Once upon a time Euronews presenters remained hidden within their multi-language soundtracks, but following the arrival of NBC in May 2017 the channel has undergone a transformation.
As Deborah Turness told an IBC conference session, while NBC News was number one in the United States, it didn’t have a real presence in Europe beyond CNBC.
Turness explained that by next week, Euronews will be broadcasting 17 hours of live studio-based programming. It was she said “effectively launching a start-up within a legacy news operation”.
The bright colours and youthful presenters are a long way from when the highlight was No Comment – a section of raw footage. But the philosophy of letting everyone have a voice is very much a part of the transformation, seen through shows such as RAW Politics. “Brussels isn’t quite used to this kind of journalism,” said Turness.
“I don’t think it’s American, it’s more like the early days of 5 News without the technology and the social. The reason why they wanted us to partner was to bring the station up to date,” she explained.
The studio-based operation is backed by a team of 100 iPhone journalists that have already begun to deliver exclusives such as live reports from Aquarius migrant rescue ship off the coast of Italy.
