Modernizing the newsroom, one story at a time

In many ways, the news business has never been more vibrant. The number of touchpoints has exploded: From broadcast and cable to social media and podcasts, news is available 24/7 on virtually any device. Viewer engagement is at an all-time high.

But traditional newsrooms have struggled to take full advantage of this news-centric era. The audience's insatiable demand for more stories on more topics outstrips news organizations' ability to produce them. The volume of archival and emerging footage threatens to overwhelm their ability to locate relevant materials and generate stories in a timely fashion. News organizations at every level face increased competition from an ever-growing range of alternative media sources, further dividing an already-shrinking advertising pie. Audiences are more fickle than ever. 

Processes for producing news content that served well in the past have become inefficient and unwieldy. Despite today's 24/7 media environment, networks are still typically organized by show (morning or evening news), channel (business or lifestyle), or geography (local or national). That has created internal silos that are difficult to break down, leading to redundancy and a lack of collaboration. 

In some cases, technology has become a barrier to innovation instead of an aid. Production staff are asked to manage and maintain dozens of disparate applications, physical devices, and platforms, many with overlapping features. Producers must sift through petabytes of archival material stored in multiple locations, using inefficient content discovery tools for each. This makes it harder, not easier, to collect the materials needed to quickly put together a story.

News organizations need to move from a show-specific approach to a story-centric one. That means organizing newsroom workflows around individual stories, instead of the platforms on which they will appear. A story-centric approach can break down silos between shows, platforms, and geographies. It allows news teams to do better story planning, produce high-quality stories faster, create story rundowns, and to generate new stories and angles for different audiences. Cross-promotion between shows becomes easier and more effective. Redundant Newsroom Computer Systems (NRCS) are eliminated, streamlining news production while cutting costs.

As newsroom processes continue to modernize, organizations can accelerate their transformation using AI-based tools for content discovery and generation. 

GenAI has already proven to be an enormous time saver in automating processes like translation, transcription, and localization. But it also excels at ingesting and understanding huge volumes of information. GenAI tools can automatically analyze, tag, and categorize petabytes of archival videos, as well as new material as it arrives, 24 hours a day. News staff can use natural language searches to call up relevant materials and quickly select the clips they may want to use to build their stories. GenAI platforms can suggest story beats and angles, which producers can adjust as needed or adapt for different audiences. Used effectively, these tools can slash production times from hours to minutes, allowing organizations to produce more stories for more audiences, with the same team size. Learn more about what GenAI can do for modern media organizations.

The story-centric newsroom combines the best practices of traditional news gathering with a 21st century approach to broadcast and digital workflows.  

A story-centric newsroom quickly capitalizes on breaking stories at the local, national, and global levels. It enables producers to make reporting assignments regardless of show or location, leading to more nimble newsgathering. It produces consistently higher volumes of quality news coverage, without the need to increase personnel. News networks can share breaking stories across their entire range of shows and channels, increasing viewership and ad revenue.  

The ability to generate different story angles for niche audiences will enable organizations to reach more viewers and earn more trust. At a time when audiences are fractured and increasingly fickle, networks will need to transform if they wish to stay relevant.