Philippine Tv News Media: In the Advent of Digital and Non-Linear Technology

by Martin Andanar, Head, Tv5 Everywhere

President Dante Fajardo, Immediate Past President Nick Villatuya, Officers and Members of Rotary Club Alabang, Good Evening.

It is with great pleasure to speak before a group of respected gentlemen from Rotary Club Alabang. And with this invitation I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart.

As a practicing broadcaster for the last 20 years, I consider myself one of the luckiest persons in this field.

Why do I say this? I say this because firstly, i was still able to use and experience the analog technology in audio and video before its demise. I remember editing audio and video using the reel to reel multitrack and the linear video editing machines when I started working in radio in 1994 and when I started working in television in 1999. Second, naturally I was in the middle of the transition from linear to non linear video editing and from tape to digital audio editing.

What used to take 30 minutes to edit, whether video or audio, now only took 5 to 10 minutes. This, consequentially, affected the delivery of news. When we became digital, it became faster to deliver it because editing was faster and since the file was digital in format, transfer was no longer in realtime. One just needed an email and internet connection. Digital gave us speed of delivery unimaginable in the 70’s and 80’s.

Let me show you how the newsroom value chain changed.

Before Non linear and digital communication.

1. Newsdesk Assigns News Assignments to reporter using telephone or through physical meetings

2. Reporter and Cameraman gather report

3. Reporter calls newsdesk for report update using landline. Reporter stays in the press corp office so he can be contacted anytime.

4. If story is approved by News Executive Producer for airing, reporter returns to newsroom to write and edit story.

5. News Executive Producer approves the script and soundbites.

6. Video Editor transfers video in real time and starts to edit.

7. News Executive Producers approves the edited news.

8. If the story is big, reporter is assigned an OB VAN.

9. News Story Airs.

10. Viewer Watches News on Tv.

Newswroom AFTER Non-Linear and Advance Digital Communications were introduced.

1. Newsdesk assigns News Assignments by text or mobile call. (No physical presence in the news room needed).

2. Reporter and Cameraman gather report.

3. Reporter texts or calls newsdesk for news update using mobile phone. Reporter can do this anywhere, he doesnt need to stay in the press corp, therefore giving him more opportunity to gather more stories or multitask.

4. If story is approved by Exec Prod for airing, reporter writes the story where he is, voices it where he is, and sends them, including the video, through email. No need to go back to the newsroom, no need to send a courier, no need to LCB or Fedex tape.

5. News Executive Producer approves the script and soundbites.

6. Video Editor transfers video by dragging the file to his work station. He no longer does this real time.

7. News Executive Producers approves the edited news.

8. If the story is big, reporter is assigned an OB VAN.

9. News Story Airs.

10. Viewer Watches News on Tv.

The new process saved the news organization about four hours just to produce one news story!

All of us here inside this room are fortunate we are at the center or at the cross roads of this technological change. We can either observe it or become part of it. Whatever it is, we are all affected by this massive technologoical wave that has changed how we receive or relay information.

In my case, I was not only able to witness several digital technologies that affected NEWS unfold right before my very eyes, I was also given the chance to champion and introduce one of the most disruptive digital technologies in Tv5.

The evolution of the internet gave birth to the concepts of online video and social media. These two concepts eventually became the biggest internet offering that completed the package of wireless connections that big telcos began to offer; the package would be in the form of convergence or triple play. Finally, all three; Voice, Data and Video can simultaneously exist through the internet protocol pipelines of the telco. In our case PLDT.In 2012, my pitch to develop the first FREE TV News EVERYWHERE in the Philippines saw the light of day. What propelled me to push for the idea back in 2010 was the fact that Tv5 was having difficulty changing the habits of the Filipino Viewers on free tv. If we cant win on free tv, surely there was a way to win online, especially that our mother company owned majority of the internet pipelines of the country. To me, it was sacrilegious we werent implementing the convergence that PLDT wanted to accomplish with Tv5.

So in May 2013, we launched News5 Everywhere (news5.com.ph), the first FREE news video/audio on demand and news streaming in the Philippines. We believed that with the right curation, aggregation and social media strategy, we could be the number 1 news video online portal in the land.

(Show graph Hits)(Show graph Value Chain)

1. Newsdesk assigns News Assignments by text or mobile call. (No physical presence in the news room needed).

2. Reporter and Cameraman gather report.

3. Reporter texts or calls newsdesk for news update using mobile phone. Reporter can do this anywhere, he doesnt need to stay in the press corp, therefore giving him more opportunity to gather more stories or multitask.

4. If story is approved for airing, reporter writes the story where he is, voices it where he is, and sends them, including the video, through email. No need to go back to the newsroom, no need to send a courier, no need to LCB or Fedex tape.

5. News Executive Producer approves the script and soundbites.

6. Editor transfers video by dragging the file to his work station. He no longer does this real time.

7. News Executive Producers approves the edited news.

8. If the story is big, reporter is assigned an OB VAN.

9. News Story Airs.

10. Viewer Watches News on Tv.

11. Curation, Aggregation & Social Sharing for Live Streaming and Catch UP Viewing

The evolution of the internet with its powerful cloud storage servers, sturdy content distribution network internet pipelines and the phenomenal democratization of media through social media gave impetus to online tv everywhere viewing.

In reality, to embrace it is to survive the content creation business. To deny it is to die in the sea of competition.

Its birth has spawned appointment and flexible viewing, the democratization of media and individuality. Anyone can watch anytime they want. Anyone can create their video channels if they want.

Under these democratized condition, the world discovered new superstars and personalities out of normal creative people who share their art on youtube. Well meaninged independent blogs and citizen journalists have also seen sudden popularity for their activism. This is just great!

However, it has also given unwanted exposure to radical extremists like the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or ISIS. Ironically, James Foley, the journalist they beheaded recently was employed by independent online newspaper ONLINE GLOBALPOST.On the other hand, online tv everywhere viewing has resulted to more de-nucleurized familes. Families dont watch tv together anymore because every member now holds a mobile tv screen. Whether this is good or not, I leave it with you to decide.

The delivery of information has been marked by several major innovational and technological crossroads from medieval ages when messages were delivered by homing pigeons and horses which were eventually replaced by trains and automobiles, the invention of the press during the mid 1400‘s, in 1835 when Samuel Morse invented the Morse Code which led to the electric telegraph, Graham bell’s invention of the telephone in 1876, in the early 1900’s when radio was invented by Marconi, when television was invented in the early 1900’s and when the world wide web and sms were introduced to the market in the early 1990’s.

Today my fearless forecast is “free online tv everywhere” will be what broadcast television was in 1925. FREE Online Tv Everywhere is the next biggest content distribution platform. It is more powerful than broadcast tv because it is democratized. It is more powerful than broadcast tv because it can directly address and target an individual. It is scarier than broadcast tv because any group can easily push an immoral message in the guise of good news. It is more alluring than Tv because it is on demand and shareable on social media.

This will be very disruptive. Is this going to be good or bad?

Before I end this talk allow me to leave you a quotation from the famous Steve Jobs.

”Technology is nothing. What’s important is that you have faith in people, that they are basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, theyll do wonderful things with them.”--Steve Jobs

Thank You Very Much!