More and more journalists and executives from major television networks are optimistic about the future, both privately and publicly. Furthermore, they express their enthusiasm with as much conviction as they do arguments. Analysts also predict that, after the massive consumption of what is urgent and murky through all types of screens, the time is coming to recover pride in what is current and always proven.
In the United States, the main power in this area, the climate of opinion is truly hopeful, as has been observed in the latest sectoral meetings. Thus, professionals maintain that the overabundance of digital material, the haste with which pseudo-news is spread by agents who disregard ethics in favor of business and, of course, the proliferation of deceptions and falsehoods will only strengthen the industry.
As Terry Eliasen of CBS News Boston (Massachusetts) summarizes, “the focus is likely to soon be on quality,” to the detriment of the dizzyingly scandalous. He believes that, to a large extent, thanks to technology, the “most successful” audiovisual operators will be those who “can offer greater precision” in communication.
Eliasen, who works on a streaming service that remains active 24 hours a day, provides the example of “weather forecasts,” his specialty. He assures that the predictions of the present will soon cease to be “relevant” if they continue to cover “too large geographic areas” and accumulate “hours of antiquity.”
Terry Eliasen, like many of his colleagues, strives to separate the “news” inherent to the news from a rush that often only brings errors. From KCRG, in Cedar Rapids (Iowa), Justin Gehrts adds that, to improve the situation, “work routines” must be transformed. As surprising as it may seem, he affirms that there are still channels with international reach that understand “digital as a complement”, and not as the essence of their activity.
For Gehrts, if this outdated mindset is not changed, “employee burnout or attrition” will result. Despite these warnings, his assessment of the transformations is positive, starting with the orientation of KCRG, an audiovisual station affiliated with ABC, MyNetwork TV and The CW. And the same goes for Leland Statom of News Channel 5 (Nashville, Tennessee).
This professional does not consider that the increase in content for on-demand television, on the one hand, and, on the other, a qualitative leap in the programming of free-to-air stations, and even social networks, are incompatible. In fact, his bet is “collaboration” between platforms. In his company they are doing it and, as he highlights, the results are satisfactory, without going any further, thanks to an agreement with Samsung to incorporate its own information into its television application. Florida 24 Networks is another proof of this promising alliance of media.
