Reporting on the move

When terrorists attacked London's transport system infrom a camera phone live to the networks.
2005, the first images of what had happened did notThat is exactly what happened in New York when a
come from the news cameras or the newspapers,small plane crashed into a building in 2006. A
but the people who actually lived through the ordealcameraman was filming nearby when the incident
themselves.happened and in order to get there and film quickly he
Pictures and videos from the cameras built intoused his Treo Smart Phone, which streamed the video
passengers mobile phones, soon after these picturescomplete with his commentary to the news network
were being shown to the world on major newshe worked at and was shown live.
networks such as Sky News and CNN. Before longMobile phone manufacturers are now recognizing this
people from the US were posting online messagestrend and including methods that everyday phone
such as: "I am watching this on the news in the US,users can upload their own content on to the internet.
praying for you all".Manufacturer Sony Ericsson has a deal in place with
This is just one of the many cases in recent historyblogging website, eBlogger so that users of their
when men and women on the street have been ablephones can upload photos to a blog instantly wherever
to provide valuable news content at lightning-quickthey are. When they can access a computer they can
speed.add to this blog in other conventional ways such as
This concept has been developed further by newswritten text too.
companies worldwide, where correspondents andThis allows mobile phone users who may be away to
reporters in the field are being given smart phones withbe able to upload photos to a blog for family and
cameras to take photos and capture videos, coupledfriends to view potentially miles away.
with the ability to upload these back to the TV stationsSome social networking sites such as Facebook also
for news broadcasts.offer this service via MMS and can let users upload
AfricaNews has done exactly this and is a fullyphotos from their mobile phone on to the internet for
interactive online news site. They have four reportersothers to see.
who produce articles, photos and videos of newsAlthough free, these services still cost users through
reports entirely from their mobile phones. All they needdata charges by mobile phone service providers. So if
are mobile phones with adequate features (GPRS andyou intend to upload pictures and other media from
a camera at least), access to a cell tower and someyour mobile phones then you should check with mobile
credit.phone operators about charges for data usage.
The benefits of this approach are that often theseWith over 600m camera phones in circulation, the
news networks will get the details of breaking storiespotential coverage for newsworthy events is greater
hours before the satellite vans arrive on the scene.than ever. Many news channels and papers actively
It's the obvious next step from eyewitness phone calls,seek content from the public, sometimes offering
and while in cases like the London bombings theirpayment for such items. As this is explored further it
recorded images were shown on network television,seems the world is no longer such a large place after
there are devices available that can stream the videoall.