Quicklink Studio powers Straight Arrow News’ remote contributor production

Straight Arrow News, a digital news outlet that bills itself as a bias-free news source, has chosen Quicklink Studio (ST55) to gather high-quality, remote guest contributions from around the world.

Founded in June 2021, Straight Arrow News is a digital news startup dedicated to providing fair, factual and unbiased journalism, according to a statement from the company.

During the building of its infrastructure, Straight Arrow News required a solution for gathering high-quality contributions with smooth integration into their existing video switchers and production systems.

“Initially we were going to build a solution around consumer video conferencing platforms. However after discovering Quicklink, we instantly (learned) the advantages and flexibility of the Quicklink Studio solution” said Chris Childs, director of operations at Straight Arrow News, in a statement.

“With Quicklink Studio we are able to bring 8 remote guests into a discussion in high-quality, have complete remote management over all guests while the guests receive a program feed with automatic mix-minus – it is exactly what we needed,” Childs, a director with over 40 years experience working for TV stations across United States, added.

The Quicklink Studio solution works within a simple web browser, with no apps or software installs required by the contributor.

Contributors can be invited via SMS, WhatsApp, email or by generating a simple URL link.

From the Quicklink Manager, an operator is able to remotely control and configure the contributor’s device camera, microphone and speaker settings.

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“Having used other methods of introducing remote contributions, usually a humungous amount of time and resource is taken to prepare and direct remote guests to go live. Quicklink’s Assisted Invite feature saves time and resources by automatically testing, guiding, and preparing our guests to go live – it’s a huge time-saver” notes Childs.

The Assisted Invite feature within Quicklink Studio is a step-by-step workflow that ensures outlets get the most out of contributors.

Through a series of instruction screens, contributors is fully prepared, set up and tested to go into a live environment.

As part of the steps, the contributor is guided through enabling access to the camera and microphone, configuring the camera, microphone and speaker and troubleshooting.

The contributor also runs through a quick test call to check their network status and that they have the recommended upload speed needed.