Newsrooms Print Last-Minute Scripts to Many Printers

Summary

Broadcast printing in INTELLIiscribe® allows time-critical newsroom scripts to be printed simultaneously to multiple printers, improving efficiency and speed. Specific printers can now be used for printing on specialized stock for different personnel.

Topics

Customer

Media General

Product

INTELLIscribe

Date March 29, 2005

PDF Version

Background

In the newsroom, scripts change, often right up to the last second before a newscast. Ensuring that the current version of a script is quickly available is critical. One script in particular provides a second-by-second accounting of what happens between the start of the live newscast and the final second, making its rapid distribution essential to the newscast.

Scripts are used by multiple people: anchors, production personnel, master control operators, directors, and others. Depending on the person and operating environment, the script often needs to be printed on different colored stock.

Business Need

Media General's newsrooms needed a way to print scripts quickly and easily to multiple printers. The company also wanted to avoid manually printing multiple copies of the script on the same printer and changing the stock between print jobs for different personnel. This, of course, was a time-consuming process in a newsroom environment where time is of the essence.

Solution: INTELLIscribe

Using INTELLIscribe's broadcast printing, the newsroom can now print to one virtual "script printer" and have the script broadcast to multiple printers. Some of the printers are now dedicated to printing on the specific color stock required for different people.

INTELLIscribe improves employee efficiency by simplifying and speeding up the script printing process. Scripts are printed once and are automatically sent to the correct destination, allowing users to concentrate on more important tasks.

Outcome

INTELLIscribe has allowed Media General's live newsrooms to function more efficiently by improving their script-printing capabilities. With INTELLIscribe in place, Media General has seen the following improvements:

Scripts printed once are automatically sent to multiple printers, improving both efficiency and speed
Specific printers are now dedicated to printing scripts on certain colors and types of stock, eliminating the need to manually feed different stock into the printer

About the Customer

Media General is a diversified communications company operating leading newspapers, television stations, and online enterprises, primarily in the Southeastern United States. The company's publishing assets include three metropolitan newspapers; 22 daily community newspapers in Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Alabama, and South Carolina; and more than 100 weekly newspapers and other publications.

The company's broadcasting assets include 26 network-affiliated television stations that reach more than 30 percent of the television households in the Southeast and nearly 8 percent of those in the United States. The company's interactive media assets include more than 50 online enterprises that are associated with its newspapers and television stations.