The Newsroom

NBC News, MSNBC, ABC News and others from across the pond

(May 2011)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
JA
james-2001
Turns out the CBS Broadcast Center hasn’t fully opened. The Ed Sullivan Theater will be used for production of CBS This Morning.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cbs-news-film-morning-show-late-shows-ed-sullivan-theater-1285179


Explains why CBSN are still running a simulcast of the Boston and Bay Area channels.
TR
trance
NBC Nightly News is coming from Lester Holt's house.

NY Times article about it: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/24/business/media/coronavirus-evening-news.html

Last night's edition:
LV
LondonViewer
Very impressive. Hope that the BBC & ITN have contingency plans & set ups as good as this.
DO
dosxuk
Very impressive. Hope that the BBC & ITN have contingency plans & set ups as good as this.


You realise that you still need the gallery, newsroom and all the associated stuff as well as a studio to get a news bulletin on air, right? The only reason to use a presenter's house as a backup studio is when that presenter is more important than what they're presenting. The BBC and ITN have plenty of spaces in their own buildings they can use if their normal studio is out of bounds for a deep clean, without resorting to Huw Edwards' hallway.

Just think how many people would have to be involved, transporting kit and trapsing round his house to set up something like that.
RK
Rkolsen
Very impressive. Hope that the BBC & ITN have contingency plans & set ups as good as this.


You realise that you still need the gallery, newsroom and all the associated stuff as well as a studio to get a news bulletin on air, right? The only reason to use a presenter's house as a backup studio is when that presenter is more important than what they're presenting. The BBC and ITN have plenty of spaces in their own buildings they can use if their normal studio is out of bounds for a deep clean, without resorting to Huw Edwards' hallway.

Just think how many people would have to be involved, transporting kit and trapsing round his house to set up something like that.


The setups have been done in an hour. After the first day of it being done remotely the presenter is doing it themselves. Someone said that the MSNBC hosts were up on satellite for a day, reportedly with a crew sitting in a truck outside and then they leave and have it setup using a LiveU. Reportedly Savannah Guthrie and Lester Holts feeds were the only ones where they didn’t appear on satellite and relied exclusively on LiveUs.
Mouseboy33, Jeffmister and LondonViewer gave kudos
DO
dosxuk
My point is that there's still a bunch of people crowded into galleries and edit suites and control rooms and so on to make these programmes happen. You're not reducing any travel by building a studio in some presenters front room. Setting a load of kit up, even if it's only for an hour, that's still a bunch of people who didn't otherwise need to travel around and go into peoples home's, and as for having a crew sitting in a truck outside, that's even worse.

This isn't being done because studios are closing, or because there's not enough staff to run a normal service. It's being done because the networks want the optics of "look, I'm staying at home". In itself, that's not necessarily a bad thing, but don't mistake it for a contingency plan. It's extra work and extra travel at a time when we're being told not to do that.
GE
thegeek Founding member
Obviously things will vary from site to site, but galleries will be being run with slimmed down crew, and, some roles moved to different rooms or even off-site. There's a lot that can be done remotely - even some functions of MCRs.
commseng and Mouseboy33 gave kudos
NG
noggin Founding member
My point is that there's still a bunch of people crowded into galleries and edit suites and control rooms and so on to make these programmes happen. You're not reducing any travel by building a studio in some presenters front room. Setting a load of kit up, even if it's only for an hour, that's still a bunch of people who didn't otherwise need to travel around and go into peoples home's, and as for having a crew sitting in a truck outside, that's even worse.

This isn't being done because studios are closing, or because there's not enough staff to run a normal service. It's being done because the networks want the optics of "look, I'm staying at home". In itself, that's not necessarily a bad thing, but don't mistake it for a contingency plan. It's extra work and extra travel at a time when we're being told not to do that.


Lots of programmes are reducing the staffing levels in their control rooms to ensure social distancing - by moving operational areas to remote locations elsewhere in the building, or even working off-site. There are a lot of remote production tools now available.

Plus shows are being simplified and crew downsized to reflect that.
RK
Rkolsen
My point is that there's still a bunch of people crowded into galleries and edit suites and control rooms and so on to make these programmes happen. You're not reducing any travel by building a studio in some presenters front room. Setting a load of kit up, even if it's only for an hour, that's still a bunch of people who didn't otherwise need to travel around and go into peoples home's, and as for having a crew sitting in a truck outside, that's even worse.

This isn't being done because studios are closing, or because there's not enough staff to run a normal service. It's being done because the networks want the optics of "look, I'm staying at home". In itself, that's not necessarily a bad thing, but don't mistake it for a contingency plan. It's extra work and extra travel at a time when we're being told not to do that.


Most of NBC News employees are now working remotely. So there is less risk of spreading. With studios shut down they don't need as many people in the building. Yes there's a crew in the control room but there are significantly less staff in the building.

If the people were showing symptoms I don't think they would be sending people into homes to setup equipment. While Craig Melvin was quarantined he was relying on his computer webcam.
CH
Charles
My point is that there's still a bunch of people crowded into galleries and edit suites and control rooms and so on to make these programmes happen. You're not reducing any travel by building a studio in some presenters front room. Setting a load of kit up, even if it's only for an hour, that's still a bunch of people who didn't otherwise need to travel around and go into peoples home's, and as for having a crew sitting in a truck outside, that's even worse.

This isn't being done because studios are closing, or because there's not enough staff to run a normal service. It's being done because the networks want the optics of "look, I'm staying at home". In itself, that's not necessarily a bad thing, but don't mistake it for a contingency plan. It's extra work and extra travel at a time when we're being told not to do that.


I don't work at NBC but another major broadcaster, and I'm surprised at how much we've been able to accomplish at home. Amazon WorkSpace has allowed us to set up any computer as a virtual company machine. It's a little sluggish, but it gets the job done.

Right now, almost all of our writers and web staff are at home. About half of our producers are at home, and the producers who are in the building just booth the newscast after them. Technical directors are coding from home, so there's only one director in the booth. Some editors are at home (and honestly their edit bays are probably safer places to be than most spots in the newsroom anyway). The only thing that we haven't been able to scale back is the photographers – they still have to go out and gather of what is still happening out in the streets. Also, everyone who is not working from home is getting a hazard pay differential, so it's not just for the on-air optics.
Mouseboy33 and trance gave kudos
TR
trance
On optics, it's not clear to the uninitiated that Lester Holt is coming from home so I think it's more than simply optics.

Granted though, it's been made more of a big deal from most other TV shows, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Practice what you preach etc.
GI
ginnyfan
Well it's no surprise that rich and famous (from Hollywood celebs to US tv superstars) have rushed off to ''self-isolation'' and ''working from home''. Rolling Eyes

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