CHASING NARRATIVES Storytelling is at the heart of newsrooms like GB News (right), and Vizrt supports with protocols and cloud-based platforms
any type of broadcast could be classified as the most important, news might just be it. Without it, the world would be disconnected, untrustworthy and, quite frankly, a pretty confusing place. Equally, I doubt I’m alone in thinking that this is still somewhat the case, regardless of the existence of news broadcast on a macro scale. But that’s another conversation for another day. We’re here to instead discuss the technological make-up of newsrooms: from their humble beginnings to the digital mosaic that they present to the 2025 consumer. We’re also exploring some of the biggest issues faced by the sector, from disinformation to environmental concerns, and it seems a timely moment to do so too: 2025 marks the heavily debated centenary of broadcast, with John Logie Baird’s first successful transmission of a recognisable human image appearing on TV in October 1925. When it comes to televised news, origins can also be traced back to the early 20th century, but it wasn’t really until the conclusion of World War II that it began to seriously take off. During the forties and fifties, the television set started to become more accessible and gradually began
to overtake its radio predecessor as the main household information and entertainment source. In 1941, CBS delivered the first live TV news broadcast in the US. A modest black & white programme, it only offered a handful of local stories. As the medium continued to advance, so did the depth and professionalism of its reporting. Major networks like NBC, ABC and CBS soon joined the content race, launching regular evening news segments – while anchors quickly became trusted sources of information. Among these pioneers of reporting was Edward R Murrow, whose gripping WWII reports and – later – bold stand against McCarthyism demonstrated how TV was starting to shape public opinion. This emphasises that the tale of televised news isn’t just a story of a technology, but also of profound societal change. From the shock of President Kennedy’s assassination to the Vietnam War and 9/11, news broadcast has had a colossal impact on the way in which we engage with the world’s unfolding narratives. And it’s those narratives – the stories – which remain at the heart of a reliable newsroom in 2025. “A modern newsroom is about story-centric storytelling,” introduces
Ionut Pogacean, senior product manager at Vizrt. “Nowadays, many modern newsrooms have to produce more content with fewer people, while delivering for more media than before. This includes social media and their websites, in addition to traditional liner, rundown-based storytelling for TV.” Having the right tools to enable the ‘story-centric’ approach that so many networks strive for is where the media-tech industry steps in. “There’s a pressure to get the same story out simultaneously across all platforms – which means journalists need to learn more tools.” Today’s newsroom is no longer confined to a physical building stacked with coaxial cables, linear feeds and teams tied to one geographic location. Instead, it’s a hybrid and digitised ecosystem of cloud-based platforms, high-speed data transfer protocols, IP workflows and collaborative software that is enabling teams to cohesively distribute stories across broadcast and beyond. The new tech in town aside, it’s important to recognise that newscast has evolved to possess chameleon-like qualities; now spanning an array of digital channels
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