Content first, then the medium: 36 students visit RTL Nieuws

Last summer, Voortman led the team that produced all the World Cup stories for RTL Sport. His message to the students: every medium starts with content. In his view, a good story has a person, a desire and an obstacle, and evokes one clear emotion. As an example, he used the Blue Wave of Curaçao, a story he made himself that reached millions of people. The digital side was covered too, including the drones that filmed the bobsledders, the iPhone footage of the King that went viral, and the livestream of the solar eclipse on Videoland. “Technology can make a story faster and bigger,” said Voortman, “but it doesn’t replace it. Behind everything RTL publishes is a person with a name.” The students were then given a tour of the most automated TV studio in Europe. “If everything here burned down, we could still keep the news broadcasts going from the cloud,” said technician Roeland Awick. The field trip was organised by lecturer Stefan Egberts, who used to work for RTL Nieuws himself. “It is essential for the new generation of students to become familiar with the latest developments in the industry, so they can see in practice what they can do (later) with their knowledge.”