NewsTECHForum 2014

The second annual conference from TVNewsCheck and Sports Video Group featured keynotes from Sinclair Broadcast CEO David Smith and . The two-day gathering, designed for news, technology and news operations managers, addressed cutting-edge issues including multiscreen news workflow, IT security for TV news, severe weather reporting, mobile newsgathering, next-gen ENG cameras, video-enabled drones and more. Find all our coverage here.

Despite the resolution of ultra high-def units, many engineers considering replacements for their aging HD cameras, said they are far more interested in buying versatile cameras that can do different kind of shoots (breaking news and magazine-style).

While the public can get weather info on their phones and other devices, TV plays a crucial role by putting the nuts-and-bolts of weather reports in perspective. However, the abundance of user-generated content that pours into newsrooms via social media — most notably Facebook, Twitter and Instagram — has been particularly transformative by widening the breadth of what broadcasters can cover. 

With interest growing in using unmanned aerial vehicles by news organizations, patience will have to prevail since the Federal Aviation Administration has not issued a proposed rulemaking, and once it does it will take one to two years before final regulations are put in place.

Local TV news may not be facing the existential crisis that has decimated the newspaper industry yet, but the older demographic it attracts is dying and younger audiences aren’t exhibiting nearly the same loyalty, emphasizes Jeff Jarvis, professor and director of the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism. He cited data from the Pew Research Center that saw 18-to-29-year-olds dropping from 48% to 33% in just six years when asked if they watched TV news the night before.

At most electronic news operations there are too many silos of information journalists must comb through to get the media and other elements needed to do their jobs. A panel of experts from Nexstar, Sinclair, CNN and WNET explain what needs to change and why.

NewsTechForum panelists say they are instituting a number of measures — encrypting cell phones and laptops, tools that look for malware, creating firewalls and staff education among them — to prevent hackers from accessing sensitive information. Also important: reporters using only company sanctioned gear when on the road.

The day on which users’ real time digital feedback on television news reshapes on-air content in near real time may be sooner than we think was an emphatic point from digital leaders yesterday at the NewsTECHForum. Putting users at the center of the news experience is necessary right now and starts with being available on whatever device and at whatever time users want, digital executives stressed.

Newsgathering experts weigh the virtues of bonded cellular against the necessity of supplementing with Ka bandwidth, the flexibility of smartphones and the enduring value of microwave.

Sinclair CEO David Smith says that without a new technical standard that lets broadcasters beam their signals to all devices, they will lose to cable and telcos and become “essentially a three-legged dog in a four-legged dog, fast-track world.”

The first day of the second annual NewsTECHForum conference from TVNewsCheck and Sports Video Group, Monday, Dec. 15, will feature station experts delving into how TV station newsrooms juggle online, streaming video, social media, mobile news and more.

The first day of the second annual NewsTECHForum conference from TVNewsCheck and Sports Video Group, Monday, Dec. 15, will feature experts examining “Mobile Newsgathering: The Bleeding Edge,” with all of the latest methods of acquiring video and getting it back to the newsroom.

The second day of the second annual NewsTECHForum conference from TVNewsCheck and Sports Video Group will feature Jeff Jarvis, noted digital media blogger, director of the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism and author of Geeks Bearing Gifts: Imagining New Futures for News.

CNN’s Greg Agvent, the BBC’s Andy Bocking and the FAA’s Jim Williams will cover unmanned aircraft’s potential in newsgathering as well as the U.S. government’s progress in approving the use of unmanned aircraft for news purposes.

ABC’s Joe Ruffolo, CNN’s Rajin Persaud and Scripps’ Lana Durban Scott to address staying relevant in a nonstop, multi-device news environment.

The second annual conference from TVNewsCheck and Sports Video Group will begin Dec. 15 with a session featuring the CEO of Sinclair Broadcast Group. Other sessions will address multiscreen news workflow, IT security for TV news, severe weather reporting, mobile newsgathering, next-gen ENG cameras, video-enabled drones and more.