We are proud of our contribution to developing a news production system specifically designed for the meticulous planning of news programs and presidential debates, ensuring the smooth gathering and organization of extensive content and media data. Let’s delve deeper into the features that will help you successfully navigate through stressful periods like elections.
Gabriel Janko
COO & Sales Director, Octopus Newsroom
Wire Mastery
Octopus provides diverse data sources for news production, such as AP and Reuters agencies, customizable email inputs, and free/paid RSS feeds. Journalists can centralize social media trends, posts, and videos as incoming sources, accessing digital news feeds directly from Octopus to draft stories. These integrations enable journalists to track trends and mentions with customizable notifications, keeping them informed about the latest developments in the electoral process. Octopus offers built-in advanced search capabilities that allow you to search for stories, wires, media, assignments, posts, and more within the newsroom system, making it quick and easy to find and open the story you’re looking for, particularly useful amid fast-paced events like elections.
Time Management
Octopus news management solution streamlines the creation of rundowns, serving as the master plan for your show. For instance, during high-stakes political debates, Octopus enables producers to customize timing columns to match the pace and flow of the event. Whether the rundown is automatically generated from templates, including an opening sequence, segments, jingles, commercial breaks, and more, or manually crafted for breaking news, Octopus ensures a structured framework for your broadcast, saving time and effort.
Election Storytelling
Octopus news production system empowers you to craft compelling stories swiftly with its user-friendly script editor, ensuring a seamless focus on election coverage. For instance, during the hectic pace of election night, the “New Story” button expedites adding breaking news updates to your rundown, swiftly filling in multiple fields at once. Precision in timing is paramount to avoid schedule delays. Octopus calculates story durations based on content type, whether it’s studio text, voiceover, clip, or live report. Presenters can personalize their reading speed, facilitating accurate timing adjustments. Even individual reading speeds can be viewed for meticulous planning.
Additionally, the solution offers quick story buttons specifically designed for breaking news and the ability to insert predefined rundown templates, customized for various major breaking news events you might encounter.
Visual Enhancement for Dynamic Reporting
Enhance your content effortlessly with visuals using shortcuts. Whether you’re incorporating placeholders or manually searching and attaching clips, Octopus ensures a seamless workflow. It can integrate with HTML 5 plugins and offer advanced API integration for quick and efficient plugin-less functionality. For instance, during election coverage, seamlessly integrate graphics displaying live results, regional statistics, and insightful data with just a few clicks. With swift approvals completed, you’re ready to captivate your audience with engaging visuals as you go on-air.
Octopus’ Security Arsenal
Octopus places a premium on security, aligning with broadcasters’ corporate policies to ensure encrypted client-server communication fortified with advanced security certificates.
Maintain strict control over sensitive data within Octopus, effortlessly tailoring privacy settings to safeguard confidential information, such as private phone numbers of experts, politicians, and their team members participating in the show. Seamlessly manage contacts, facilitating easy importation, creation, editing, and deletion while customizing access levels to restrict sensitive information to authorized personnel only, thereby preserving the integrity of communication records.
During election coverage, Octopus streamlines guest planning. Enjoy the added convenience of a dedicated space for quick reminders about essential details, such as pickup times and special needs. Additionally, leverages Octopus’ capability to automatically fill on-air graphics with relevant data, enhancing efficiency in presenting detailed information about candidates and election results.
AI Boosts Election Coverage
Octopus has been at the forefront of embracing AI practices in newsrooms, consistently evolving in this domain. During election coverage, journalists can utilize Octopus’s AI capabilities for various tasks. For instance, they can generate engaging headlines and summaries swiftly, ensuring quick dissemination of breaking news updates. Additionally, Octopus offers quick image generation allowing journalists to create compelling visuals to accompany their stories and engage audiences on digital platforms. Furthermore, facial and voice recognition features can help journalists compare the statements and actions of politicians over time in an archive, enhancing the depth and accuracy of their reporting.
Enhanced Collaboration
In September 2023, Octopus unveiled the New Web Client, a groundbreaking addition that enhances the versatility of the News Team’s workflow. The client now enables collaborative, multi-user editing across various remote locations, extending essential features to users worldwide. This development proves particularly advantageous for remote news production, especially during critical events such as elections, enabling journalists in the field to seamlessly contribute to the creative workflow of breaking news.
