Guatemala: Training and consulting for Canal Antigua

As a distribution partner, Canal Antigua picks up DW-TV's Spanish-language news every day. The broadcaster, however, produces national news itself. On behalf of Deutsche Welle's distribution department, DW Akademie trainers David Olmos and Peter Stegemann recently visited the station, where expectations were high. The cable channel's management expected no less than significant quality improvements to its news department. "The station's political talkshows that air four times a day are at a very high journalistic level, but the newsroom was suffering," says project coordinator David Olmos.

The news desk lacked a clear structure, he adds. That impacted not only people's perceptions of their roles, but also very concretely how news items were compiled. The prevailing workflow primarily produced sound bites simply strung together, reports Olmos. There was hardly any order to the news content. That only added to the stressful daily routine of the workshop participants, whose professional experience ranged from 15 days to 15 years. The TV crews, comprising usually one camera operator and a reporter, typically set out at 7 a.m. and delivered their first cassette to the film editor at 11 p.m.

For that reason, the crews were excused from production in turns to attend the workshop. The trainers also analyzed and coached the production process. DW Akademie's experts observed shooting, editing and scriptwriting procedures. "The participants accepted our input with enthusiasm and immediately applied our recommendations to the production process," says Peter Stegemann. The results of the training sessions were directly visible to everyone in the very next newscasts. Besides a more efficient workflow, the training and consulting services led to an improved news layout and a new organizational chart for Canal Antigua.