Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

How Europe's Public Service Broadcasters came together to cover the pandemic

29/10/2020

Liz Corbin, EBU deputy media director and head of news discusses how the organisation has helped broadcasters deliver reliable, trusted news to audiences during the pandemic.

By Contributor

Published: October 29, 2020

Liz Corbin, EBU deputy media director and head of news discusses how the organisation has helped broadcasters deliver reliable, trusted news to audiences during the pandemic.

target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin> Liz Corbin, EBU deputy media director and head of news discusses how the organisation has helped broadcasters deliver reliable, trusted news to audiences during the pandemic.

https://www.tvbeurope.com/production-post/how-europes-public-service-broadcasters-have-come-together-to-cover-the-pandemic title=Share via Email class=share-email>

During this extraordinary time, the absolute basics of broadcast journalism are being tested. TV journalism is teamwork. People working physically close to each other, on the road, in the studio. Every part of it has to be reimagined.

Here at the European Broadcasting Union, we have a dual role to play make sure we can continue running our own news operation and help our Public Service Media members deliver reliable, trusted news to their audiences, even in the most testing of circumstances.

The challenge was clear to us from the outset. A colleague in our own organisation was the fourth person in Switzerland to test positive for the virus. We quickly began the transition towards remote working - ensuring we could carry on with business as usual, although there was very little that was usual about it.

Across Europe, we've also seen how public service media responded with remarkable speed to the pandemic. By the end of January, we had already put together an international newsroom taskforce, dedicated to coverage of Covid-19. Our members are working together to support each other and ensure citizens across the continent feel supported by them.

We've seen the very real damage done by the spread of misinformation and disinformation online about this virus which has made the need for objective, trusted news and information even more important.

There has never been a story like COVID-19 and we learned - are still learning - a lot.

Although every country had a different experience, newsrooms had remarkably similar experiences. This virus with no borders attacked us in very similar ways. As the wave spread across Europe those who experienced it first could provide an uncannily accurate forecast for those it attacked later.

The EBU provides a support network, an early warning system and a place to share ideas. When some members felt they were criticised internally for overreacting' they just had to look at what their counterparts were doing to know that in a short time their actions would look appropriate and well-prepared.

Our News Exchange is also busier than ever - with travel severely limited, we provide a more important, or sometimes the only, source of foreign news for members. At its peak, we were sharing over 130 Covid-19 news items between our Members every single day.

The pandemic has also shown us the critical need for relevant specialisms in news. Science has always been essential to news output but having the expertise to understand complex health and science issues as well as a strong network of expert contacts is now vital.

Data journalism has come into its own during this period as well and directly influenced the way the story has been reported, the assumptions that have been made and the language used.

Much of the reporting has political and social dimensions as well as purely scientific so enabling better understanding and demonstrating exactly how developments in these areas affect real lives has remained central to the public service remit.

In recent months, we've seen an alarming rise in intimidation and attacks on journalists. NOS in the Netherlands were forced to remove all branding from their OB vans as they were encountering threats and intimidation. Members like RT in Ireland have had anti-mask protestors blocking staff from entering or leaving their offices. And many have been subject to online smears and abuse, not only by members of the public but, in the case of Slovenia's RTVSlo, by other media outlets and senior politicians.

It is the role of PSM to report independently and objectively on current events. We must continue to find ways to hold governments and authorities to account. To step back and see what we are missing.

Serving all audiences on all platforms with clear, accurate and independent information in a variety of formats is crucial to countering fake news and keep people safe in these challenging times. The news needs to provide the answer the public is searching for and to outshine the disinformation which seeks to fill the void.

You can read more on how public service media have handled the Covid crisis across Europe and the lessons learnt in the EBU's Covid-19 report.

SubscribeFor more stories like this, and to keep up to date with all our market leading news, features and analysis, sign up to our newsletter here.
LINK: https://www.tvbeurope.com/production-post/how-europes-public-service-b...
See more stories from tvb

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

29/07/2026

Grass Valley Op-Ed Series: Seven Paradoxes Shaping the Next Era of Media Production

In this series, Grass Valley explores the seven paradoxes shaping the next era o...

29/07/2026

SVG Students to Watch: A Look Back at a Year of Spotlighting the Emerging Talent in Live Sports Production

Thats a wrap on Season 1 of SVG Students to Watch! Across the country, these stu...

29/07/2026

DAZN to Become Exclusive DTC In-Market Streaming Home of YES Network, MSG Networks; Gotham App to Shut Down

The agreement will move Gotham Sports App subscribers to DAZN during the 2026-27...

29/07/2026

Big South Promotes Emily Dassel to Associate Commissioner for Brand and Creative Strategy

Longtime digital-media leader expands role overseeing conference branding, video...

29/07/2026

Give Me the Backstory: Get to Know Gregg Araki, the Director of I Want Your Sex

By Bailey Pennick One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival is having a front-row seat for the bright future of independent filmmaking. ...

29/07/2026

TiME UK announce transatlantic partnership

Organisation team up with TI:ME USA Founded in 2019 with the aim of helping educators to embrace new music technology, Technology in Music Education (TiME U...

29/07/2026

Multiply 2: Free plug-in from Acon Digital

Doubling & chorus processor gets an overhaul Acon Digital have just launched the latest version of their free voice-doubling and chorus plug-in. Multiply 2 ...

29/07/2026

Origin Effects launch the EQDeluxe

New Pultec-inspired pedal revealed The latest addition to the Origin Effects line-up brings the legendary Pultec EQ into pedal format. Based on the EQP-1A, ...

29/07/2026

SBS Appoints Chief Commercial Officer and Director of Marketing and Audiences

SBS Appoints Chief Commercial Officer and Director of Marketing and Audiences 29 July, 2026 Media releases SBS is pleased to announce the appointment of Ni...

29/07/2026

Rohde & Schwarz showcases unified next-generation broadcasting ecosystem at SET Expo 2026 in Brazil

Rohde & Schwarz showcases unified next-generation broadcasting ecosystem at SET ...

29/07/2026

Central Christian Church Connects Remote Production Teams with Clear-Com's Gen-IC...

eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...

29/07/2026

Streaming Embarks on Annual Summer Ascent in Nielsen's May 2026 Gauge Reports

Streaming Hits 48.6% of Total TV Usage in May YouTube Leads in Media Distributo...

29/07/2026

WVIT's Joseph DiMaggio Named SBE Flanders Engineer of the Year

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/07/2026

Amagi Appoints Martin Wacker to Lead Sales for DACH -- St...

Industry veteran joins Amagi to drive growth in Europe's leading broadcast market and advance cloud-native broadcast, FAST, and AI-driven operations. LONDO...

29/07/2026

WebTransport opens new route for broadcast-quality media...

Work is ongoing to specify how to run RIST over WebTransport. This will deliver secure, stable, broadcast quality video playback and origination to any platform...

29/07/2026

Offline Files Makes the Drive Shelf Searchable on Mac

Offline Files Makes the Drive Shelf Searchable on Mac Brie Clayton July 29, 2026 0 Comments A local Mac app for finding files, photos, and footage acr...

29/07/2026

Blackmagic Design Announces New UltraStudio Mini 12G

Blackmagic Design Announces New UltraStudio Mini 12G Brie Clayton July 29, 2026 0 Comments New extremely portable Thunderbolt 4 capture and playback ...

29/07/2026

Brightline Lighting Introduces the MOD1

Brightline Lighting, a premier manufacturer of energy-efficient lighting systems for broadcast, videoconferencing, government, education and corporate applicati...

29/07/2026

Applications open for IFFI/WAVES Film Bazaar in Goa - Producer Delegation

Applications open for IFFI/WAVES Film Bazaar in Goa - Producer Delegation 28 July 2026 Image credit: Four Years Later Screen Australia has opened applications...

29/07/2026

Brightline Unveils Compact, Suspended MOD1 LED Light

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/07/2026

NAB Meets With Trusty on Ownership Caps

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/07/2026

QuickLink To Feature New StudioPro AnywhereTally At IBC 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/07/2026

HBO Max Launches Vertical Shorts to Improve Content Discovery

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/07/2026

New Tool Identifies Sources Of Fake Videos

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/07/2026

DNEG Migrates Editorial Workflows to Foundrys Hiero

Foundry today announced that Academy Award-winning creative studio DNEG has implemented Hiero to support its editorial workflows. Part of the Nuke product famil...

29/07/2026

QuickLink Unveils New StudioPro AnywhereTally Remote Tall...

The Latest Addition to the Brand's StudioPro Ecosystem Combines Simple Deployment, Cloud Control and Professional Grade Wireless Reliability QuickLink, a l...

29/07/2026

The Secret Master Adjustment Layer Hack in After Effects

The Secret Master Adjustment Layer Hack in After Effects Graham Quince July 28, 2026 0 Comments Trish Meyer (who literally beta-tested the original Af...

29/07/2026

Post Completed with Blackmagic Cloud for Shane Kosugi's Feature Film SEEK

Post Completed with Blackmagic Cloud for Shane Kosugi's Feature Film SEEK Brie Clayton July 28, 2026 0 Comments Cannes Indie International Film Fe...

29/07/2026

Isabeau Miller Named Chair of Berklee Songwriting Department

Isabeau Miller Named Chair of Berklee Songwriting Department The Berklee alumna, who previously served on the Songwriting faculty, will begin her new role on ...

29/07/2026

Hayu is coming to Sky, bringing fan-favourite franchises The Real Housewives, Below Deck and more to customers, at no extra cost

Wednesday 29 July 2026 Hayu is coming to Sky, bringing fan-favourite franchises...

29/07/2026

New RT true crime podcast launches today

RT launches Unsolved, a true crime podcast, presented by crime journalist Barry Cummins and presenter Katja Mia. Unsolved is a weekly podcast exploring unsol...

28/07/2026

LiveUs World Cup Record: 1,700 Units Support Wide Range of Transmission Needs

LiveU, the pioneer in IP-video transmission and cloud-based remote production, today detailed its historic performance records set during the 2026 FIFA World Cu...

28/07/2026

Case Study: How the Dallas Cowboys Removed Bottlenecks in Off-site Content Production

The NFL franchise rebuilt their off-site content operation for an era when teams...

28/07/2026

A New Way To Watch': How Formula 1 and Sky Sports Are Pushing Race Coverage Into a New Era

Longtime partners expand viewer choice, data-driven analysis, access, immersive ...

28/07/2026

Grass Valley Op Ed: Seven Paradoxes Shaping the Next Era of Media Production

There is a unique moment before every major production. The audience never sees it. The cameras are ready. The talent is preparing. Directors review the final...

28/07/2026

The CW Network, ESPN Ink Streaming Agreement With Launch on Aug. 4

The CW Network and ESPN have announced their highly anticipated streaming agreement to bring CW Sports' live events to the ESPN App will officially launch o...

28/07/2026

Lawo Delivers Audio Excellence for Europes Largest Classical Open-Air Concert on Bastille Day

As more than tens of thousands of spectators filled Paris' Champ de Mars and...

28/07/2026

Appear Assists Chile's First Large-Scale 4K FIFA World Cup Viewing Experience

Appear's X Platform played a central role in Chile's first large-scale c...

28/07/2026

IBC 2026: Solid State Logic Highlights Transition to Software-Defined Production

Responding to the broadcast industry's shift to embrace more flexible production platforms, Solid State Logic (SSL) is evolving its comprehensive System T p...

28/07/2026

TNT Sports Goes to Greater Heights With New DUNKMAN League

Production leverages innovative camera technologies, AI, and data to capture the action in four-week inaugural competition The first-ever professional dunking ...

28/07/2026

Rogers, Prime Video Ink 12-Year Sublicensing Deal for NHL Rights in Canada

Prime Video to exclusively broadcast Wednesday night national NHL regular-season games in Canada...

28/07/2026

CBS Sports Snags U.S. English-Language Rights for CONCACAF Champions Cup

Every match will stream live on Paramount+ beginning in February,...

28/07/2026

TK Audio unveil the TK-Lizer 3

Baxandall-inspired hardware EQ overhauled TK Audio's Baxandall-inspired hardware EQ unit has just made a return, bringing the popular unit back into the...

28/07/2026

Asparion reveal the D700 Rack

D700 system gains new live-focused rackmount surface Asparion have just announced an expansion of their D700 control surface range, introducing a new model ...

28/07/2026

Six NFVF Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme (PESP)-Funded Films Selected for the 47th Durban International Film Festival (DIFF)

27 July 2026, Johannesburg - The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an a...

28/07/2026

Nielsen Launches Ad Intel AI: the Only Product of its Kind that Transforms Fragmented Ad Data into Actionable Intelligence

Ad Intel AI is Nielsen's first in a new generation of AI products built to t...