We’ve all seen the progression over the years, from the somewhat
cheesy green screen backgrounds, to the quite impressive video wall
displays
that make up our nation’s newsrooms. Over the years the technology to
bring better imagery to our newsrooms has progressed rapidly and it
seems that sometimes a competition between networks to see who can have
the coolest setup. In this article we’re going to discuss some of the
coolest newsroom displays.
Probably the best-known name is the
news business, CNN has been fast to adopt new
technology and put it to good use. It seems during the last election there was more use of
video wall screens than any other network- they must have had 5 different anchors, each using a different wall, which
display
some type of cool graph, chart, or other interesting number to help
illustrate whatever point it was that they were trying to get across.
And this brings up a good point- that you can use these
video walls to really help drive home a message. CNN is the master at this.
Fox News, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s powerful News Corp., is another very well known
news network that uses a video
wall display
to help get a message across to anxious viewers. Seen here is their
Washington studio, where they have a giant display behind the
news desk, along with multiple other smaller
monitors
that are used to display various information. But if you check out
their other studios you’ll see that they used synchronized monitors to
help create a powerful display behind the anchor. Pictured here is the
Fox and Friends
New York studio:
You’ll notice that they’ve designed these video screens to
stand
upright, and display their logo when they aren’t being used to display
news imagery. And here is yet another image of the Fox News Studio,
where they use a powerful image cube that displays information regarding
the news story that they are covering. This creates a somewhat artsy
feel to the studio too, which is kind of cool. It really breaks up the
monotony of the typical news story, it makes it much more entertaining
to watch, which is what the modern 24 hour news station is going for, as
opposed to the old school evening news. There’s definitely an
entertainment fact involved in modern news broadcasts.
If you look at the image below here and think, “Wow, MSNBC is all
business” then I’d have to agree with you. They use one large
screen
behind their anchors here to help create a depth to their stories, but
it certainly lacks that artsy visually pleasing appeal that you’ve
probably noticed in some of the pictures from the other 24 hours news
network. Don’t worry though, I’m sure they’ve done the market research
to know that this what their audience is looking for when they watch
their news
programs. And if you look at this image, it almost looks like the
polar opposite to what we saw above, as this is very artsy, warm and
welcoming
video wall
that creates a lighted backdrop for the anchors, more than just
displaying a story. They’ve used multiple custom monitors to create a
puzzle effect, which I don’t you’re going to find on any other news
network.
The CBS studio in
New York reminds me much more of the traditional newsroom that we grew up seeing, with a single long
desk
for anchors. Immediately next to the desk you’ll notice large video
screen for stories delivered with the anchor standing. This is a high
impact, high-resolution screen that undoubtedly packs a punch when the
anchor is delivering a news story. The fact that this is the only
screen visible on set really echoes CBS’s desire to keep their set
simple, minimalistic if you will.
I can remember watching ABC news with Peter Jennings when I was a
kid, and he always had a wall of screens behind him. The newsroom
looked big and busy. On the outside of ABC’s studio in New York, there
is very much activity taking place, with a large screen and scrolling
news wire.
Inside is no different either, with ABC taking the seemingly opposite
approach of their CBS counterparts; they’ve used a large wall of
mega-screens that sits behind the anchors. Each anchor has their own
screen that seems to swallow them up whole. These screens are very
powerful and add a lot to any news story, without question.
Probably one of the best-known studios in the world is 30 Rockefeller
Place New York, NY- the Rainbow Room at NBC. That distinct sign
outside is hard to miss and is something that Tourist in the New York
area always wants to see. But the inside of the studio is common in
many homes as well, as NBC is a popular news station. They’ve changed
their studio many times, but all of the most recent updates include
large
video walls that are part of that change.
But it’s not just the major news networks that are using large video
screens inside their studios. Pictured below is a CBS affiliate station
in
California
that almost mimics their national news counterpart with a single large
screen sitting directly behind the anchor as she delivers the morning
news.
As you can see these types of
video walls
are popping up all over the place in newsrooms. Here and abroad,
national and local, this has become a powerful way to add powerful
imagery to the news we all watch. And it’s only going to get better, I
have no doubt, because as the
technology
of large video walls continues to improve, so will the imagery that
news networks and stations are able to use within their studios. It
likely won’t be long until hologram
technology
has taken over and the screens transport anchors the actual scene of
the news story. But until then we have high-impact and high resolution
images that will help get the stories across better than any other time
in history, so get enjoy it.