Media General Broadcast Group has contracted with Miranda Technologies to consolidate all its stations’ broadcast graphics in a central location.
The consolidation will rely on Miranda’s Xmedia Suite of graphics workflow tools. The planned system will give Media General’s 23 stations round-the-clock access to centralized graphics archives for all departments, including news, sales, marketing, and special projects.
Miranda’s MOS-compliant plug-in software gives news producers and journalists immediate access to news images, graphic elements, and templates directly from their newsroom desktops, including lower thirds, over-the-shoulder images, and full-screen builds with animated highlights. Finished graphics can be quickly dragged and dropped into the local news run-downs.
“[Miranda’s] workflow solution will significantly strengthen Media General’s ability to provide the quality and quantity of graphics solutions needed by our stations from a new centralized operation,” said Ardell Hill, senior vice president of operations at Media General Broadcast Group. “We expect to transition all of our stations to the new operation by the end of 2007.”
One impact of the consolidation will be a sharp cutback on graphic artist positions at Media General stations. Many such jobs at the company’s local stations will reportedly be eliminated, with graphics creation to be centralized at the company’s headquarters in Richmond, VA. However, some of the downsized staffers may be offered new positions at that facility.
