Helping journalists do their best work with Vizrt tools - Spectrum News
Spectrum News consists of more than 35 local, 24/7 TV news channels serving communities across the United States. Their promise is simple but demanding and it only works if journalists can stay focused on meaningful, unbiased reporting, not wrestling with tools and technology.
Yet Spectrum News, like many others in the news and media industries, found that too often, journalists lose valuable time to fragmented systems and workflows.
So, Spectrum News undertook a project to remove friction from the day-to-day work of journalists.
As Jenna Shapiro, Sr. Director of Comms & Program Management, puts it “the mission was to give our journalists time back in their day to do that important work of telling stories and doing great journalism.”
The approach: A workflow built around the journalist
Spectrum News didn’t start with technology. They started with their people.
The team actively gathered input from journalists across the network. The Spectrum News team asked all their journalists just one key question: “What was slowing you down and preventing you from doing your best work?” This feedback helped designed a system “built by and for our journalists.”
To deliver on that vision, Spectrum News is rolling out Vizrt solutions across its newsrooms, including:
- Viz Mosart for control room production
- Viz Flowics to graphics creation and playout
Spectrum News – Weather Reporting
Together, these tools simplify workflows and reduce complex, multi-step processes.
The impact is clear and immediate. Tasks that once required constant management are simplified so journalists can focus on what they do best – reporting. Elevated graphics and production consistency raise the overall quality of broadcasts without adding complexity.
Vizrt solutions are saving our journalists time, making workflow easier, and improving production quality across the network.
Jenna Shapiro
Sr. Director of Comms & Program Management, Spectrum News
A true working partnership
What stands out in this project is not just the technology – but how it was delivered. Shapiro describes Vizrt as a “true collaborative partner,” working alongside their teams throughout the transformation. This wasn’t a one-way deployment. It was a joint effort to solve real problems.
That partnership approach helped ensure that the tools aligned with how journalists actually work, not just how systems are traditionally designed. When journalists spend less time on mechanics, they can invest more time in covering communities, reporting accurately, and delivering meaningful local news.
And that’s the real outcome.
As Shapiro puts it, if technology is getting in the way of people doing their best work, it’s worth fixing. With Vizrt, Spectrum News has done exactly that — building a newsroom environment where technology supports journalism and frees them to do their best work.
Spectrum News – 2024 US Presidential Elections
About Spectrum News
Spectrum Networks is the local programming division of Charter Communications, consisting of more than 35 local Spectrum News TV and digital networks, as well as a streaming news channel, Spectrum News+, and two regional sports networks, Spectrum SportsNet and Spectrum SportsNet LA.
