Making the Media

S2E07: Talking Trends News organizations must invest in innovation to attract new audiences and retain those they already have, but face doing so against a background of massive disruption within the industry. In this episode, we talk to Nic Newman, from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism about the key trends facing media companies in the year ahead—including business disruption, the potential of the cloud, remote working, the challenge of new platforms, trust in journalism, and more. Our Guest This Episode Nic Newman Nic Newman is a senior research associate at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University, and lead author of the annual Digital News Report, the world’s largest ongoing study of consumer behavior around news. Nic also authors an influential annual report on media and technology trends. He is also a digital media consultant and has recently worked with companies such as the Financial Times, Globo, BBC, and News UK on product, data, and audience strategies. Previously, Nic was a journalist and senior editor at the BBC and was a founding member of the BBC News website. Later, as Head of Product Development and Engineering for BBC News, he helped introduce innovations such as apps, blogs, podcasting, and on-demand video. More Resources For more on this topic, check out: News Production from Anywhere - Webinar Series – Discover all you need to know about creating and delivering news from anywhere, including moving workflows to the cloud. Making the Media Podcast - What’s Next? – How are Europe’s biggest broadcasters addressing the challenges ahead? Contact Us Questions? Comments? Cool ideas? Get in touch: makingthemedia@avid.com or @craigaw1969. Follow Avid at @avid. Credits Host: Craig Wilson Producer: Matt Diggs Social: Wim Van den Broeck Theme Music: Greg “Stryke” Chin

S2E06: The Digital Dimension Europe’s public service broadcasters are being challenged on many fronts to remain relevant to the audiences which fund them. In this episode we focus on a pioneering project to enable the easy sharing of digital stories, and how AI technology is enhancing their delivery to attract new and younger viewers. Our Guests This Episode Justyna Kurczabinska is leading the News Strategy and Development of Eurovision News at the European Broadcasting Union (EBU)—the world’s leading alliance of public service media. Until recently, she was also the Head of the Eurovision News Exchange, where she provided EBU Members with ‘round-the-clock access to live and edited news stories as well as eyewitness media, as they happen, across the globe through the unique network of over 70 public service media newsrooms operating in over 50 countries and specialized verification team. The most recent initiative she has been championing as Project Owner aims at redefining digital news online collaboration among the PSM organizations with the objective of providing audiences across Europe with powerful and relevant public service journalism through the project called “A European Perspective,” embedded in the Monitoring News Intelligence Platform for PSM journalists, developed by the EBU in 2020. Since 2017, she has also been overseeing the Public Service Journalism Initiative aimed at strengthening and supporting independent trusted news. Sébastien Noir  has been active since 2012 in the Broadcasting industry, first at RTS, the French-speaking Swiss National Broadcaster as a software developer, and later evolving to lead the development of multiple digital products and mobile applications. He then became the Product Manager of the VOD Platform PlaySRG for Switzerland, coordinating development teams and delivering multilingual products for the different linguistic region. In 2017, he joined the European Broadcasting Union to work as Product Owner for PEACH, the personalization and recommendation system developed by Broadcasters for Broadcasters. He now acts as head of Software Engineering in EBU Technology and Innovation Department, coordinating teams and development efforts of innovative Services like PEACH, EuroVOX, and the EBU News Pilot (monitoring tool and EUropean Perspective). More Resources For more on this topic, check out: Making the Media S1E08: Attracting New Audiences – Discover how NBCLX in the USA and RTE in Ireland work to deliver tailored content on every platform MediaCentral | Publisher – Unify your newsroom and distribute your stories easily to social and online platforms Contact Us Questions? Comments? Cool ideas? Get in touch: makingthemedia@avid.com or @craigaw1969. Follow Avid at @avid. Credits Host: Craig Wilson Producer: Matt Diggs Social: Wim van den Broeck Theme Music: Greg “Stryke” Chin

S2E05: Local Heroes The importance of trusted, local news drove audiences in the United States higher through the pandemic, and they operate in a market worth billions of dollars. But with station groups consolidating, an increasing need to deliver on digital platforms, and the rise of distributed newsrooms, how will news stations adapt for the future? In this episode we focus on the key challenges of delivering compelling stories to local audiences. Our Guest This Episode Gary Brown most recently was the Senior Vice President of Content for the Meredith Local Media Group. Overseeing news, marketing, and digital content for the broadcast group. An experienced broadcaster and digital executive with almost three decades of experience, he has launched content initiatives to drive brand recognition, ratings, and revenue growth throughout his career. Before joining Meredith in 2018, he was Vice President of Talent Development for the Napoli Management Group. Prior to that, Brown was Vice President of News for Newport Television, where he oversaw television stations in 22 markets. Brown began his television news career as an intern at age 16 in his hometown of Toledo, Ohio. He quickly moved through the ranks holding news director positions across the United States. More Resources For more on this topic, check out: MediaCentral | Collaborate – Avid’s solution for story-centric news workflows MediaCentral | Publisher – Unify your newsroom and distribute your stories easily to social and online platforms Contact Us Questions? Comments? Cool ideas? Get in touch: makingthemedia@avid.com or @craigaw1969. Follow Avid at @avid. Credits Host: Craig Wilson Producer: Matt Diggs Social: Wim van den Broeck Theme Music: Greg “Stryke” Chin

S2E04: Moving the Media News never stops. And that is never more evident than when a major technology upgrade or station move is to take place. Going off-air is not an option, so how do you maintain your quality of service while delivering the infrastructure and new workflows you need for the future, and do that while moving your newsroom more than three-thousand miles? In this episode we focus on the key areas to consider for the newsroom of today and tomorrow. Our Guest This Episode Ali Husseini Ali is a seasoned TV executive with over 18 years of experience in broadcast business transformation and technology. He brings a wealth of expertise with particular strengths in areas such as transformation, mergers, centralization, business processes and both technical strategy and operational oversight. With an abundance of international experience, Ali has a strong understanding of various content generation, distribution models throughout America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Currently, Ali operates as Director of Broadcast Operations & Creative services at Fadaat Media, Al Araby Network, which he joined late 2019; his responsibilities include IT, broadcast engineering, broadcast IT, operations, information security & creative services. Prior to joining Fadaat Media Group, Ali oversaw numerous large-scale transformation activities during his 12 years with Al Jazeera Media Network where he served as the Chief Transformation Architect for the network, and where he held responsibility of broadcast operations expansions for multiple channels averaging $100M per project. With his contribution, Al Jazeera technical operations transformed from a mid-size broadcaster to a leader in the industry where they managed to deliver with his team of SME’s the network locations in NY, DC, London, Beirut, and the channels at the HQ in Doha. More Resources For more on this topic, check out: What’s Next – How Europe’s major broadcasters are facing the future. MediaCentral | Collaborate – Avid’s solution for story-centric news workflows. Contact Us Questions? Comments? Cool ideas? Get in touch: makingthemedia@avid.com or @craigaw1969. Follow Avid at @avid. Credits Host: Craig Wilson Producer: Matt Diggs Social: Wim van den Broeck Theme Music: Greg “Stryke” Chin

S2E03: Safe and Sound The news, media, and entertainment industry is on a journey to the cloud, but if your media and applications are hosted in the cloud and not in your physical building, what are the implications for content security? In this episode, we discuss in depth the challenges of security in the cloud and pose the question that, in reality it may actually be more secure than what you have on-premises. Our Guest This Episode Joel Sloss is the Senior Program Manager for the Cloud platform Microsoft Azure. For the last 25 years, Joel has been on the razor’s edge of enterprise IT and security. He originally joined Microsoft in 1997 after having served as a Technical Editor for Windows NT Magazine, where he authored more than 100 articles and product reviews, contributed to several books, and annoyed many hardware and software vendors. While at Microsoft, Joel has managed product lines ranging from BackOffice to ISA Server, mobile services, and—more recently—security & compliance initiatives in the Azure engineering team. Also during this time, Joel wrote numerous white papers on topics such as data protection, network security, secure management, architecture fundamentals, and policies and processes. His focus now is on the Digital Media & Entertainment industry, its compliance objectives (such as security certifications), and privacy needs in the public cloud. Joel has been on the CDSA Board of Directors since 2016, was the [cloud] Technical Advisor for “Bobbleheads: The Movie” (2020, Universal Pictures), and is a frequent presenter at industry conferences. More Resources For more on this topic, check out: Do you Trust me? Contact Us Questions? Comments? Cool ideas? Get in touch: makingthemedia@avid.com or @craigaw1969. Follow Avid at @avid. Credits Host: Craig Wilson Producer: Matt Diggs Social: Wim van den Broeck Theme Music: Greg “Stryke” Chin

S2E02: Rise Up Women make up a small minority of the technical workforce in the media and broadcast industry. Why is that? And what needs to be done to change the situation for them, for people with disabilities, and for people from diverse backgrounds?  In this episode, we focus on a major new report which sets out the major challenges women face which need to be addressed. Our Guest This Episode Carrie Wooten is the Managing Director of Rise: the global advocacy group for gender diversity within the media technology sector.    Rise's ambition is to open up more opportunities for gender diverse professionals through delivering its global award-winning annual mentoring program, through celebrating the skills and achievements of brilliant women across the industry through its annual Rise Awards, and through inspiring, educating, and informing the next generation of talent through its Rise Up Academy program. More Resources For more on this topic, check out: Vive La Difference Contact Us Questions? Comments? Cool ideas? Get in touch: makingthemedia@avid.com or @craigaw1969. Follow Avid at @avid. Credits Host: Craig Wilson Producer: Matt Diggs Social: Wim van den Broeck Theme Music: Greg “Stryke” Chin

S2E01: What’s Next? The world of news is challenged on many fronts—competition, technology, attracting and retaining staff, funding, and much more. So, what can public service broadcasters in Europe do about it? In this episode we focus on a major new report which sets out how they are adapting to a rapidly changing media landscape. Our Guest This Episode Alexandra Borchardt is a senior journalist, book author, lecturer, and media adviser. She works as a consultant and coach for the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) in their Table Stakes Europe Programme on the digital transformation of newsrooms and for Hamburg Media School, where she heads the Journalism Innovators Program. She is the lead author of the 2021/22 EBU News Report of the European Broadcasting Union and is affiliated with the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford as a Senior Research Associate after having served as Director of Leadership Programmes until 2019. Prior to this she was managing editor of Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), Germany’s leading quality daily. More Resources For more on this topic, check out:  - Making the Media: Mr Mojo Risin’  - Content from Anywhere News Workflow Webinar Contact Us  Questions? Comments? Cool ideas? Get in touch: makingthemedia@avid.com or @craigaw1969. Follow Avid at @avid. Credits Host: Craig Wilson Producer: Matt Diggs Social: Wim van den Broeck Theme Music: Greg “Stryke” Chin

S1E20: Vive La Difference Is your newsroom representative of the audience it serves? Do you employ people with disabilities or those from ethnic minority backgrounds? If not, are you doing anything about it or do you feel it is ok? In this episode, we delve into diversity and ask how newsrooms and production environments can become more diverse, and highlight the benefits that can be gained by doing so. Our Guest This Episode Deborah Williams is the Executive Director of Creative Diversity Network, the membership body funded by the UK’s major broadcasters and production community. Its aims are to support the UK television industry to promote, celebrate, and share good business practices around the diversity agenda. Williams has over 30 years of experience working above and below the line in television, film, and theater, as well as policy development across the wider creative and cultural industries. She is the architect and designer of the BFI Diversity standards that were adopted by The Oscars and BAFTA in 2020. In addition, she is an adviser to the UN and UNICEF on the rights of disabled people to cultural activities. In 2019, she was awarded the Lifetime Achievement award from Inclusive Companies for her body of work in support of diversity and culture. She is also a 2018 and 2019 Disabled Power 100 lister. More Resources For more on this topic, check out:  · Creative Diversity Network  · Making the Media Podcast – Barreling Towards Burnout? Contact Us  Questions? Comments? Cool ideas? Get in touch: makingthemedia@avid.com or @craigaw1969. Follow Avid at @avid. Credits Host: Craig Wilson Producer: Matt Diggs Social: Wim Van den Broeck Theme Music: Greg “Stryke” Chin

S1E19: STREAM ON With more than 500 members, why has the SRT Alliance boomed and why are so many companies from across the broadcast and streaming space getting involved? In this episode, we delve into the background of SRT (Secure Reliable Transport) technology and ask those behind it: Why did they make it open source? What workflow challenges does it solve for news, sports, and other genres? And, crucially, what is coming next? Our Guest This Episode Peter Maag is Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President for Strategic Partnerships at Haivision, the company that invented SRT. He brings over 26 years of proven experience in international business development, sales, marketing, and strategic partner development. Previously, Peter served as Vice President at Hyperchip, Discreet Logic/Autodesk, and Matrox, developing top-level strategic alliances and channel/OEM partnerships. Peter received his MBA from McGill University and his Bachelor of Engineering Science (Mechanical Engineering) degree from the University of Western Ontario in Canada. More Resources For more on this topic, check out: · Media Composer 2021.9 · MediaCentral | Stream Contact Us  Questions? Comments? Cool ideas? Get in touch: makingthemedia@avid.com or @craigaw1969. Follow Avid at @avid. Credits Host: Craig Wilson Producer: Matt Diggs Social: Wim Van den Broeck Theme Music: Greg “Stryke” Chin

S1E18: LIVE AND LEARN With schools returning for a new academic year, will the lessons learned in the past 18 months turn out students who are better prepared for the world of work? In this episode, we ask: How can broadcasters benefit from the way young journalists consume media? Why do newsrooms need digital natives in their ranks? And what does this mean for the future of teaching the media professionals of the future? Our Guest This Episode Tom Rumes is Program Manager and Head of Media Services at Thomas More University in Belgium. He is the author of two books—How to Story and Be the Story—on transmedia storytelling. Over the past several years, he’s lectured at MIT, Moscow State University, and Kindai University in Osaka. He’s always combined teaching with professional training and consultancy for different media companies and is the founding father of such groundbreaking projects as Jail TV and the first interactive documentary in Belgium, Brickland. More Resources For more on this topic, check out:  · Making the Media S1E04: Examining Education  · Avid Media Campus  · Avid Learning Partner Program Contact Us: Questions? Comments? Cool ideas? Get in touch: makingthemedia@avid.com or @craigaw1969. Follow Avid at @avid. Credits Host: Craig Wilson Producer: Matt Diggs Social: Wim Van den Broeck Theme Music: Greg “Stryke” Chin