regional stations often have to
generate more than just their
weekday 13’ of original video
material. If a major story breaks in a
regional city, they may be asked to
contribute to a national story
commissioned by editors in
Helsinki. In addition, late evening
national TV bulletins often feature
items taken from the various 19.00
regional bulletins if they are judged
to have significance outside that
specific region. Our internal
distribution network works both
ways - national editors in Helsinki
can see what the regionals are
doing on their ‘opt-outs’.”
“National breaking news
coverage is led from Helsinki. As a
local newsgatherer, we’re
continually refining our “digital-
first” coverage strategy. So if a
major chemical fire were to break
out in Tampere, for instance, our
local journalists would respond
first – serving YLE on-line and
TV/radio editors anywhere in the
country with that breaking story.
We’ve got 4G video reporting
equipment which works well in
most locations – Finland has
excellent mobile coverage. A
satellite truck is also an option for
more complicated ongoing
coverage, but it’s expensive.”
SIMPLIFYING THEGALLERY
“Traditionally we worked with
three technicians in the gallery for
live transmissions. Now they work
with one for the 3’newscast, sometimes
two for longer magazine broadcasts.”
“Journalists prepare their scripts,
running orders and video clip
sequences in iNews at the newsroom
workstations. They present from a
walk-in studio set we’ve built next
to the production workspace.”
After surveying the market, YLE
selected VidiGo in Holland as the
most cost-effective method of
grabbing content resources from
Avid iNews, adding high quality
motion graphics and then playing
them out live to assist an in vision
presenter.
“We spent time working out
what information needed to be
displayed where, so that a non-
technical person can operate the
system with total confidence” says
Eintola. “Having a big red ‘Play
Next’ button on the keypad makes
it easy for a gallery director to
rehearse sequences and play out
accurately on a presenter’s cue. If
we are to improve anything in the
future, it will be to add more
hotkey presets.”
“The key to acceptance by staff
of this improved way of working is
to ensure that you’re always
simplifying the production process
in a logical way. Journalists want to
focus on creating content in a
familiar way. People want to see
that the new software makes the
final result look smarter – and
indistinguishable to the professional
production coming from the
national network in Helsinki. We’ve
achieved this quite easily, and
viewers can’t see the join.”
CAREFUL PLANNING
System integrator Timo Kaleva of
Espoo-based Qualitron Oy works
with VidiGo in Holland on the
implementation.“I believe the
reason it has gone well is because of
careful planning. There was a clear
understanding by everyone
involved how changes would
simplify things and reduce
production stress. There’s been a
real effort in the last few years to
harmonise the workflows across
YLE, and that pays off in shorter
training courses. I think it’s a big
advantage that a journalist from the
Helsinki newsroom can walk into
their facilities in, say, Tampere or
Turku and immediately be familiar
with what is where and get on with
writing his story.”
NON-TRADITIONAL SOURCES
Now that YLE Tampere is up and
running, the rest of the regional
production centres will be
upgraded in a similar fashion.
YLE will also be investigating
implementation of VidiGo in the
online environment. There has been
a rise in news contributions coming
in from YouTube, Skype and other
“non-traditional” video sources.
Audiences have become involved
in every step of the production.
Staff at YLE Tampere said they
wanted to speed up the availability
of on-demand files of news bulletins
on mobile devices. High-quality
internal IP video streaming between
YLE broadcast centres could cut
down the need for some expensive
satellite or microwave links.
n
YLE, the Finnish Broadcasting
Corporation, is the public media
service network providing regular
news and current affairs
programming to 5.5m people. YLE
operates four TV channels, five
national radio stations, 21
regional offices with radio, and
seven regional offices with TV.
Employing around 3,200 staff,
YLE’s programming includes
science and arts, drama, music
and documentaries. YLE is
currently facing a funding
shortfall of around €10m.
Announcing a restructuring plan in
late 2014, YLE CEo Lauri Kivinen
said that the speed with which the
media environment and audience
behaviour has changed has
surprised everyone. online content
is currently the only branch of
media showing steady growth.
“
”
The result
needs to be
indistin-
guishable
from the
national
network’s
profes-
sional
production
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