Today marked the beginning of the Movement Control Order (MCO) 2.0 which has also been infused with a nationwide emergency order that could last until August 2021. For many, they have to switch back to the work-from-home (WFH) environment once again and even TV journalists such as those from the AWANI Pagi team are onboard as well.
Earlier today, one of the presenters, Geegee Ahmad had tweeted out the WFH setup that allows her to deliver live news away from Astro Awani’s studio. In general, the set up consists of a dedicated HD webcam that is connected to a Microsoft Surface Pro alongside an Apple iPad that is also being used as a text prompter.
Hari kedua baca berita dari rumah. Anxiety juga. #WFH
Day 2 pic.twitter.com/MCrYjNlglM
— Geegee_ 🇲🇾 (@GeegeeAhmad) January 13, 2021
All three devices were arranged nicely on top of an IKEA box that acts as a riser. Not surprisingly, there are also an array of ring lights behind the two devices.
We have reached out to Geegee to gain more insight regarding the setup and to our surprise, she has also shared some behind the scenes details regarding AWANI Pagi’s WFH broadcast with us. For example, the AWANI Pagi team actually began to prepare for the live broadcast from as early as 4:30 AM.
Prior to the start of AWANI Pagi which takes place daily at 7:30 AM, the team not only needs to make sure that their news piece and stories are ready for the show but they also have to test out other elements involved in the WFH broadcast including lighting, audio, and even their Internet connection.
Geegee also said the live feed takes place on Skype but she still has to utilise her phone for audio cues from Awani’s technical team that are still working from the studio. Additionally, she also has adapted the backend app that Awani journalists utilise to submit their stories into a text prompter on the iPad that was shown earlier and she has to manually tap on the screen to move from one story to another.
Kawan-kawan lain pun live dari rumah untuk program Awani Pagi dan Niaga Awani 🥰 pic.twitter.com/7JV9rt6D45
— Geegee_ 🇲🇾 (@GeegeeAhmad) January 13, 2021
She has also pointed out that other AWANI Pagi’s presenters including Hakim Rahman and Nursyazwani Saiful Sham as well as Niaga AWANI’s Rizal Zulkapli have also broadcast their stories from home.
How about the results then? Well, this was part of AWANI Pagi’s broadcast this morning:
The cameras, lights, and mics that Geegee and her Awani colleagues have utilised at their home may not be as elaborate and powerful as per what they have back in the studio. Nevertheless, their WFH live broadcast setup has highlighted the new norm that many of us in Malaysia and all over the world have to adopt and adapt ourselves to as our fight against COVID-19 is still far from over.
