MEDIA TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION ISSUE 46- • DECEMBERi 2020 Meet 2020’s T&I Award winners Plus • CR42: the control room reimagined at RTBF • Unlocking the potential of AI for data journalism at France tv •The growing problem of Cyberattacks on EBU Members and more... tech-i | tech.ebu.chtech.ebu.ch/subscribe | December 2020 1 Issue 46 • December-i 2020 Cover story: Pages 5 to 9 of this issue feature articles from the winners 4 6 and runners-up of this year’s EBU Technology & Innovation Award. The cover photo shows the award itself in front of a touchscreen user interface for Control Room 42, from joint winner RTBF. HACKED Editor-in-Chief: Antonio Arcidiacono Managing Editor: Patrick Wauthier Editor: Eoghan O’Sullivan [email protected] Design: Louise Tait 9 10 Printed on FSC certified paper by Graphius (FSC CO14767) © European Broadcasting Union All rights reserved. The reproduction of articles in tech-i is authorized only with the written permission of the Contents publishers. The responsibility for views 3 A natural vaccine for misinformation expressed in tech-i rests solely with the authors. Antonio Arcidiacono on amplifying the reach and accessibility of PSM’s trusted content 4 News and events 5 Control Room 42: the control room reimagined RTBF has created a software-based control room 6 Unlocking the potential of AI for data journalism New data-based tools for journalists at France Télévisions 7 Licence to roam: Yle’s mojo-enabled reporters Mobile journalism has become the norm for regional news operations 8 Automated subtitles on a 24/7 news channel TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION Get an edge NPO has broken new ground with its Autotitling Live solution 9 Putting clearer audio at the fingertips of all viewers • Our goal is to be an incubator to Next Generation Audio trials at BBC seek to improve accessibility advance media technology. • We catalyse innovations so they 10 Stuff happens (to EBU Members too) deliver for all players Cyberattacks, both random and targeted, are becoming an • We stimulate active collaboration so that you get more than innovative increasing problem technology – you get a real 11 Partner Profiles: ETSI competitive advantage. Setting standards for tomorrow’s broadcasting models Sign up to receive tech-i magazine, 12 An increasingly complex picture for video codecs EBU Technology & Innovation newsletters or event alerts: tech.ebu. David Wood on the proliferation of coding systems ch/subscribe 13 Sustainability Matters: Shooting drama sustainably in France EBU Members are encouraged to The measures taken for a recent France TV series follow and contribute to the work 14 Original content dominates for PSM VOD platforms of our Strategic Programmes and The latest research from the EBU Media Intelligence Service Communities of Practice. 15 In the spotlight: Sinan Soyturk Visit: tech.ebu.ch/ourwork Head of Media Technology and Operations at TRT, Turkey 2 tech-i | tech.ebu.ch | December 2020 EDITORIAL A vaccine against misinformation Antonio Arcidiacono, Director of Technology & Innovation, EBU I believe that we are on independent information the cusp of a revolution sources. in media innovation in EBU Members are in a Europe. At its core, this position of strength to vision is about taking the deliver on this vision: original and trusted PSM in Europe produce content produced by strong trusted digital public service media content delivered via (PSM) and amplifying its trusted digital platforms. reach and accessibility What has been missing using automatic – until now – is strong translation and digital collaboration. recommendation, Throughout 2020 we leveraging the have been working on continuous and tangible leveraging the tools progress in artificial developed in the EBU intelligence. This recipe, PEACH and EuroVOX applied first to news projects to offer – first to content, can also prosper journalists and editors, in the domains of but hopefully later to the education and public – access to the entertainment. It is one latest news produced by of the key means by Europe’s biggest network which EBU Members can of newsrooms. remain strong in the face of increasing competition VALUING DIVERSITY from global media Language barriers can be technology companies rendered invisible by the with deep pockets. application of translation Europe is changing. tools; and diversity can Tensions are bubbling to be assured through the surface and often recommendations spilling over as generated not with the misinformation (and communities by a multi-cultural goal of driving simply sometimes deliberate and multi-generational society more and longer consumption disinformation) fuels means that the ability to but built on public service polarization, populism and personalize content and make it values. The PEACH protectionism. This is happening understandable in multiple recommendation engine against a backdrop of languages becomes crucial. And provides a way to guarantee a significant demographic it is here that the EBU and its neutral and open offering of changes. European countries Members can have a massive content. are seeing a growing proportion positive impact. EBU Members invest almost of their populations coming EUR 20 billion annually in from other countries and TRUSTED INFORMATION Europe. However, this co- cultures; at the same time, As a starting point we have the development and sharing of improvements in health and aggregation of multiple trusted content, products and services wellbeing mean that the 65+ sources of information. The is not just an economic age group will often represent ability for a European citizen to imperative; it is also a way of 25% or more of the population access content coming from serving the interests of citizens by 2030. These are the different cultures and while securing cultural diversity. audiences that PSM must languages, but made available I firmly believe that educating continue to reach and serve in their own preferred language, new generations to the real while at the same time represents not only a wider value of media is the best life redoubling efforts to reach choice but also a unique assurance against future younger audiences in general. democratic weapon attempts to polarize The gradual replacement of underpinned by the ability to information and is the natural national and uniform compare trusted and often vaccine against misinformation. tech-i | tech.ebu.ch | December 2020 3 NEWS & EVENTS Recommendation on cybersecurity for media vendors and systems The EBU Media Cybersecurity (MCS) group has just published a new version of R 143, a recommendation that outlines a set of cybersecurity safeguards that media companies and media vendors should apply when planning and designing their products and services. It is composed of a comprehensive and detailed list of vendor and Three new faces on the EBU product security requirements. The EBU recommends that Technical Committee 2020-2022 media companies require Elections for a new Technical The screenshot above shows potential vendors to declare Committee (TC) took place the full Technical Committee their ability to comply with during the 26th EBU Technical 2020–2022 at its first virtual R 143 when responding Assembly on 6–7 October, later meeting. to tenders or requests for in the year than usual and online Pictured are, from left to right technology, by completing for the first time. The new TC and top to bottom: the security controls assertion includes three newly elected • Karl Petermichl, ORF (Austria) spreadsheet attached to members and one change • Gino Alberico, RAI (Italy) the recommendation. Media among the leadership team. • Michael Eberhard, ARD/SWR companies can then define Judy Parnall of BBC was re- (Germany, Vice-chair) their minimal vendor system elected to serve a second term • Per Björkman, SVT (Sweden) acceptance level with full as chair of the TC. Michael • Thomas Saner, SRG SSR awareness of the potential risks. Eberhard, from German (Switzerland) broadcaster SWR/ARD, was • Brian Wynne, RTE (Ireland) R 143 is available for download elected as one of the two vice- • Judy Parnall, BBC (United at https://tech.ebu.ch/groups/ chairs, the other being Olli Sipilä Kingdom, Chair) mcs#deliverables. from Finland’s Yle, now serving a • Michael Nugent, ERT (Greece) second term in the role. • Olli Sipilä, YLE (Finland, Vice- The three new members of the chair) RTBF and TC are Sinan Soyturk of TRT in • Sinan Soyturk, TRT (Turkey) Turkey (see page 15), Frédéric • Kazimir Bačić, HRT (Croatia) France tv joint Brochard of France Télévisions, • Frédéric Brochard, FTV and Karl Petermichl of Austria’s (France) winners of T&I ORF. • Galina Fedorova, RTR (Russia) Award 2020 This winners of year’s EBU Technology & Innovation in Finland, and a BBC trial to allow UK viewers to Award were announced during the Technical adjust the relative levels of the television audio mix Assembly, held online in October. As two projects to their needs. received an equal score when independently Antonio Arcidiacono, Director of the EBU’s assessed by members of the Technical Committee, Technology and Innovation Department said: “The it was decided to have joint winners. The winning large number and quality of the projects submitted projects were Room 42, a software-based control shows that even in these difficult COVID-19 times, room designed by Belgium’s RTBF, and AI-based the skills and creativity of our Members’ engineers tools for data journalism developed at France have not been checked.” Télévisions. The EBU Technology & Innovation Award was Three further projects were named as runners- created in 2016 to recognize, encourage and up, having also received an equal score. They were support outstanding technical solutions developed an AI-driven system for the automatic creation by Member organizations. of media subtitles from NPO in the Netherlands, Articles on the two winning projects and the the standardized mobile journalism kits – ‘MoJos’ three runners-up can be found on pages 5 to 9 of – used extensively by Yle’s regional news teams this issue of tech-i.