Watching the news these days is quite an experience. Quite apart from what is being said, the way that it is being produced and shared is so unlike what we expect from professionally produced broadcast television. Seasoned political editors peer at cellphones, politicians film up their nostrils from laptops, even a CNN primetime anchor is reporting from his basement (laid low with the virus).
This crisis will change so many areas of our lives, most of them drastically more important, profound and tragic than the way we consume content. But content production and consumption is evolving. These changes are part of a trend that has been underway for years but they are being accelerated by the current situation. So much of the communications we consume have become about the quality being 'good enough' - it's often the content of the content that is 'king' after all.
Will it become harder to make the case for highly produced video when the CFO has realised just how 'good enough' a free Zoom video recording can be? Of course it will but just as beans on toast will keep you fed, it's the shared meal with friends and family at your favourite restaurant that will really get you going when this is all over. No matter how norms are stressed now, so much of what makes this great sector we all work in special - the people, the creativity, the teamwork - will live on.
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