For TV News Orgs, Skype is the New Black

For news organizations and reporters facing ever-shrinking budgets, Skype has become a go-to piece of technology. The AP’s David Bauder looks at how network newscasts have embraced the tech, and integrated it into their newscasts.

Bauder begins his piece by referencing this ABC News report:

Yes, that is reporter Pierre Thomas using Skype to talk to a kid up in Connecticut:

“This opens the entire country up for us to get to instantaneously,” said Jon Banner, “World News” executive producer. “It is a terrific advance and we would be foolish not to take advantage of any technical advance that’s out there.”

But it isn’t all positive:

A downside is a degradation in video quality. The Skype picture for Thomas’ interview was fuzzy, and it sometimes seemed interview subject Coppolla’s voice wasn’t in sync with his moving mouth. It wasn’t the high-definition video to which viewers are accustomed.

Picture quality is an issue, especially for the now all-HD newscasts. Of course, given the near-ubiquity of low-quality video online, most consumers are likely to let a few seconds of Skype-quality interview slip by… at least for now.

Previously: Is Our News Getting Over-Skyped? (with cool collage)

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