weeknights at 8 p.m. ET beginning late April. Anchor Maritsa Georgiou will look at America’s news tonight and how it will influence American lives tomorrow with reports from Scripps News national and local correspondents.

Those five new shows follow the January announcement of three new shows focusing on politics and the economy: 

• “The Race – Weekend” airs at 9 a.m. Saturdays on Scripps News and throughout weekend programming on Scripps’ local station footprint. Featuring correspondents from Scripps and POLITICO, the program breaks down the biggest political headlines with context, depth and independent analysis.
• “The Race,” which also includes contributions from POLITICO journalists, airs weekdays at 6 p.m. ET. “The Race” provides a fact-based perspective on where each political party stands and how decisions affect voters.
• “Main & Wall” airs weekdays at 4 p.m. ET and focuses on the intersection of Wall Street and Main Street, offering viewers an understanding of how news of the day may sway their finances and their lives.

MIAMI—Noticias Telemundo has appointed Gemma Garcia to head Telemundo’s news division, reporting directly to Luis Fernandez, chairman of NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises. 

Garcia, a seasoned newsroom executive with more than 30 years of experience in broadcast and digital news in the United States and Spain, will be responsible for the network’s news programming across all platforms. As executive vice president of news, she will oversee Noticias Telemundo’s news programming, editorial units, digital news properties, newsgathering and bureaus in the United States and Latin America. Garcia will also lead coverage of the 2024 U.S. presidential election and the production of election-focused news specials, the network said. 

“Gemma brings impeccable news judgment, invaluable experience as an innovative news leader and an unwavering commitment to delivering the highest quality journalism for the Latino community,” said Fernandez. “I’ve known Gemma for many years, and I have no doubt her unparalleled leadership, rigor and journalistic passion will help Noticias Telemundo grow our reach and strengthen our brand among Latino audiences.”

Most recently, Garcia was the head of news at RTVE Play, the over-the-top (OTT) media service of Radio Televisión Española (RTVE), Spain’s largest public media company, responsible for growing streaming and digital news content. In her new role, Garcia rejoins Noticias Telemundo where she held several senior news leadership positions. 

“I am thrilled to return to Noticias Telemundo at this critical time for our community to reaffirm our commitment to rigorous and balanced news coverage across all platforms under our motto – las cosas como son, or telling it like it is,” said Garcia. “As we approach historic presidential elections in both the United States and Mexico, I look forward to working with the best team of news professionals in Spanish-language television to continue to give Latinos a voice and provide them with all the news and resources they need to make well-informed decisions.”

Garcia previously served as Telemundo’s senior vice president of digital news, spearheading efforts to develop original content and expand Noticias Telemundo’s reach on digital and social platforms. From 2019 to 2022, she was vice president for network and digital news and oversaw the editorial vision, day-to-day operations and production of Noticias Telemundo’s broadcast news programs and award-winning digital news team. 

Under her direction, Noticias Telemundo newscasts won several Emmy awards including outstanding newscast or news magazine in Spanish in 2021.

Garcia also helped develop and launch some of the news network’s most innovative news franchises and initiatives, including Planeta Tierra, the only environmental reporting unit in Spanish-language television news in the United States, and Axios Latino, a newsletter published in English and Spanish in partnership with Axios covering Latino issues.

Garcia first joined Noticias Telemundo in 2016 as executive producer from Spanish television broadcaster TVE, where she held positions as chief correspondent in New York, Italy and the Vatican, and North Africa. She also served as deputy head of TVE’s news department, managing a team of 1,200 people. 

Garcia graduated with a master’s degree in journalism from Universidad de Navarra in Pamplona, Spain. 

NEW YORK—As the 2024 election season began in earnest on Jan. 15 with the Iowa Caucus, NBC News is deploying a new web-based controller of its own making designed to enable its editorial team to respond faster and more easily to changing vote totals, generate on-air graphics and keep viewers better informed as the primary and general election votes unfold.

Sync, under development since December 2022, is an agnostic controller that producers, playback operators and technical directors are using to control the network’s Vizrt render engine. 

“Sync really unifies the way that we look at not only the control room workflow, but also the content creation workflow,” says Marc Greenstein, senior vice president of Design & Production for NBCUniversal News Group.

The initial goal for Sync was to replace the network’s aging election control system. Another priority was to optimize video and graphic playback, he says. However, even before the 2024 election season began, the network realized its December 2023 launch of a CNBC redesign, would be the perfect fit for the new controller.

While perhaps not immediately apparent, the financial network and election coverage share some production commonalities. Both frequently depend on a mix of playlists for any given show. Although the MOS rundown is almost always the priority, there are additional “shared playlists,” in the words of Greenstein, that address important fast developments on an ad hoc basis. 

“I call them ‘shared playlists,’ meaning somebody from the desk is saying, ‘Here are the top 10 movers today. Let's make a playlist and have everyone easily be able to access that,” he says. “For elections, there’s something similar.”

For next-day election coverage, a MOS-based playlist will drive most of the presentation. “But then there'll be either the user-based playlist or the auto-generated playlist on the night itself, meaning the user may say, ‘Hey, let me make a playlist of battleground counties in Iowa. Here are the five counties that we’re watching closely,” explains Greenstein.

“It [the user-based playlist] allows them quick access as the director and the control room teams decide what content they want on air at what moment. Obviously, it’s the same thing for CNBC.”

Sync and Workflow
More broadly, Sync will unify control across the entire NBC news group, opening up several workflow options and beyond, says Greenstein. 

From a workflow perspective it enables the network’s editorial teams to select various templates, organize data in a way that speeds time to air and save presets so that as a story pivots throughout the day coverage can evolve more easily, he says. 

“The problem with traditional automation is that it is totally dictated by a rundown and by MOS abstracts. You definitely have reduced flexibility,” says Greenstein. “The core of Sync was to break from that and say, ‘We can very closely follow the rundown, or we can break [that and allow user-generated playlists on the fly].’”

From an organizational point of view, Sync brings other benefits. Not relying on a single computer in a single physical location thanks to its web-based design offers a degree of disaster recovery as well as the flexibility to work remotely if some unforeseen circumstance makes it impossible to work from the studio, as was the case during COVID, he says.

While currently used to command the render engine, Sync also can control Singular.live graphics and other HTML platforms, as well as additional graphics devices and tape machines. Even future production switcher control isn’t off the table, he says. 

“What we tried to create with Sync was an accordion,” says Greenstein. “If you're doing a really complicated show that requires multiple operators to do things on the fly that aren't part of a planned rundown—meaning there needs to be instantaneous decision making, Sync can scale to have two operators, five operators, 10 operators, all controlling the different parts and pieces hooked into it.”

Conversely for smaller, more formatted shows, Sync could one day be used to execute a more automated control approach. “That is absolutely on the roadmap of things that we’re going to dig in and consider,” he says.

CNBC Redesign
Robert Poulton, vice president and global creative director at CNBC, headed up the redesign of the financial network’s on-air look. Work began in June 2020 on the new design. The network selected Troika Media Group, an outside design and advertising firm that it had worked with in the past, to assist with the design. (Troika filed for bankruptcy in December 2023.)

Deciding what to keep and what to eliminate took about a year, says Poulton. “There are so many elements that are on our screens all the time. So many of them are just fed with data. We were not just building graphics. We were building graphics that are fed with something that adjusts and moves.”

Among the key design goals was developing a clean, minimal aesthetic that delivers actionable information and language seamlessly to viewers so that they can be comfortably engaged 24/7. Poulton and Troika developed a new grid foundation with a square shape acting as the root of the financial network’s design language. The network chose a design placing show branding and time zone clocks above the CNBC logo. Selected colors were bold and reflected the brand’s legacy.

The design also incorporated an updated CNBC logo aligned with the new peacock colors as well as a logo font treatment using Tinker, a font named after former NBC chairman and CEO Grant Tinker.

Augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR) use is also part of the redesign, especially to enhance storytelling during earnings season, says Poulton.

“I will say, we've just launched the look. The child's born. Now we've got to raise it, and I think that we'll add on as we as we go along. But really the idea of AR and VR in general is not [that it’s] just a pretty thing to look at, but how can it help us tell the story in a better way?” Poulton asks, rhetorically.

For election coverage, Sync made its debut controlling some of the network’s AR and virtual graphics used to cover the Iowa Caucus, says Greenstein.

Greenstein recalls seeing the new design for the first time. “It was so simple and clean, but it’s also so complicated,” he says. “We really just came to the conclusion; we need to take Sync and pivot to launch this on CNBC to give it [the design] the capability Robert was looking for but not make the workflow a tremendous burden either on the operators or producers.”

Steve Fastook, senior vice president of Technical Operations at CNBC, echoes Greenstein’s observation. “It [the simplicity of CNBC’s redesign] created a lot of complexity under the hood,” says Fastook. “[With] a typical graphics device, an operator would play out graphics, and the TD [technical director] would key them. 

“Well, every single graphic in our system goes back and forth with the production switcher. So, sometimes the production switcher fires Viz and tells it to do an effect. Sometimes Viz tells the switcher. ‘Hey, make this move, change this priority and then play out.’ It’s a very close, intermixed operation. It's quite complicated. But with Sync on top of it all, it's really simple for the operators.”

Deploying Sync first for the rollout of CNBC’s new design should pay dividends for the network’s coverage of the 2024 elections, Greenstein predicts.

“The great part is what we learned from doing CNBC. We're now back into elections with a lot of that knowledge,” he says. “I think you're going to see our election coverage over time get a little more dynamic from the things that we picked up in approaching the CNBC project.”

WASHINGTON D.C.—Gallup’s annual survey of the confidence Americans have in their institutions has revealed a notable decline in the ratings for TV news, with only 11% of respondents expressing a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in TV news. 

That is a five percentage point drop from 2021, when 16% expressed a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in TV news. 

Only Congress, with 7% confidence level, ranked lower among the institutions included in the Gallup poll. 

Most other U.S. institutions also saw drops in their confidence levels, with only organized labor not losing ground. It held steady at 28%. 

The poll showed that large tech companies ranked higher than TV news, with 26% expressing a great deal/quite a lot of confidence in them, and newspapers at 16%, a five percentage point drop from 2021. 

Small business had the highest level of confidence at 68%, followed by the military (64%) and police (45%). 

“This year's poll marks new lows in confidence for all three branches of the federal government -- the Supreme Court (25%), the presidency (23%) and Congress,” the pollster reported. “Five other institutions are at their lowest points in at least three decades of measurement, including the church or organized religion (31%), newspapers (16%), the criminal justice system (14%), big business (14%) and the police.”

The full results are available here.  

NEW YORK—CBS News and Stations has named Joel Goldberg general manager of CBS Newspath, where he will oversee the day-to-day operations of the affiliate newsgathering service that provides content to more than 200 local television stations across the country. 

Goldberg will also continue his longtime role as senior vice president of operations for CBS Stations and will report to Wendy McMahon, president and co-head of CBS News and Stations. 

 In addition, CBS News and Stations announced that veteran journalist and newsroom executive Maura McHugh has been named news director of CBS Newspath.

“Since beginning the process of combining CBS News and Stations’ operations last year, one of our top priorities has been creating the connective tissue between our company-owned stations with CBS Newspath, in order to better serve both the stations we own and our valued CBS affiliate partners across the country,” McMahon said. “Drawing on their combined 50 years of CBS News and Stations experience, Joel and Maura understand the needs of stations, big and small, across the country. We are thrilled to have them lead CBS Newspath into the future.”

Goldberg has spent his entire career working in local television, and has served as senior vice president of operations for CBS Stations since 2012. In this role, he is responsible for working with the local management teams at 27 ViacomCBS-owned stations across the country in a wide range of areas, including studio and control room operations, labor relations, standards and practices, new business initiatives, and special projects. In addition, he serves as the station group’s programming liaison with the management teams at the CBS Television Network, CBS Entertainment and CBS Sports.

Previously, Goldberg was senior vice president of operations at WCBS-TV in New York.

“It is an honor to join the CBS Newspath team and help our CBS News and Stations organization to produce more high-quality local news content for every station across the CBS Television Network,” Goldberg said. “It will be a pleasure to once again work with Maura, who was producing the 5:00 and 6:00 PM newscasts at WCBS-TV when I first joined the station. I have complete confidence in her continuing to lead the day-to-day editorial decision-making at Newspath, while I draw on my operations experience to oversee the business side of the service.”

A 30-year CBS veteran, McHugh has most recently served as the interim head of CBS Newspath since July 2021.

In 2005, McHugh was named senior producer at CBS Newspath and helped to lead the service and its team in covering some of the country’s biggest stories, including Hurricane Sandy, the killing of Osama bin Laden, and four presidential elections. She joined WCBS-TV in New York as a writer/producer in 1992. She rose through the ranks at WCBS to eventually serve as executive producer of the station’s 5:00 PM and 6:00 PM news.

McHugh won Emmy Awards for leading WCBS-TV’s coverage of the West Side Highway wall collapse in 2005 and the New York City blackout in 2003. She also played a key role in the station’s round-the-clock breaking news coverage on Sept. 11, 2001.

“I am genuinely excited to once again work with Joel and partner with him, as we reimagine the relationship between CBS Stations and Newspath to create an even more robust service for all of the stations and affiliates we serve,” McHugh said.

CHICAGO, Ill.—Nexstar Media has announced that it will be dramatically expanding the programming of NewsNation with the addition of 26 new hours of programming on September 27, 2021. 

Beginning September 27, NewsNation’s new programming line-up will include `Dan Abrams Live,’ airing weeknights from 8 p.m. ET to 9 p.m. ET, produced and hosted by veteran journalist and analyst Dan Abrams, and `Morning In America,” a live national three-hour weekday morning news show airing from 7 a.m. ET to 10 a.m. ET, hosted by award-winning former ABC News correspondent and anchor, Adrienne Bankert.  

The new programming will boost the  total programming to a total of 55 hours of live news, analysis, and talk every week. Nexstar Media’s wholly-owned cable network reaches 75 million U.S. television households

“Dan Abrams is the epitome of the pure, common sense approach to journalism envisioned when NewsNation launched last September,” said Michael Corn, president of news for NewsNation. “He brings unparalleled expertise to our primetime line-up and emphasizes our ongoing commitment to help engaged viewers gain a better understanding of the day’s most controversial and complicated news stories.  He has a fresh, no-holds barred approach to covering and analyzing the news, and his credibility is unquestioned.”

Abrams is the CEO and founder of Abrams Media, chief legal affairs analyst for ABC News, and host of `The Dan Abrams Show: Where Politics Meets the Law’ on SiriusXM radio. Abrams Media boasts over 20 million unique visitors per month across its digital properties, including the industry-leading Mediaite.com, covering the intersection of media and politics, LawandCrime.com, and the Law&Crime Network. 

“Joining NewsNation is a welcome, natural fit for me,” said Abrams. “Too much of cable news is polluted by partisanship with shows focused on indoctrinating viewers, unabashedly cheering for one side or another.  We are committed to presenting independent-minded analysis and opinion on politics, media, and the most important stories of the day, exposing hypocrisy on all sides so viewers can make up their own minds.  Always fact based, sometimes surprising, but never agenda driven—you might call it a cable news show for the rest of us.”

Also launching on September 27 is `Morning in America,’ NewsNation’s live three-hour national morning newscast airing from 7 a.m. ET to 10 a.m. ET, hosted by Adrienne Bankert.  

Bankert, who was a member of the award-winning `Good Morning America’ weekend anchor team, will break down the big stories of the day, interacting in real-time with viewers.  The program will be a daily conversation of ideas and issues that will draw on Nexstar’s 5,500 local journalists and 110 newsrooms across the country.

“I’m excited to bring a relatability to morning news that connects with the audience like never before,” said Bankert.  “This show will be a conversation, putting stories in context and getting behind the headlines.  And we are going to have fun.  Even if people wake up on the so-called ‘wrong side of the bed,’ I want them to turn on the TV and be not only more informed, but feel better, even happier watching us.  I believe we are called to a higher standard at NewsNation—to offer a variety of viewpoints across America and give dignity to every voice.”

Before joining NewsNation in April, Ms. Bankert was a New York-based national correspondent for ABC News.  She has covered some of the most significant stories of the last decade, including the 2016 and 2020 Presidential campaigns, the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and the rescue of a youth soccer team trapped in a Thailand cave.  

In addition to her distinguished career in journalism, Ms. Bankert also is the author of “Your Hidden Superpower: The Kindness that Makes You Unbeatable at Work and Connects You with Anyone."

WASHINGTON—Pew Research Center, as part of its ongoing look at the `State of the News Media,’ has released new data showing welcome improvements in audiences and revenue for TV news as more Americans relied on their reporting during the pandemic crisis and political turmoil of 2020. 

Data cited by Pew shows that local TV news, cable news and broadcast news had increased viewing and revenues in 2020, producing in some cases record profits. 

But their future prognosis remains guarded as Pew is predicting that revenues for local news will be lower in 2024 than it was in 2020. 

Meanwhile, cord cutting has slowed the growth in carriage fees for cable news channels and broadcast networks are facing serious challenges in retaining the elevated viewing levels seen in the 2020 election year. 

Local TV News

As viewers huddled at home during the lockdowns, local TV news audiences for the ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox affiliates increased for both their evening newscasts and late night, according to Comscore data cited by Pew.

Evening and late night time slots both increased audiences by 4% and audiences for the midday news slot increased by 10% in 2020. But audiences for morning news time slots declined slightly by 4%. 

But the pandemic inspired spike in local news viewing didn’t entirely reverse years of declining audiences for local TV news. 

Evening news audiences for the affiliates was 3.73 million in 2020, up from 2019, but still down from 4.10 million in 2016, while audiences for late night news declined from 4.21 million in 2016 to 3.70 million in 2020 and morning news audiences were down from 2.89 million in 2016 to 2.41 million in 2020.

Record election year spending in 2020, pushed local TV over-the-air advertising revenue to $18.4 billion, up 8% increase over 2019, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of MEDIA Access Pro & BIA Advisory Services data while the digital ad spend increased by 6%  in 2020 to $1.4 billion.

The report also notes that “revenue for the 839 local TV stations defined as `news-producing stations’ (stations that have a news director and are viable, commercial and are English-language affiliates in the U.S.) was $15.3 billion, according to the BIA Advisory Services database.”

But Pew cited data predicting that local over the air TV revenue will decline in 2021 to $14.93 billion and over the air revenue will total about $15.48 in 2025.

Cable News

Of all the TV news segments, the data painted the brightest picture for cable news, which saw record revenue, profits and audiences. 

According to data from Kagan cited by Pew, Fox racked up over $1.80 billion in profits in 2020, up from $1.68 billion in 2019 and $779 million in 2010, while CNN earned a record $714.7 million in 2020, up from $676.8 million in 2019 and $395.3 million in 2010. Meanwhile, MSNBC hit $575.3 million in profits in 2020, up from $540.2 million in 2019 and $167.5 million in 2010 according to the Kagan data.  

Total revenue also hit record levels thanks to healthy growth in advertising. Total revenue for the three major cable news channels increased modestly in 2020 to $1.7 billion for CNN, $2.9 billion for Fox News and $1.1 billion for MSNBC, according to estimates from Kagan. 

But license fee revenue from pay operators continues to be hurt by cord cutting and “license (affiliate) fees, one of two main sources of revenue for the major cable channels, declined slightly in 2020 for all three – down roughly 1%-3% across all three,” Pew reported.

Audiences were also significantly up for the three big cable news networks. During prime time, the average audience increased by 61% for Fox News in 2020 to about 3.08 million while CNN’s audience grew by 72% to 1.80 million and MSNBC saw a 28% pop to 1.6 million viewers in 2020. 

Network TV News

Reversing the years of relatively stagnant audience levels between 2016 and 2018, all the three broadcast nightly newscasts saw significant growth in 2020 as they once again became appointment television. 

According to Comscore TV Essentials data cited by Pew, “ABC evening news viewership grew 16% to 7.6 million viewers in 2020, following an 11% increase in 2019. CBS evening news viewership grew 7% to about 5 million viewers in 2020, while NBC viewership rose 8% to 6.5 million,” the report noted. 

According to the Kantar data cited by Pew, ABC saw a 22% increase in ad revenue in 2020, while CBS and NBC each saw an 8% increase. 

Additional data and information can be found here.

SAN FRANCISCO—If the last year has proven anything, it’s that broadcasters are a resilient bunch. In March 2020, when newsroom stations began to be shuttered, news staff scrambled for ideas to pull off productions at home. 

Despite some hiccups, many stations across the country pulled off a successful, on-the-fly runaround because newsroom production technologies proved up to the task—the ability to pull in content, edit proxy material, upload graphics, cache locally—all with the final goal of covering breaking news faster even though they weren’t in the newsroom at all. 

Consider the obstacles: security restrictions, VPN hurdles and the related problems of less-than-adequate broadband connections, licensing limitations, news workflow disruptions and more. Despite all that, the work needed to be done. 

THE CRUCIAL ROLE OF CLOUD

“While anyone can bring an on-premises editor into their house, it’s the team collaboration, news production workflow and management of files that is problematic. There is simply no editorial process or metadata management [in place],” said Raoul Cospen, director of product strategy for news at Dalet.

For any station pushed into a pandemic workaround, access to the cloud proved key as did a way of managing many reporters and editors in multiple locations. 

“We had a number of news customers asking for help to support their remote workforces and adjust their infrastructure so that it could support editing from home,” said Bea Alonso, chief market officer at Dalet. The company’s answer to newsroom shutdowns was Dalet Galaxy xCloud, a cloud-based newsroom solution, she said.

“[It] allowed our customers to offload some of their teams to work on Dalet-hosted infrastructure while being away from the physical newsroom,” Alonso said. “Other clients used it as an extension of their on-premise Dalet installation, to provide business continuity to reporters, producers and editors.”

One interesting element about Galaxy xCloud, Alonso said, is that it provides tools familiar to anyone familiar with working in a physical newsroom. This meant there was no additional training required to enable people to produce, edit, write scripts and collaborate with their teams from their homes, Alonso said.

One broadcaster that made quick use of this tool was France Télévisions, the national television network of France, which employed Galaxy xCloud to enable news workflows from home. The SaaS-based system helped facilitate end-to-end remote news production workflows, giving them the flexibility to support remote work for its more than 300 journalists. 

In addition to concerns over bandwidth, security and licensing issues, working from home created another speedbump: how does a broadcaster handle team collaboration, news production workflow and management of files when your team is no longer in the same room? 

By working with Amazon Web Services and their cloud capabilities, Galaxy xCloud securely connected staff at home to the Dalet Galaxy five on-premise media asset management system. This gave journalists during the pandemic access to tools like the Dalet OneCut news editor so they could search the production system, collaborate with producers and edit growing files. 

“It’s seamless integration whether you are at home, in the newsroom or in the field,” Cospen said.

News organizations also tapped into new mobile applications such as the Dalet On-the-Go mobile newsroom application, which  enables a remote reporter to connect to their newsroom with a mobile device and write scripts, upload content to the newsroom and use the mobile device as a teleprompter. 

“User demand during the pandemic accelerated the development of this mobile app,” Alonso added.

GOING VIRTUAL

But newsroom production technology wasn’t the only tool that stepped into the abyss during the early days of the pandemic.

When U.K. radio station talkRADIO wanted to create video programming to stream online alongside its radio programming, it considered using a virtual set system, but this was made trickier by the fact that guests had to stay socially distanced while in the studio or had to call in by Zoom. 

“We were looking at innovative solutions to engage our audiences and satisfy our advertisers, over and above what other radio broadcasters are doing,” said Nick Prater, head of broadcast technology for Wireless Group Media, which operates 11 radio stations in the U.K. “We determined that virtual studio technology was now mature and could provide the unique advantage we needed.”

The answer turned out to be a StarTracker Studio virtual system from Mo-Sys. The broadcaster only had a small space to convert into a studio, Prater said, “but we wanted it to look big, to look luxurious,” he said. As part of the virtual set, talkRADIO installed Panasonic PTZ cameras and the Unreal Engine from Epic Games running on standard HP workstations. 

The system is combined with a preconfigured rack of switching, keying and the graphics power to sustain photorealistic virtual environments in real time. Using three tracked cameras—one on a rolling tripod, one on rails and one on a jib —customers can set up a variety of shots and scale up to 16 cameras. 

PARTY OF ONE

Beyond the new realities imposed by the pandemic, advanced visual storytelling remains a key goal for many newsroom systems. Vizrt’s Newsroom Solution Suite, a cross-platform newsroom content creation system, allows journalists to independently prepare, script, plan and create with graphics, video, stills, data visualizations and maps. With this system, one journalist can be a one-person production crew.

Journalists can scale and adjust the tools they need based on the volume of required output and the type of content needed for a specific platform, and can also create data-driven election graphics and submit breaking news stories and publish as needed to different platforms. 

That’s the simple reality: The pace of the news cycle has never been faster, said Daniel Nergard, president of Vizrt.

“Today’s journalists need to be able to create on multiple output formats, often at the same time, in order to reach and engage their audience,” he said. Nergard added that Newsroom Suite simplifies workflows and offers easier access to a comprehensive set of tools, making it so that journalists can focus on what matters most: Telling the story.

“Vizrt Newsroom allows journalists to scale and adjust the tools they need to the volume of required output and produce any type of content for any kind of show, program or platform,” said Gerhard Lang, CTO for Vizrt. “Content production teams can create anything from data-driven election graphics and breaking news stories, to social media aggregation, and republish and adapt to any combination of output needs.”

Using Vizrt Newsroom’s browser-based interfaces, journalists can plan, create and edit stories from either their newsroom, the road or from home. This feature proved vital during the early days of the pandemic. 

“During the pandemic we saw creative use of virtual technology not only from broadcasters but also the corporate world,” said Andre Torsvik, head of marketing strategy for Vizrt Group, referring to a corporate event organized by Janssen, an immunology company that saw its Covid-19 vaccine receive emergency use authorization in the U.S. in early 2021. 

The three-day corporate event took place using Vizrt virtual environments. The company used Viz Arc to control graphics and handle virtual camera transitions. All material was produced in the Amazon Web Services cloud and controlled from three international locations, Torsvik said.

“We have seen some brilliant work from our customers in leveraging software-based solutions to break through old hardware-based limitations,” he said.

Vizrt also recently released the Vizrt XR Extended Reality system, which gives journalists virtual, augmented, mixed and extended reality storytelling capabilities. Used in the studio or at a home location, the virtual set can be reset from one show to the next in a matter of minutes. A wall at home can serve as a blank canvas allowing for interaction between presenters and graphics objects. 

According to Nergard, the system is designed to make it easier to run immersive, extended reality shows. State-of-the-art camera tracking and AI keying technology create hyper-real, precise graphics. Virtual views, 3D camera flights and myriad analysis tools let the presenter break down a sporting event interactively, either by offering insights on a touchscreen or virtually inserted right on the wall.

You might think unicorns are mythical creatures, but if you know where to look, you’re bound to find one. And after a recent virtual conference, I can guarantee you it’s well worth the effort.

A good place to start the search is at Denver7, the E.W. Scripps Company’s KMGH ABC-affiliate serving the Mile High City.

Dean Littleton, vice president and general manager of Denver7-KMGH, had a lot to say about unicorns during a weekly Zoom conference in mid-May put on by the Oconsortium. 

“…[W]e hired a number of what we refer to as ‘unicorns’,” said Littleton. “These are people who can run the presets on the [NewTek] TriCaster; they can be on camera, and they can write.”

While being “a tough position to hire for” in Littleton’s words, these unicorns are a critical part of the station’s larger OTT strategy, which has seen the launch of a streaming 24/7 local news channel that operates on the “news wheel” concept with frequent break-ins for live breaking news.

Littleton likens the unicorns to radio DJs who can run the board, go on-air and write their own stories—skills and a propensity towards flexibility not typically found in a single person. That makes finding these unicorns about as tough as tracking down the mythical creatures.

The unicorns at Denver7 are emblematic of the qualities broadcasters must possess to thrive during today’s seismic shifts in the media landscape. Like these unicorns, broadcasters must leverage existing skills in new and unique ways to meet today’s challenges. 

You need look no further than Denver7, which not only offers the 24/7 linear news channel as an OTT stream, but also a similarly structured 24/7 weather OTT channel, a linear OTT channel of Scripps-produced shows like “Court TV” and “Right This Minute” and another called the “Zen Stream,” featuring user-generated content. 

Then, for good measure the broadcaster re-spins all of the content from these linear OTT channels as VOD offerings.

Not only do the free ad-supported OTT channels generate revenue, but equally as important they track the changing habits of viewers, who in droves are subscribing to OTT services like Amazon Prime and Netflix.

It’s also worth noting the availability of the OTT channels strengthens the broadcaster’s OTA position. For instance, the OTT news channel feeds Denver7’s 1 p.m. newscast over the air, said Littleton.

Further, the availability of the stream means Littleton can spin up a new 24/7 OTA local news channel whenever needed or desired.

With IP-based NextGen TV rolling out around the nation—70-plus percent of the nation is expected to be covered by year’s end—it might make sense for other broadcasters to get serious about similar OTT streaming channels that can be easily simulcast over the air via 3.0 when available.

Learning a lesson or two from a unicorn might make it easier to find the pot of gold at the end of that rainbow.

Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a newly published white paper from TV Tech sponsored by Avid Technology. 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Television news has a long history of evolving—from the days when stories in the field were shot on film through electronic newsgathering to wireless network contribution of live and finished packages. The same could be said of newsroom technologies—from reporters on manual typewriters through a newsroom computer system to laptops in the field connected via virtual private networks (VPNs) to the newsroom system.

Each of these news workflow transitions was gradual, giving journalists and their news organizations time to adapt and adopt that in many cases was years long.

However, in March 2020 the Covid-19 pandemic was declared, leaving newsrooms, like the rest of society, in a scramble to maintain a degree of normalcy while the pandemic surged and alternatives to long-established routines were deployed.

Many newsrooms accelerated plans only under consideration prior to Covid-19 to a phase of rapid deployment, such as embedding journalists more deeply in their communities and reducing their presence in the newsroom, or virtualizing common news workflows in the cloud. In other instances, newsrooms turned to new tools, such as video conferencing apps, to replace newsroom meetings.

These changes and others, however, do not seem temporary—tied to some future all-clear signal from a health authority. Rather, Covid-19 appears to have acted as a catalyst for a transformation in workflows touching newsgathering, production and presentation that will be felt for years to come.

This white paper examines how broadcasters adapted their news workflows to the new reality and what they learned in the process that will affect how they gather and produce news in the future. It also looks at changing attitudes among news personnel with respect to technologies like the cloud, virtualized news production tools, and long-held newsroom institutions, such as the daily editorial planning meeting.

Topics discussed include:

• Hyperlocal reporting
• Remote reporting and evolving skill sets 
• The use of video conferencing apps for reporting and internal communications 
• How broadcasters adapted existing technologies and workflows for remote operations 
• The benefits of the cloud, including redundancy and disaster recovery 
• Maintaining collaboration in the process of creating news 

The conclusions reached in this paper are based on interviews with news executives and corporate leaders from eight broadcast organizations, including Al Arabiya, Graham Media, Gray Television, Meredith Corp., News-Press & Gazette Broadcasting, NBCU Telemundo, Sinclair Broadcast Group and TEGNA Media.

THE COVID-19 EFFECT

The World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic in March 2020, prompting governments and society at large to adopt strategies to limit its spread. Travel bans, social distancing mandates, lockdowns and event postponements and cancellations were implemented.

Television broadcasters, too, responded to the pandemic with steps to limit exposure and maintain operations. Crowded newsrooms in particular were susceptible to the virus, not only because of the proximity of staff but because of the risk that reporters and news photographers in the field, who are exposed daily to a constant stream of people, might return to the station with the virus.

Further, the close confines of production control rooms and the proximity of anchors on a news set demanded change.

A common strategy was to direct as many staff as possible to leave the station, work remotely from home or elsewhere, and adjust the work patterns of those who remained to reduce the likelihood of exposure. 

“I think the initial reaction of newsrooms, including mine, was, ‘Everybody, go!’” said Bob Ellis, vice president and general manager of Graham Media’s WJXT and WCWJ in Jacksonville, Fla. “For photographers, ‘You all take trucks home.’ For reporters, ‘Don’t come to the station.’ Let’s get as few people in here as possible.”

For News-Press & Gazette, which owns 45 TV network affiliates, that meant moving 900 employees, half in news, out of stations to work offsite, says Jim DeChant, NP&G director of Technical Operations. Similarly, NBCU Telemundo Center in Miami initially directed about 850 of its 1,200-person staff to work remotely. In news, 70% were required to work from home, says Jeff Mayzurk, the network’s executive vice president, Operations & Technology.

“Covid definitely changed our workflow in terms of production,” said Ruba Ibrahim, director of operations, at Dubai-based Al Arabiya. “We had to send a lot of our staff to work from home.”

Only those required to be physically present for on-air production stayed; the rest, including those working on packages and documentaries and media managers, were sent home to work. Ibrahim estimates at the beginning of the pandemic three out of four Al Arabiya news staff worked from home.

While a dramatic step, directing staff to work remotely in the initial phase of the pandemic also set in motion a major rethink and retooling of news processes and workflows that promise to leave a lasting mark on how TV news is gathered, produced and presented.

For some newsrooms, like those of Sinclair Broadcast Group’s news-producing stations, Covid-19 served as a catalyst that accelerated adoption of planned changes aimed at improving the quality and growing the number of news stories produced for on-air and digital distribution.

“Covid moved us five years forward in a matter of five weeks,” said Bill Anderson, Sinclair’s director of Change Management—News. “It forced change that was probably inevitable and necessary.”

It demanded change in how news is gathered, meetings are conducted, interviews done, stories edited and newscasts produced and anchored, he said.

CHANGES IN ATTITUDE

To change just about every aspect of the television news process is no small undertaking. Not only did news management and engineering teams have to establish new workflows, but long-held attitudes and institutions in the newsroom had to change.

For example, the morning editorial meeting, a newsroom fixture during which news management and journalists sit around a conference table to set the direction of the day’s coverage, was no longer appropriate at a time when the public was being directed to maintain 6 feet of social distance.

In its place, the in-person meeting was replaced with virtual equivalents leveraging video conferencing apps like Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Slack. What was once a sacrosanct part of editorial operations changed in an instant and in the process revealed where new workflow efficiencies might be achieved.

“The editorial meeting as an institution is very important. However, I think for those of us who have been around the news game for a while, we understand that institution sometimes could be a time waster,” said James Finch, director, News Services at Gray Television.

Participants now come to these meetings more prepared to execute the newsgathering mission of the day than they did when they simply sat around a conference table “tossing out ideas that may not be viable and wasting time,” he said.

“My hope is that if we’ve found efficiencies in shaping content for our audience that we will stay with what we are doing rather than going back to something that is traditional just because we’ve always done it that way,” added Finch. 

A free download of the entire white paper is available online.

Television news has a long history of evolving—from the days when stories in the field were shot on film through electronic newsgathering to wireless network contribution of live and finished packages. The same could be said of newsroom technologies. Each of these news workflow transitions was gradual, giving journalists and their news organizations time to adapt and adopt that in many cases was years long.

However, in March 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic was declared, leaving newsrooms, like the rest of society, in a scramble to maintain a degree of normalcy while the pandemic surged and alternatives to long-established routines were deployed.

Read this whitepaper for insights on how broadcasters adapted their news workflows and how news personnel are changing their attitudes towards technologies like the cloud and virtual news production tools.

MIAMI BEACH, Fla.—The year 2020 has forced many changes on TV broadcasters—one of the most visible has been through electronic newsgathering. With more sources stuck at home, broadcasters have increased their use of Zoom, WebEx, Skype and other consumer-grade Wi-Fi video conferencing services to help deliver the news.

Although broadcasters have used these services in the past, their use was certainly not as ubiquitous as what is seen today. Six months ago, broadcasters had the luxury of considering these services “sub-par quality” for professional TV news (and still are), but the social distancing prompted by the coronavirus pandemic has forced the industry to improvise.

For many others though, the events of this year are only increasing their use of broadcast-quality IP technology from companies like TVU Networks, LiveU, VidOvation/AVIWEST, Dejero, among others. The difference is usually easy to spot since broadcasters recognize the pitfalls of home Wi-Fi setups and streaming technology from screen freezing and tiling to audio degradation or complete audio loss.

‘GOOD ENOUGH’

To try to understand how ENG has been impacted, I reached out to some of the leaders in ENG technology for their feedback. As viewers, we certainly see a lot of non-broadcast video and audio hitting our TV screens (whether it’s a local station or a national news network). Sometimes this is out of necessity of a last minute interview where the guest is using consumer/enterprise streaming technology.

It’s also very interesting to see audio and video we’d never accept as “good enough” now being accepted. But technology is adapting to the times and finding new ways to use IP with bonded cellular technology (in addition to Wi-Fi) to create bandwidth that can even allow UHD video in HDR and 60ftp to go this route with as little as a half-second of latency.

Though some broadcasters adopt enterprise-level streaming technology—which can provide up to 1 Gbps connections—this can still only offer 15 fps and at bit rate that depends on how “slammed” the service is at that moment, causing pixilation, jerky video and lip sync for guest remotes. There are better broadcast-quality IP solutions, and they offer a variety of supportive technology including intercom, IFB and even return video teleprompting or confidence monitoring from the field.,and all done with under a half-second of latency in most cases.

IT’S NOT ALL IP’S FAULT

TVU Networks in Mountain View, Calif.—which has been pushing the envelope with IP-based broadcast technology—has seen 500% growth over the past year, according to CEO Paul Shen. Unlike consumer options, TVU for IP runs a broadcast quality signal and locks all signals together, so the signal can be 60p and lip sync is treated as critical (unlike the streaming consumer options).

Shen calls TVU’s connection to the cell system “IS+.”

“IS+ stands for inverse stat-muxing, where we are monitoring the quality of signal and bandwidth of the carriers and adjusting encoding bandwidth as the service may increase or decrease,” Shen said. “If one carrier drops, we immediately adjust to compensate through the other carriers, or Wi-Fi or the wired connection if they are also in use. TVU’s systems also easily allow users to use the cloud to produce multiple cameras as a switched experience or to provide a broadcast quality multiviewer image by keeping sync between all feeds.”

The fault of poor quality production during the pandemic should not all be laid at the feet of IP technology, though. Where Shen sees a weakness is not with technology, but on the “remote side” where some may not fully understand what defines a “quality shot.”

“Even people wearing the wrong shirt with a pattern that 1080i can’t reproduce can be a problem,” Shen said. “Whether it’s a shirt or tie, which doesn’t reproduce well via encoding, poor audio quality based on the lack of a mic to a $15 mic/earphone combo, to simply terrible lighting for TV, all aspects must be considered. The technical quality must be there through the right gear, but shot composition and production values should also be maintained.”

‘PLUG AND PLAY'

Jim Jachetta, executive vice president and CTO of VidOvation in Lake Forest, Calif., also reports an increase in use of their systems. VidOvation is the U.S.-based distributor for the AVIWEST solution for IP-based broadcasting, plus numerous other equipment offerings.

According to Jachetta, one large broadcast client has built full IP-based broadcast kits that can be sent out for use by high-profile guests or regular contributors to programs, making them truly “plug and play.”

“The system includes bonded cellular streaming systems that allow excellent bandwidth and high reliability, small PTZ HD robotic cameras that can be controlled remotely [from the control room side] of the broadcast, quality mics, IFB and everything the guest needs,” Jachetta said. “The idea was to make a system that the guest could sit in front of them, plug it in, then let the control room make the adjustment and put the guest on the air with minimal involvement by the guest.”

ON CUE

Matt Groeteke, news operations manager at KTLA has a large fleet of ENG, SNG and EFP vehicles, but the pandemic has increased their existing use of IP ENG technology. The Los Angeles CW affiliate uses Dejero’s GateWay network aggregation technology to provide reliable IP connectivity and the station’s own private network out to the field trucks.

The station added Dejero’s CuePoint for remote teleprompting and live returns from the station to the field to allow studio talent working from home to have full prompter use for scripts to even return video of the chroma keyed weather map behind the talent. Groeteke says CuePoint is “simple, reliable and easy to explain to the end-user.”

CuePoint allows the broadcaster to send a link for live teleprompter, program, weather computer or anything they want from their house router to a cellphone with as little as 250 ms of latency. This allows their weather people to use the weather systems from home as well (where the station even created a setup with a green screen in one of their meteorologist’s basements).

The KTLA home kits consist of Dejero Engo 260, Sony PXW 400 with tripod, iPad, Nila Varsa Deluxe Light kit and a laptop. Using CuePoint, they stream the teleprompter to the Safari browser on an iPad and route the stream to the Dejero 260 using a Dejero Control panel webpage. The Dejero 260 is connected to the Sony PXW 400 to broadcast the picture back to the station and the HDMI monitor output on the back of the Dejero 260 is connected to an external monitor at the home to broadcast the return video CuePoint feed, in this case, its house program.

PRIMARY DELIVERY

IP-based newsgathering has been adopted by all the major news players, according to Sam Wasserman, CEO of LiveU in Hackensack, N.J.

In the company’s “State of Live” report, Wasserman says that “for most, IP is the primary delivery of live content now and moving forward. Social distancing, lockdowns and quarantines have increased the need for remote reporting, fueling demand for live streaming, mobile apps and live IP video sharing solutions.”

Like the others, LiveU says it has seen a sharp increase in use of its cloud infrastructure as broadcasters increasingly adopt remote operations.

“It’s rewarding to see how all our equipment, especially our Solo wireless encoder, is being used in many different ways to bring both comfort and information to people who are isolated in their homes with live coverage of virtual events,” Wasserman said.

The company also recently announced a partnership with Grabyo that combines Grabyo’s cloud-native SaaS platform, providing a range of digital video production and publishing tools such as editing, clipping and highlights, with LiveU’s broadcast-quality live video solutions, ranging from its professional-grade hardware HEVC field units and Solo wireless video encoder to its LU-Smart app for smartphones. This integration is optimized in LiveU’s new LU800 production-grade, multicamera field unit, with its inherent support for remote production workflows.

“With the growing demand for cloud-based solutions, we see huge benefits for our customers in partnering with Grabyo, an expert in cloud-based video production and editing—especially with the remote production capabilities of the LU800, said Ronen Artman, vice president of marketing for LiveU. “We’re committed to work together to enhance and simplify the content workflow, helping our customers, which include some of the largest broadcasters and media organizations, to create compelling live content from anywhere.”

WHAT ABOUT THE TRUCKS?

With the increase in the use of IP making ENG easier and more widespread, what happens with traditional news vehicles?

According to Steve Williamson, director of sales for Frontline Communications in Clearwater, Fla., ENG and DSNG trucks are still selling, but are equipped with more IP.

“The deployment of Ku-IP has increased over the last few years,” he said, adding that the hybrid technology provides a financial break from the high cost of traditional satellite time and coordinating live shots.

Using IP encoding over satellite allows stations to get connectivity in areas where there is no cell service. With bonded cellular, the availability of a mast to raise those cell antennas can make a great deal of difference as well, since clearing “ground hurdles” and simply being the strongest and clearest signal might mean the difference between a live shot in a congested area or no live shot.

As the pandemic has thrust IP-based communications more into the spotlight, the technology has improved reliability, and systems are now packed with features that didn’t exist with traditional “one-way” ENG and SNG shots. It’s also demonstrated that as the industry migrates more fully to this technology and switches off to cellular carriage, there are some tradeoffs, in particular with cost savings in microwave tower sites and traditional satellite shots, at the expense of new costs in bandwidth usage.

A decade ago when I started using IP-based technology, I threw together a system using 2.5 Gig wireless unlicensed Trango boxes for my 10 Mbps “pipe,” a Slingbox for encoding and a computer with scan converter. We’ve come a long way since then, but the premise remains the same. If you can make pictures or sounds into zeros and ones (digital), there really is no limitation to what you can do with IP.

Dan Slentz is chief video engineer, New World Symphony, Miami Beach, Fla.

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y.—A majority of TV viewers believe that the coverage from the media on issues like the ongoing protests over the killing of George Floyd plays a role in perpetuating stereotypes by focusing on the riots, looting and violence that has occurred, according to studies conducted by market research firm Horowitz Research.

Horowitz’s State of Viewing & Streaming 2020 study found that 58% of TV viewers agreed that TV is the best way to get in-depth news and reporting, but an equal percentage of respondents believe that the media plays a very big role in reinforcing stereotypes. The trust in TV news does differentiate between age groups—33% of 18-24 year olds think TV is best source of in-depth news and reporting; that rises to 56% for 25-34 year olds and to 64% for those 35 and older.

“Some networks and media outlets have faced backlash over coverage of the protests, with critics pointing to outlets’ tendency to focus on the negative—the riots, the looting, the violence—rather than empathy with the expression of rage over overt racism and a system that seems to deny that Black lives matter,” said Adriana Waterston, Horowitz’s senior vice president of Insights and Strategy. “For decades, TV news has been one of the primary ways that the American public has stayed informed. Trust, engagement and context, not just viewership, are critical for brands and advertisers. That cultural connection is now the immediate challenge and responsibility for major TV and cable networks to stay relevant.”

The study also found that 68% of viewers say that they feel it is important that the media represent diverse people and communities in the U.S. in ways that challenge and break stereotypes.

Waterston said that young people do not feel that older members of their family who rely heavily on TV news are getting a “well-rounded picture” of the protests, something that young people believe they have through social media platforms.

“Can the major broadcast and cable outlets rise to the challenge of providing truth and perspective and less sensationalism” said Howard Horowitz, president of Horowitz Research.

The State of Viewing and Streaming 2020 study was conducted in March with more than 2,000 TV content viewers.

For more information, visit www.horowitzresearch.com.  

WASHINGTON—As protests over police brutality engulfed the United States over the weekend, TV news crews tried to keep up with covering the events, but sometimes ended up becoming part of the story. 

Early Friday morning, several members of a CNN news group were arrested by police in Minneapolis on live TV. On-air CNN reporter Omar Jimenez, a producer and cameraman were handcuffed by Minneapolis police as the network covered protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd by four Minneapolis police officers a week ago. The crew was accused of not moving when police ordered them to.

The CNN employees were released an hour later with an apology from Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who called the arrests “totally unacceptable.”

Jimenez described his ordeal on CNN later that day.

“It did cross my mind that—what is really happening here? —the one thing that gave me a little bit of comfort was that it happened on live TV,” he said. “When you talk within the community with, let’s just say what’s happened with George Floyd, there’s always a discussion that what’s happening isn’t new—it’s being filmed.”

Earlier, as protests broke out in an increasing number of cities Friday night, a group of protesters circled CNN headquarters in Atlanta, chanting anti-media slogans and vandalizing the front of the building, including the network logo. 

The mayor of Atlanta chastised the protesters, noting the importance of the network’s presence on the eve of CNN’s 40th anniversary, June 1.

"You have defaced the CNN building,” Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said at a news conference. “Ted Turner started CNN in Atlanta, 40 years ago because he believed in who we are as a city."

The Friday arrests were just the latest in a slew of incidents in which journalists from TV, radio, print and online were assaulted by police and protesters in a number of cities where protests erupted over the weekend. 

Also on Friday, reports that police in Louisville, Ky., fired pepper balls on a local TV station crew covering protests in that city drew this response from NAB: 

“NAB condemns the actions of the Louisville police officer who fired pepper balls at a local TV crew legally covering downtown protests on Friday night. No police officer has the right to fire any type of ammunition at journalists who are simply doing their jobs and appropriately positioned to cover the news. NAB calls for a swift investigation of this incident to ensure that journalists have the necessary protections to report the news.”

The Radio and Television Digital News Directors Association (RTDNA) issued these recommendations to journalists to help protect themselves:

On Sunday, broadcast journalists were praised for their coverage and restraint by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.

“I commend the extraordinary efforts of local broadcasters to keep Americans informed about the protests and violence taking place in our nation’s cities following the awful killing of George Floyd,” the chairman said over the weekend. “Those who work for local television and radio stations are often putting themselves at personal risk to serve the public interest, and they must be allowed to do their jobs without being threatened or attacked. I hope that they and all Americans stay safe.”

ALEXANDRIA, Va.—In the springtime of 1980, Americans were getting accustomed to “Post-It Notes,” and a few were just starting to twist Rubik’s Cubes. Out in Washington state, inhabitants in the Mount St. Helens region were beginning to experience frequent earthquakes and explosions; waiting and watching to see what would happen next. None of this, however, was being given much notice by the growing number of arrivals at a new enterprise rapidly taking shape in Atlanta.

Ted Turner’s latest dream—a 24-hour-per-day news service—was being transformed into a reality by a small army of construction workers, broadcast engineers, journalists and TV production people. He christened it “Cable News Network” or “CNN” for short. The nonstop flow of news generated would be delivered to North American cable customers via satellite, following the pattern of Turner’s now highly successful WTBS “superstation” launched four years earlier.

However, many in the industry likened what Turner was putting together as a crapshoot—a very big one—with not only his personal fortune and reputation at stake, but also the lives and careers of many of the individuals he’d recruited from successful jobs and was transplanting to Atlanta.

Even Broadcasting magazine—the industry “bible”—while applauding the concept, was equally pragmatic about Turner’s chance for success:

“No matter how desirable a service the Cable News Network provides, it cannot be physically delivered to most urban television sets. That means it cannot be seen live by many of the people who make decisions in this country.”

Although it’s difficult to imagine today, cable really wasn’t that big a deal at the time; certainly not the cash cow it is now. It had existed primarily as a means for getting television signals into smaller communities with poor or no over-the-air reception, and only with the arrival of “superstations” and “premium” services such as HBO did cable attract viewer interest sufficient to warrant buildouts in larger markets. The editorial continued:

“The question is whether Turner can afford to wait for cable systems to be extended in such cities as New York, and built in such other cities of influence as Washington, Los Angeles, and Chicago, not to mention Atlanta, his hometown. The guess here is that he may have to strike some alliance with the people he maligns above all others, the commercial broadcasters.”

“Predicting anything Turner may do is uncertain at best. But what he has done can be appraised. He has hired a large group of professional journalists and put them to interesting work. The hope here is that the Cable News Network stays in business.”

PLUS: 'CNN College:' A 22-Year-Old Adjunct Professor Looks Back

True to form, the 41-year-old Turner was his usual cocky self in dismissing the “doubting Thomases.”

“I just love it when people say I can’t do something,” he remarked in an earlier Broadcasting interview. “There’s nothing that makes me feel better, because all my life, people have said I wasn’t going to make it.”

TURNER AND NEWS?

Curiously, those who knew Turner at the time of his CNN launch announcement thought it a bit odd that he would even consider such an initiative, as he’d formerly eschewed television news, relegating newscasts on his Ch. 17 Atlanta independent UHF station to the wee small hours of the morning so as not to upset normal schedules of sitcoms and old movies. Viewers who were up that late recalled that the anchor, Bill Tush, treated news in a comedic way, and was often accompanied at the anchor desk by a German shepherd. (Turner also had countered the local 6:00 p.m. airing of ABC network news with Star Trek reruns and gotten a ratings boost.)

“Ted, early on, was a ‘no-news is good news’ type of guy,” recalled Jim Schoonmaker, who was hired to direct newscasts at CNN, and along with fellow director Guy Pepper and Joe Torelli, to organize the “CNN College” that provided orientation for the disparate news staff being hired (mostly straight from college or small-market stations to save money).

“He said stations didn’t need to do news,” Schoonmaker said. “The irony was that he was very serious about doing a good job of news.”

GETTING READY FOR THE BIG DAY

To house the new news service and his existing WTBS “superstation,” Turner had purchased a former country club property. The 90,000 square-foot two-story structure, vaguely reminiscent of what a “Tara” mansion should look like, was not exactly a perfect fit for two round-the-clock TV operations, requiring some extensive modifications, including a tear-out and excavation of the original basement floor to create the needed celling height for the CNN operation going there. (WTBS would get the main floor, with the second floor reserved for offices.) However, this facility was far from being habitable when new and prospective recruits began arriving.

Schoonmaker, who’d flown in from Miami for an interview, recalled his initial impression upon arriving at another building Turner had purchased to serve as a training facility and interim office space until the Techwood Drive country club property was ready.

“It was a two-story ramshackle building in pretty bad shape,” he recalled. “I said to the cab driver ‘there’s something wrong; this can’t be it.’”

This disheveled “temp” facility was anything but what was expected of a network television operation, and had been jokingly dubbed “the White House” by the rapidly growing staff.

“Passing traffic would shake the building,” said Schoonmaker. “Desks were crammed in any old way. There were guys from BASYS, which was providing CNN’s “News Fury” computerized newsroom system, down in the basement trying to get it to work.”

CNN’s design and installation work was being handled as much as possible by Turner’s engineering team, which at the time consisted of a “Three Musketeers” group that had migrated to the Ch. 17 operation from other Atlanta stations. First to arrive had been Gene Wright, then Jack Ormand, and finally, Jack Verner. When Turner hired Wright, the station at best could be described as “engineering deficient.” However, by the time of the WTBS “superstation” launch decision, the trio had been able to restructure it into a respectable and reliable operation, fully up to the task of delivering programming to cable systems all across North America.

Verner, the only surviving member of the team, recalled the reassignment of duties when Turner announced his plans for a 24-hour news channel.

“When Ted made the decision to build CNN, Gene Wright was promoted to corporate engineering director, and he assigned Jack Ormand to head up CNN engineering. I took over Gene’s former position of chief engineer at the Superstation.”

Verner recalled that even with the creation of the new CNN engineering division, the threesome still worked shoulder-to-shoulder to shape Turner’s latest dream into a bricks-and-mortar reality.

“We literally worked seven days a week getting CNN designed,” he said.

ON THE AIR!

Somehow, everything fell into place by the planned June 1, 1980 opening day, with Turner delivering a dedicatory speech, and operations commencing at six that evening.

Tom Purdy, who produced the first hour of news at CNN, said that despite the “Manhattan Project” effort to get the new network built and on the air, almost everything was ready to go on opening day, with operations running smoothly during the premier hour, even though there’d been only a month for training and run-throughs by a staff from very disparate backgrounds.

“We did have an operator hit the ‘eject’ button on the VCR while a piece was on the air,” recalled Purdy. “But other than that and the computer system not being ready, it all worked well.”

Purdy also recalled CNN’s initial penetration and growth.

“It was pretty slim at the beginning. There was a sort of barometer on the wall to indicate the number of viewers now watching. My parents in Cincinnati couldn’t even see it then. It was really a ‘brave new world.’”

The pep talk that Turner delivered to the CNN staff that day also stuck with Purdy.

“He had stars in his eyes and wanted to change the world, and he told us ‘you’re the people who are going to help me do this!’”

Whether it was the pep talk or something in the Atlanta water, it worked.

The fledgling news operation thrived from the beginning, expanding in the first six months from carriage on just 172 cable systems to 550, and going from two million viewers to nearly double that number within the same time frame.

At the end of the first year-and-a-half of operation, CNN’s then president, Reese Schonfeld, reported 10,000 new subscribers were being added daily. He also observed that newspapers were beginning to quote CNN stories as “final proof of CNN’s credibility.”

Turner continued to expand the news organization, launching “CNN2,” now known as “CNN Headline News” slightly more than 18 months after CNN’s startup.

RETROSPECTIVE

CNN has continued to grow and prosper, becoming a major player in the reporting of breaking news events and a respected source of news throughout the world, with 36 editorial operations and some 3,000 employees. It is now a division of WarnerMedia and reaches more than 96.2 U.S. million households. CNN International additionally reaches more than 402 million households. 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In addition to those individuals named in this account, the author wishes express his thanks to Lisa Napoli, author of the recently-released Abrams Press book, “Up All Night: Ted Turner, CNN, and the Birth of 24-Hour News,” for providing an advance copy of her work and other assistance in connection with the preparation of this story. Thanks are also in order to WarnerMedia’s Ashok Sinha, Alison Rudnick and Molly Berry for providing photographs and arranging the interview with Bob Hesskamp. 

NEW YORK—TV news stations both large and small were recipients of the 2016 National Edward R. Murrow Awards, which have been handed out by the Radio Television Digital News Association since 1971. Per RTDNA’s announcement page: “Award recipients demonstrate the spirit of excellence that Murrow set as a standard for the profession of electronic journalism.”

Here are this year’s recipients for television:

Small Market

Overall Excellence: WISC-TV; Madison, Wis.
Newscast: “News 3 at 6: No Charges in the Death of Tony Robinson” – WISC-TV
Breaking News: “Windstorm Slams Quincy” – WGEM-TV; Qunicy, Ill.
Continuing Coverage: “Death in The Chattam County Jail” – WSAV-TV; Savannah, Ga.
Feature Reporting: “Ashamed to Advocate: A Mother’s Lesson in Love” – WISC-TV
Investigative Reporting: “Mental Health 911” – CTV London; London, Ontario
News Documentary: “Trafficked” – WDAY-TV; Fargo, N.D.
News Series: “Swiped: Financial Mismanagement” – WVUE-TV; New Orleans
Reporting – Hard News: “Thoughts, Interrupted” – WBBH-TV; Fort Myers, Fla.
Reporting – Sports: “Hotel Swimmer” – KREM-TV; Spokane, Wash.
Use of Video: “Heart of Louisiana” – WVUE-TV
Writing: Blake Essig – KTUU-TV; Anchorage, Alaska
Website: WGRZ.com – WGRZ-TV; Buffalo, N.Y.

Large Market

Overall Excellence: CTV Vancouver; Vancouver, British Columbia
Newscast: “Clinton Homicides and Manhunt” – KMBC-TV; Kansas City, Mo.
Breaking News: “Baltimore Riots: A City Under Siege” – WJLA-TV; Washington D.C.
Continuing Coverage: “911: Lost on the Line” - WXIA-WATL-TV; Atlanta
Feature Reporting: “Mother Nature, :Let Up!” – WNBC-TV; New York
Investigative Reporting: “Smart ALEC: The Backroom Where Laws are Born” – WXIA-WATL-TV
News Documentary: “Jeremiah” – Alabama Public Television; Birmingham, Ala.
News Series: “The Faces of the Bombing” – KFOR-TV; Oklahoma City
Reporting – Hard News: “Cruel and Unusual: The Texas Prison Crisis” – WFAA-TV; Dallas
Reporting – Sports: “Big Ann” – WZZM-TV; Grand Rapids, Mich.
Use of Video: “Scholl Videography ‘The Motel Life’ – KUSA-TV; Denver, Colo.
Writing: Jaye Watson; WXIA-WATL-TV
Website: NBC10.com – WCAU; Philadelphia

Network Television

Overall Excellence: ABC News; New York
Newscast: “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt: Nov. 19, 2015” – NBC News; New York
Breaking News: “Baltimore: A City on Edge” – ABC News
Continuing Coverage: “NBC Nightly News: The Death of Freddie Gray” – NBC News
Feature Reporting: “SC Featured: The Courage Game” – ESPN; Bristol, Conn.
Investigative Reporting: “E:60 The Turf War” - ESPN
News Documentary: “Citizenfour” – HBO; Santa Monica, Calif.
News Series: “ABC News Nightline: Face to Face” – ABC News
Reporting – Hard News: “60 Minutes: Iraq’s Christians” – CBS News; New York
Reporting – Sports: “SC Featured: Miraculous” - ESPN
Use of Video: “Inside North Korea” – ABC News
Writing: Steve Hartman; CBS News
Website: ABCNews.go.com; ABC News

To see the full list of winners, including radio and online news, click here.