TV streaming wars have erupted in Hollywood and are wreaking havoc on Madison Avenue. They are even making a splash in places like Gainesville, Ga.

Wesley Lowery recently visited this town in the northeastern portion of the state, part of an effort to create a report for “60 Minutes Plus,” the new streaming-news counterpart to the venerable CBS newsmagazine. Lowery, one of a handful of correspondents hired for the Paramount Plus series, focuses on the plight of health care workers amid the coronavirus pandemic. “A lot of them haven’t had much relief,” notes the journalist, who takes a few minutes to discuss his work even though he has just about 48 hours before his story is slated to go out over the digital ether.

TV counterparts such as Lesley Stahl or Bill Whitaker usually get 12 to 13 minutes to tell their stories. Lowery says he may get as many as 20 to 30. “We are at a time when,...