Interview

Telum Talks To... Ted Kemp, Digital Managing Editor, CNBC

By Haikel Fahim

Ted speaks to us about CNBC's current operations and focus and also shares about what's his current read.

 
We talked to Ted Kemp, CNBC's Digital Managing Editor about how they are coping with COVID-19 in a time when media companies are adapting to work from home arrangements.
 
  • CNBC’s television technical staff, including satellite operations are still working in the office, practising strict social distancing. As much as possible, other staff members are working from home including presenters and the digital team.

    “The nature of television broadcast is that there’s a certain amount of infrastructure that can’t be moved into someone’s kitchen.”
     
  • CNBC’s audience has ‘exploded’ in recent months. The digital team set a record for monthly unique visitors in January, February and it doubled in March, reaching 50 million unique visitors outside of North America. In the US, CNBC has seen its TV audience doubled.

    “When people experience anxiety, they go to where they trust.”
     
  • Current themes of coverage include general health and treatment news; and what the current situation is going to have an effect on the global and regional economies. Readers are gravitating towards that sort of stories more.

    “On a more specific basis, there are also individual investors, savers, pensioners who are very interested in the best ways to protect their money in an environment where most asset classes are getting knocked around.”
     
  • For PRs, CNBC is not big on packaged stories. Access to expert sources to bounce ideas off for reporting is useful. These include healthcare professionals, asset managers, experts on particular commodities, risk management and geopolitics. The broad array of experts that are helpful for CNBC can also be analysts, academics, finance and investment managers.

    “Being able to offer them up on the basis of they can get back to me quickly. If we’re putting together a story and something is breaking right now, we want the story ‘live’ in the next two hours so quick response times are a major plus

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