Turning on the TV a few weeks ago, the morning news channels were filled with reports of a massive earthquake centred on a faraway Russian peninsula and ominous warnings of the potential tsunami that could follow in its wake. Alerted by eerily wailing sirens, coastal communities across the Pacific basin were on the move, desperate to reach the relative safety of higher ground. In Japan, memories of the devastating 2011 tidal wave that overwhelmed the country’s north-eastern seaboard and triggered the Fukushima nuclear disaster were raw. The Japanese take natural disasters seriously, with a comprehensive early warning system designed to buy time in case the seas should rise up again.
Thankfully, the predicted tsunami never came. As the risk subsided, those who might have been in the firing line returned to their homes, no doubt keeping a nervous eye out for any reports of aftershocks. Watching from the geographical safety of Western Europe, I wondered about the affected region. Not every country has the highly developed economy of Japan, with the infrastructure in place to protect its citizens. How many people were relying on their televisions for news, waiting for information that might literally be of existential importance?
So often, turning on the TV is an almost instinctive reaction whenever a big story breaks. Although we are fortunate that the threat from tsunamis is low in our part of the world, we still experience events that are felt nationally and internationally. Think back to the pandemic. How many viewers in the UK tuned in to the nightly press conferences that were broadcast during the lockdown period? Some wanted to find out about the latest restrictions, others to learn what efforts were being taken to combat the virus, maybe there were those who sought comfort in a kind of televisual connection as we all tried to make sense of those strangest of times. Regardless of our reasons, so many of us watched that several new phrases entered the national lexicon, while we waited to see what the “next slide, please” might reveal.
The pandemic was instrumental in demonstrating the immense value of broadcast media in times of national emergency, as a way of disseminating information, maintaining vital connections and even boosting morale among the populace. To inform, to educate and to entertain, as someone once said.
Seismic shift
While the pandemic might have revealed, at least in part, how much we all depend on the broadcast industry at certain times, it most definitely had a significant impact on how the industry itself operates. Facing an urgent need to react, broadcasters embraced remote production at scale. Ideas and methodologies that had been talked about for years suddenly became essential, with migration to IP-based systems instantly transformed from being merely nice-to-have to absolutely mission-critical. Earlier this year, on the fifth anniversary of the original lockdown, TVBEurope published a wide-ranging article featuring opinions from a broad spectrum of M&E companies, almost all of which shared the consensus that the crisis instigated a revolution in the way TV is produced, distributed and consumed.
Thanks to the exponential rate of technological advancement, new possibilities are opening up almost as quickly as they can be imagined. All this progress, however, presents challenges of its own. As innovations such as cloud computing become the norm, the need to ensure systems and data are adequately protected becomes ever more pressing.
Bad actors, both criminal and state-sponsored, are constantly probing for vulnerability. As the IP migration rush continues, new endpoints widen the available attack surface. Cybersecurity must be placed at the front and centre of operations. Now, more than ever, organisations across the media and entertainment landscape need to maintain a robust defence against those who would seek to harm us.
Yet while the industry accepts the responsibility, could now be the time for stronger action at state level? Governments across the continent have realised the infrastructure upon which their nations depend is vulnerable, and recognise the need to ensure robust measures are in place to protect it. In the UK, several sectors are designated as critical national infrastructure (CNI). The agency responsible, the National Protective Security Authority, defines CNI as “critical elements of infrastructure whose loss or compromise could severely impact the delivery of essential services or have significant impact on national security, national defence or the functioning of the state.”
The broadcast media in general–and television in particular–has often proved itself an invaluable asset during troubled times. Perhaps it is time for governments to recognise its necessity, and ensure it is afforded the protection it deserves.
This article originally appeared in the September issue of TVBEurope, available for free download here.
