| When terrorists attacked London's transport | | | | |
| system in 2005, the first images of what had | | | | That is exactly what happened in New York |
| happened did not come from the news cameras | | | | when a small plane crashed into a building in |
| or the newspapers, but the people who | | | | 2006. A cameraman was filming nearby when the |
| actually lived through the ordeal themselves. | | | | incident happened and in order to get there |
| | | | and film quickly he used his Treo Smart |
| Pictures and videos from the cameras built | | | | Phone, which streamed the video complete with |
| into passengers mobile phones, soon after | | | | his commentary to the news network he worked |
| these pictures were being shown to the world | | | | at and was shown live. |
| on major news networks such as Sky News and | | | | |
| CNN. Before long people from the US were | | | | Mobile phone manufacturers are now |
| posting online messages such as: "I am | | | | recognizing this trend and including methods |
| watching this on the news in the US, praying | | | | that everyday phone users can upload their |
| for you all". | | | | own content on to the internet. |
| | | | |
| This is just one of the many cases in recent | | | | Manufacturer Sony Ericsson has a deal in |
| history when men and women on the street have | | | | place with blogging website, eBlogger so that |
| been able to provide valuable news content at | | | | users of their phones can upload photos to a |
| lightning-quick speed. | | | | blog instantly wherever they are. When they |
| | | | can access a computer they can add to this |
| This concept has been developed further by | | | | blog in other conventional ways such as |
| news companies worldwide, where | | | | written text too. |
| correspondents and reporters in the field are | | | | |
| being given smart phones with cameras to take | | | | This allows mobile phone users who may be |
| photos and capture videos, coupled with the | | | | away to be able to upload photos to a blog |
| ability to upload these back to the TV | | | | for family and friends to view potentially |
| stations for news broadcasts. | | | | miles away. |
| | | | |
| AfricaNews has done exactly this and is a | | | | Some social networking sites such as Facebook |
| fully interactive online news site. They | | | | also offer this service via MMS and can let |
| have four reporters who produce articles, | | | | users upload photos from their mobile phone |
| photos and videos of news reports entirely | | | | on to the internet for others to see. |
| from their mobile phones. All they need are | | | | |
| mobile phones with adequate features (GPRS | | | | Although free, these services still cost |
| and a camera at least), access to a cell | | | | users through data charges by mobile phone |
| tower and some credit. | | | | service providers. So if you intend to upload |
| | | | pictures and other media from your mobile |
| The benefits of this approach are that often | | | | phones then you should check with mobile |
| these news networks will get the details of | | | | phone operators about charges for data usage. |
| breaking stories hours before the satellite | | | | |
| vans arrive on the scene. | | | | With over 600m camera phones in circulation, |
| | | | the potential coverage for newsworthy events |
| It's the obvious next step from eyewitness | | | | is greater than ever. Many news channels and |
| phone calls, and while in cases like the | | | | papers actively seek content from the public, |
| London bombings their recorded images were | | | | sometimes offering payment for such items. As |
| shown on network television, there are | | | | this is explored further it seems the world |
| devices available that can stream the video | | | | is no longer such a large place after all. |
| from a camera phone live to the networks. | | | | |