ABC13 evening anchor Jonathan Bruce weighed in Thursday with a “Throwback Thursday” Instagram post showing his own experience as a self-directed streaming anchor, both in Houston and at a previous station in Colorado Springs, Colo.
“There’s suddenly a lot of conversation about this ‘new’ format but the fact is it’s neither new or revolutionary anymore,” Bruce wrote.
Bruce joined ABC13 in December 2021 as a digital anchor, helping launch the station’s streaming newsroom newscast. Before Houston, he worked as a digital anchor at KKTV 11 in Colorado Springs, where he said he spent four hours a day producing, directing, flooring, anchoring and reporting while also handling some engineering duties.
He later moved to ABC13’s traditional broadcasts, joining Mayra Moreno on the 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. newscasts in 2023.
Bruce’s post comes after FOX 26 anchor Caroline Collins sparked a national industry debate by showing herself operating the controls while anchoring a livestream. The setup requires her to handle duties including directing, audio and graphics that are traditionally divided among multiple newsroom employees.
Collins has called the workflow the “future of local news,” while acknowledging after her first show that it was “incredibly stressful.”
Journalists across the country have since debated whether the format gives anchors more control or asks newsroom employees to take on more work with fewer resources. Bruce said both can be true.
He described the format as more creative and accessible for modern audiences, but also acknowledged concerns about newsrooms “choosing or being forced to do way more with way less and putting that onus on journalists.”
“I personally understood the context but loved the freedom, creativity and range the format presents,” Bruce wrote. “But if you’re familiar with more than social media posts, you know the streaming anchor role has been a fixture in top newsrooms for years.”
Other Texas journalists backed him up.
“Is it a challenge? Absolutely! Do I like it? Ehhh…. But it’s not new like everyone is saying,” Surette commented.
Houston media blogger and former ABC13 producer Mike McGuff has also pointed to earlier examples in Houston, including former KHOU 11 digital anchor Brandi Smith using livestreaming software to control her own broadcasts in 2021 and Bruce later “punching” his own ABC13 streaming show.