Gannett has joined the BBC as a major news organization that has decided to provide its journalists with a variety of tools to report remotely, via mobile. Gannett will be providing thousands of new iPhones, iPads, netbooks, portable wireless hotspots and A/V accessories for their newspaper reporters. The initial memo indicated that more information on training and use expectations would come at a later point.
The new iPads and iPhones provide sufficient capabilities to capture sound, video, and pictures, write stories, and send reports in while in the field. The equipment is also small enough, and light enough, that we will have to come up with a new catchphrase for the one-man reporting team - instead of "backpack journalism," perhaps "coat pocket journalism."
Source - Gannett buys thousands of iPhones, iPads for its journalists, Poynter MediaWire
I think Gannett has started something good simply because he's used products that are popular as a way to present news. I'm pretty sure that at least 80% of the journalist that works for him own some form of Apple product. It would make their jobs easier by using a product/mobile device that they use on a daily basis. If he could get the product/brand to sponsor them, that would be great.
ReplyDeleteUsing an iPhone and and iPad would be way more comfortable than walking around attempting to gain an interview with a heavy camera. An iPad weighs less than 2lbs. The con to this concept is the quality of the brands. iPads and iPhones captures sound and picture but it won't be as good as the actual camera that journalist has been using for the past decades. There really aren't any tripods out there for iPads and iPhones.