ABC News to Debut New Special Report Graphics

[Big Country News 435]

ABC has sent notice to affiliates that beginning February 3rd, there will be a new open and lower third for special coverage.

One development though is a change from the past, however. the "Special Report" designation will only be used for anticipated coverage.

Unanticipated coverage will now fall under "Breaking News"

 

ABC justified the change by pointing to its use of "Breaking News" in GMA and WNT, adding that it will underscore urgency.

Here is what the new animations and lower thirds will look like.

 

[24994J 5589]

That's interesting, considering they just refreshed the special report look, though they have been flexible on the use of BN versus SR on the top line of the L3 throughout the impeachment proceedings. Maybe this will line up with the completion of the main studio, and hopefully a makeover of the WNT package. Keep in mind, they're also debuting their co-anchored, streaming primetime news block on 2/3.

[mountainave 606]

I like the flat graphics as they're used here.  Certainly not used to seeing ABC use orange, though.  

[jbnews 344]

It looks like this look will also be used (at least to a degree) on the expanded ABC News Live, which also debuts on Monday. 

 

[TheRyan 560]

I don't think it's very wise of ABC to retitle the bulk of its "Special Report" cut-ins as "Breaking News".  They already overuse the "breaking news" banner for top stories on WNT to the point of boredom.  Given that fact, it just won't hold the same weight as titling the cut-ins as "Special Report".

 

On the graphics side of things, I imagine this is a first look of what (maybe) the WNT graphics will look like--if or when they get updated upon TV3 debuting an updated set (which there is plenty of circumstantial evidence of one coming).   Not sure if I like the orange as used, but I've seen far worse.

[DonDonP1 118]

6 hours ago, Big Country News said:

ABC has sent notice to affiliates that beginning February 3rd, there will be a new open and lower third for special coverage.

One development though is a change from the past, however. the "Special Report" designation will only be used for anticipated coverage.

Unanticipated coverage will now fall under "Breaking News"

 

ABC justified the change by pointing to its use of "Breaking News" in GMA and WNT, adding that it will underscore urgency.

Here is what the new animations and lower thirds will look like.

 

I thought those two two-word phrases are synonymus to each other, but do love that idea. NBC and CBS, please take notes.

[DonDonP1 118]

17 hours ago, TheRyan said:

I don't think it's very wise of ABC to retitle the bulk of its "Special Report" cut-ins as "Breaking News".  They already overuse the "breaking news" banner for top stories on WNT to the point of boredom.  Given that fact, it just won't hold the same weight as titling the cut-ins as "Special Report".

 

On the graphics side of things, I imagine this is a first look of what (maybe) the WNT graphics will look like--if or when they get updated upon TV3 debuting an updated set (which there is plenty of circumstantial evidence of one coming).   Not sure if I like the orange as used, but I've seen far worse.

Well, earilier this afternoon around 2:30 p.m. PST when ABC covered the final roll call vote in the impeachment trial, the words "special report" and "breaking news" were used in one same lower third. i wish all the pre- and unprecedented coverage would have used the "Breaking Story" designation, though.

[24994J 5589]

I actually like the idea of restricting Special Report to preplanned coverage. As much as it's overused, Breaking News is probably a better term for how the streaming network is basically evolving into an all-day product. That said, I say they go one step further and reintroduce Continuing Coverage into the mix, for long-term, developing situations.

[DonDonP1 118]

3 hours ago, 24994J said:

I actually like the idea of restricting Special Report to preplanned coverage. As much as it's overused, Breaking News is probably a better term for how the streaming network is basically evolving into an all-day product. That said, I say they go one step further and reintroduce Continuing Coverage into the mix, for long-term, developing situations.

As do I. Well, I love it.

[Geoffrey 869]

The phrase "special report" has so much history across the networks.  "Breaking news" has of course become abused.  I think the three network evening newscasts use it for the majority of the stories in their first block, even if it's about a candidate who dropped out of the race at 10 a.m.

 

Does this mean there won't be any generic ABC News Special Report graphics?  Will they all be created specifically to deal with the planned coverage, such as the impeachment trial open they've been using the last few weeks?

[MorningNews 1470]

Not particularly crazy about the orange. Doesn’t seem very ABC at all

[djlynch 56]

As much as I think I would have preferred that "special report" was for breaking news and scheduled live coverage got something else, I also can't help but think that it has been a long time since I've seen a local station have a specific special report open instead of just playing the same breaking news/severe weather/topic-specific bumper that they would use mid-newscast.

 

I think I remember NBC, for a while, using "bulletin" for short cut-ins for a breaking story and "special report" for scheduled news and rolling coverage. The example that comes to mind for me in particular for that period is that I think the MSNBC/NBC simulcast for the death of Princess Diana used the "bulletin" introduction.

 

2 hours ago, Geoffrey said:

Does this mean there won't be any generic ABC News Special Report graphics?

I doubt that they're going to create a custom introduction for every single special report, although most of the examples I can think of for things that I assume wouldn't be labeled breaking news are routine enough that they could probably have a generic but subject-specific intro on standby (presidential press conferences, for instance.)

[DonDonP1 118]

3 hours ago, MorningNews said:

Not particularly crazy about the orange. Doesn’t seem very ABC at all

And I thought red is a color of breaking news.

[24994J 5589]

16 minutes ago, DonDonP1 said:

And I thought red is the color of breaking news.

 

Who died and made red the color of breaking news? I've always preferred a yellow and black color scheme for breaking coverage.

[Georgie56 3307]

4 minutes ago, 24994J said:

 

Who died and made red the color of breaking news? I've always preferred a yellow and black color scheme for breaking coverage.

 

Red is a color of urgency.

[24994J 5589]

Of course, but red has been so pigeonholed into that urgent group, where it's fallen out of favor in general packages, outside of the BBC. Some complain about the heavy use of blue across the industry, but red was an acceptable primary color not too long ago, without only meaning breaking news. In ABC's upcoming use, orange gives the same effect, against the cooler, darker colors. I welcome the differentiation.

[DonDonP1 118]

Well, ABC aired coverage of President Trump's "victory" speech and it carried both the Breaking News and Special Report designations. Wow.

[wabceyewitness 825]

Guess ABC is trying to figure out the difference between their definitions of “breaking news” and “special report”. Today, they used the new special report open and close but used both “special report” and “breaking news” in the L3s. 

[MidwestTV 1234]

Are they going back and forth depending on what's developed? Like if it's a pre-planned special report, but the president says something unexpected, then it becomes breaking news within the circle of the special report.

like, "Hey, here's a special report. Oh wait, now there's breaking news as we continue our special report."

[DonDonP1 118]

On 2/6/2020 at 4:20 PM, wabceyewitness said:

Guess ABC is trying to figure out the difference between their definitions of “breaking news” and “special report”. Today, they used the new special report open and close but used both “special report” and “breaking news” in the L3s. 

Exactly. Oh, and Tom Llamas reported from either the Times Square Studios or the World News Tonight set or the breaking news desk. Correct me if I am wrong.

[24994J 5589]

8 minutes ago, DonDonP1 said:

Exactly. Oh, and Tom Llamas reported from either the Times Square Studios or the World News Tonight set or the breaking news desk. Correct me if I am wrong.

 

In that clip, it's the ABC News Live set. Tonight, he was back anchoring in the single-angle flashcam nook.

[TheRyan 560]

11 minutes ago, 24994J said:

 

In that clip, it's the ABC News Live set. Tonight, he was back anchoring in the single-angle flashcam nook.

 

If it's a flashcam set up, would that mean they took apart the video wall from the old TV3 and set part of it back up elsewhere or are we talking about something entirely different?

[Camera1 49]

The old curved video wall is gone.  The L shaped desk is in front of a temporary video wall.  There are only two flashcam areas, one on the second floor at NewsOne, the other on the fifth floor in the newsroom.  Neither was used.

[DonDonP1 118]

On 2/8/2020 at 10:42 PM, TheRyan said:

 

If it's a flashcam set up, would that mean they took apart the video wall from the old TV3 and set part of it back up elsewhere or are we talking about something entirely different?

Could that set up double as a breaking news desk or what? I am curious.

[MediaZone4K 2200]

I like the "Live Coverage" designation networks used to use back in the day for events like the OJ trial. With Special Reports such as the Impeachment coverage which cut in nearly every day, the 'special aspect', IMO, is lost. I do agree that Special Report has more weight than "Breaking News", given how overused the latter is especially by ABC, CNN, and MSNBC.