The NEW news

We've completely re-designed the FBNC primetime newscast to reflect the changes in how people consume news. The idea that TV is a source for news about WHAT happened in the world is totally outdated. Instead, we've built a show that assumes viewers are following events throughout the day on their mobile devices, so our job is then to contextualize the WHY and HOW of the day's news.

It's a subtle but important cultural shift in how the news team preps each day's show. We've also found this to be more effective for OTT distribution as our content is able to be relevant for longer periods of time on both YouTube and our digital syndication partners. 

It's remarkable to me just how many TV news departments refuse to accept the reality that TV is no longer the primary source for information. At the large international TV networks where I worked before joining FBNC in Vietnam, they are still producing their news and talk shows exactly the same way as I did when I was first coming up in the business 25 years ago. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING has changed in how they approach the craft of TV news.

The problem is that each time I turn on these channels, I already know everything they are covering. Since the average mobile phone user checks their device sometimes as many as 100 times per day, Facebook and other social media channels are much more effective at delivering timely news updates than TV. Yet, the geniuses running these news operations seem to think they live in a parallel universe and seemingly refuse to accept this new reality.

Although I have 0.1% of the resources of my former employers, I have discovered that money isn't actually the key obstacle. My team here is young, eager to adapt to new ideas and willing to experiment which is why I have been able to make much more headway in building a new news format here than what I was able to do previously in much larger shops.