LEAWOOD, Kan.-As the 2020 Presidential and Congressional campaigns enter the homestretch, the impact of COVID-19 on TV news organizations continues to be felt with news managers ripping up plans on how best to deploy news crews, technology and workflows, and starting over as the virus injects a wildcard into their coverage equation, even as the possibility of not knowing the winner of the Trump-Biden race Nov. 3 looms.
Those were among the major takeaways during an Election Tech in the COVID-19 Era panel during the News Technology Summit sponsored by TVTechnology and B+C magazines. (Full disclosure. I moderated the panel.)
PLAN, PLAN, PLAN
Weve planned about five times at this point, and I think that were pros at planning for the upcoming election, and in saying that, I can say that we'll probably plan it end-to-end once more before it actually happens, said Tony Brown, chief of staff at Newsy, during the panel discussions.
Brown was joined on the panel by Susie Banikarim, executive vice president and global head of newsgathering at Vice News; Patrick McCreery, president, local media group, at Meredith Corp.; and Jorge Dighero, senior solutions architect at Vizrt.
[Y]ou know, everything from remote production to remote sources and contribution on the night of [the election] to what were looking at as a multinight and multiday event, where it used to be just one night, it is ultimately affecting the plans, he said.
COVID-19 is making it difficult for Meredith stations to firm up election night planning because the major political parties aren't sure what they are going to do, said McCreery.
In years past, you'd have a planning meeting three months out and know where you're going to be and where your crews are going to be, he said. However, McCreery predicted that there will be a lot of last-minute decisions made about whether or not to hold election night rallies and parties.
I think in a lot of situations, were looking at the use of pool [cameras] within our various cities, put a pool camera at certain places and share the video and minimize [COVID-19] exposure that way, he said, adding that this view here [referencing the Zoom meeting used for the panel] will be used heavily on election night.
COVID-19 is affecting coverage from the campaign trail, too, said Banikarim. Likening the situation to an incredible jigsaw puzzle, she explains that the virus has made it far more difficult to assign news crews because an entirely new set of factors beyond the newsworthiness of a campaign story have come into play.
[If a crew goes into the field,] how long do they have to quarantine? How will you quarantine them? Do they have people at home? Do they need to be put some place else? she asked, illustrating the new challenges.
MAINTAINING WORKFLOWSThe COVID-19 pandemic has prompted many broadcasters to reduce to a bare minimum the number of staff working in newsrooms, production control rooms and even on the news set in an effort to keep employees safe and healthy. Doing so, however, has created serious workflow challenges, said Dighero.
Jorge Dighero (Image credit: Future) What this proves is that software is the absolute key, the absolute answer here because software can be deployed on-prem and remotely accessed, he said. However, problems with computers on premise in newsrooms locked down during the outbreak underscore the importance of cloud computing to maintaining news workflows.
All of our customers [have] been focused solely on how we can do a complete transition to the cloud, said Dighero.
While they won't scrap their newsroom technology and workflows anytime soon, broadcasters are looking to a cloud-based future achieved incrementally to protect them from future circumstances that might limit newsroom access, he added, noting that cloud pricing and connectivity will only continue to improve with time.
PLUS: 2020 Campaign: A News Cycle Unlike Any Other
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, all three broadcasters on the panel said their news organizations have taken steps to reduce staff working at their facilities to promote safety. However, election night-or an extended number of days while results are tallied-will see a return to a more normal workflow.
To be live, the way we would need to be for that full week, we are going to start to put some people back in the building, said Banikarim. We're going to fire up a live control room. ... [T]he risk of being live in a fully remote way feels too great, right?
Newsy, too, went fully remote when the pandemic hit. We have not done a show out of the studio or physically out of a control room since March, said Brown. But because of the logistics involved in election night, Newsy news personnel will return.
Office space vacated by non-news personnel during the pandemic will help. What we've ended up doing is actually just spreading pieces of the control room around our larger floor, he said. Directors and producers will have their own socially distanced pods and connect to one another via intercom rather than sitting at the same desk and risk exposing one another to the virus.
Control room automation also has helped to reduce the number of people who need to be involved in producing election coverage, Brown added.
At the height of the pandemic, Meredith got down to about 20% of its employees working from its facilities, said McCreery. That figure has grown steadily, and today about half of the station group's workforce on any given shift is working from their stations.
We do have producers and directors in the control rooms, you know, said McCreery. However, Meredith has erected Plexiglas dividers and taken other safety measures to reduce the likelihood of transmission.
I think the reality of this pandemic now is not about what happens if you get a positive; it
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
08/09/2026
Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) has announced a multi-year agreement with A E...
08/09/2026
Spectra Logic today announced the availability of Media Insight, a new capabilit...
08/09/2026
Rogers Communications and Quebecor have announced a 12-year sublicensing agreement for French-language national NHL games beginning with the 2026-27 season. TVA...
08/09/2026
Skyline Communications and Bridge Technologies will demonstrate two integrations...
08/09/2026
Boland Communications will make the European debut of its 4K55HDR7SNB 55-inch super-narrow-bezel monitor at IBC2026 (Stand 12.C57, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-1...
08/09/2026
Ateme and Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) have announced a collaboration comb...
08/09/2026
Haivision has joined the IBC Accelerator Media Innovation Programme as part of t...
08/09/2026
Blackmagic Design has announced price reductions on its PYXIS 6K and Cinema Camera 6K models, effective immediately through Blackmagic Design resellers worldwid...
08/09/2026
AI-Media will demonstrate its LEXI Suite at IBC2026 (Booth 5.C34, September 11-1...
08/09/2026
Bitmovin and Ad Insertion Platform (AIP) have announced the first live deploymen...
08/09/2026
Grass Valley will demonstrate story-centric media workflows at IBC2026 (Booth 9.A01, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), connecting newsroom production, content ma...
08/09/2026
M2A Media and Ateme have announced a partnership integrating Ateme's video processing solutions into M2A Media's MediaToAnywhere platform for live sport...
08/09/2026
Ikegami will exhibit at IBC2026 (Stand 12.A31, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), including a Day 1 introduction of new cameras in the UNICAM XE series. Additiona...
08/09/2026
Broadcast industry analysts will be gathering plenty of insights at the 2026 IBC Show this weekend in Amsterdam, but Caretta Research has offered up some though...
08/09/2026
SENSHI and DAZN have announced a global broadcast partnership that will bring SENSHI's live events free to viewers in more than 200 markets. The partnership...
08/09/2026
New architecture built with Evertz will bring 4K HDR to Monday Night Football, N...
08/09/2026
Built for rap producers, by rap producers
Sauceware Audio, the independent plug-in company founded by Grammy-nominated producer Jacob (Travis Scott, 21 Sava...
08/09/2026
Classic Sound Techniques design revived
Warm Audio's latest release delivers a meticulous recreation of the preamp circuitry employed by the Sound Techn...
08/09/2026
Latest soft synth inspired by the Memorymoog
XILS Lab have just launched a software instrument that draws its inspiration from Moog's iconic Memorymoog,...
08/09/2026
The Airport Chaplain takes off as SBS's biggest launch of 2026
8 September, 2026
Media releases
1.67 million viewers on National Total TV to date
Best...
08/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/09/2026
Mo-Sys, the world-leading developer of virtual production, camera robotics and image tracking technology, has completed a business restructuring, which has incl...
08/09/2026
New York, September 8, 2026 The TSAmediaHUB audiovisual contribution and distribution infrastructure developed by Telef nica's Audiovisual Services area re...
08/09/2026
Expanded Riyadh operation brings Asharq and Thmanyah services together on a resilient on-premises Pebble platform.
Pebble, the leading automation, content mana...
08/09/2026
Techex, a pioneering leader in live video workflows, will showcase its broadest software feature set to date at IBC 2026 (Stand 2.B45), extending its lead in so...
08/09/2026
Visitors to Grass Valley's booth at IBC2026 will be introduced to new Framelight X capabilities that connect content acquisition, management, editing and pu...
08/09/2026
BCNEXXT will showcase the latest evolution of Vipe at IBC2026 (Stand 2.B09), introducing a series of innovations designed to deliver higher-quality audience exp...
08/09/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Ad Insertion Platform (AIP), a leading innovator in advanced ad insertion technologies, to...
08/09/2026
Brainstorm, a leading manufacturer of real-time graphics and augmented and virtual production, is announcing a major package of enhancements to its Suite 7 soft...
08/09/2026
Big Blue Marble is supporting TDF, French infrastructure and network operator, broadcasting Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) and radio services, as a techno...
08/09/2026
Agents work inside a single production environment, from incoming wire copy to a live studio show...
08/09/2026
Building on their strategic partnership, Ceeblue and Layercake make the unthinkable possible: scalable sub-second streaming over standard DRM, SSAI, and CDN wor...
08/09/2026
Brainstorm, a leading manufacturer of real-time graphics, augmented and virtual production, is completing the environment for fast-paced broadcast production wi...
08/09/2026
A SaaS portfolio built to work together, helping operators grow audiences, monetise smarter and run leaner, on their own terms
At IBC 2026 (stand 1.B49) Synam...
08/09/2026
Accedo, global provider of video streaming software and services, has been selected by PlayOn Sports, a national leader in high school sports technology, to exp...
08/09/2026
LiveU, the leader in live IP-video solutions, is enabling The Associated Press to take global newsgathering to the next stage with intelligent connectivity and ...
08/09/2026
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, today announced the latest evolution of it...
08/09/2026
Compact, power-efficient X Platform performance brings broadcast-grade reliability and ultra-low latency to space-constrained remote production (REMI) workflows...
08/09/2026
Zixi, the leader in live video delivery and workflow orchestration, and Kiloview, a leading provider of professional IP video encoding and decoding solutions, t...
08/09/2026
Collaboration gives content owners scalable CDN capacity and broadcasters enhanced flexibility, including for C-band transition planning
Quortex today announce...
08/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/09/2026
Telos Alliance and Pluxbox Announce Dynamic Media Facility Integration Partnersh...
08/09/2026
J nger Audio Showcases Industry-First S-ADM Cloud Workflow at IBC 2026
Search
Dolby, MainConcept, Techex and J nger Audio will showcase the industry's ...
08/09/2026
Tuesday 8 September 2026
Sky Go gets a major upgrade for Sky Glass and Sky Stream customers
Today, Sky launches a new version of the Sky Go app for Sky Glass ...
08/09/2026
Documentary thriller simulating a Russian attack on UK soil will culminate in a live final episode reuniting the playersTuesday 8 September 2026
Trailer releas...
08/09/2026
Tuesday 8 September 2026
Jamie Demetriou and Amelia Dimoldenberg to host next t...
08/09/2026
Wuppertal September 8, 2026
Riedel Introduces New OnAir Headset PlatformRiedel Communications today announced the launch of its new OnAir headset platform, a...
LEAWOOD, Kan.-As the 2020 Presidential and Congressional campaigns enter the homestretch, the impact of COVID-19 on TV news organizations continues to be felt with news managers ripping up plans on how best to deploy news crews, technology and workflows, and starting over as the virus injects a wildcard into their coverage equation, even as the possibility of not knowing the winner of the Trump-Biden race Nov. 3 looms.
