Page updated:
Wednesday, 12 September 2007

SPECIAL REPORT...

Getting your message across

TECHNOLOGY for news gathering...

Most news gathering equipment (cameras, recorders) is powered by batteries. Make sure you use long-life or rechargable batteries and that they are fully charged before you plan to use them. Carry a spare set.

Notebook and pen

This is the basic, traditional tool set of the print journalist. All journalists and writers should carry a notebook and pen. You never know when a good idea will strike and you do not want to forget it. Photographers find these basic tools of use in jotting down notes about photographs they take such as the names of people, locations, time of day and exposure information such as aperature and shutter speed.

• choose an A5-size notebook of 300 pages of the type with wire spiral binding at the top; this allows the pages to be flipped back vertically
• develop your own abbreviations to assist in taking notes rapidly or learn shorthand; most journalists develop their own abbreviated form of note-taking
• even when using a recording device, make brief notes about your interview in case the recording device fails and to help navigate the recorded material
• carry a spare pen.

Recording devices

Journalists record interviews to:

• make use of quotes made by the interviewee
• as a check against written notes and to remember what was said
• as protection in case an interviewee takes legal action or criticises a reporter for allegedly misquoting them.

Micro-cassette recorders and recorders using full-size audio cassettes are cheap and reliable enough for recording interviews and press conferences.

Better are the small digital recorders:

• there is no magnetic tape to get twisted around the pinch roller
• interviews or other recordings can be 'bookmarked' on some digital recorders, making finding recorded information faster
• the more expensive models allow you to download your recording to your computer and store it as a sound file.

Recording devices and cameras cannot be used in the courts, however notes can be taken.

Cameras

For community-based newsletters, whatever camera is available will do. For those requiring a more professional approach, a new or second hand SLR (single lens reflex) camera with a zoom lens will prove useful. This can be either a digital camera or a conventional film camera the prints or negatives from which can be scanned for placing in an electronically laid-out publication. Photo processing labs will burn your film images to CD for a small fee, bypassing the need for scanning.

A suggested kit:

• SLR camera (manual or automatic operation)
• 24mm wide-angel lens and 28-120 or 28 - 200mm (f3.5-5.6) or similar telephoto lens (or equivalent focal length for digital SLRs); these lenses also make a practical travel kit; professionals will have lenses that shoot in low light (f2.8) but these are bulky and expensive and only professionals or enthusiastic amateurs will be prepared to outlay the considerable expenditure for them; attach a skylight filter to your lenses to protect the front lens element
• a flash unit for taking photographs indoors; some modern SLRs have a small pop-up flash useful over short distances; remember that flash will 'flatten' your subject if used directly front-on to the subject; this is why some photographers prefer to shoot with available light indoors and out
• film - ISO 100 to 400 (ISO - International Standards Organisation, the organisation that adopts and administers international standards) will cover most situations; photojournalists and news photographers prefer ISO 400 because it can be used for taking photographs in low light; fine art photographers prefer ISO 50 to 100 because it provides more definition and dynamic range (the range of tones); digital photographers will need sufficient memory in the form of digital storage such as a compact flash card; take spare film or extra digital cards, more than you think you will use, to cover opportunistic finds
• lens cleaning cloth and dust blower
• a strong, padded bag to carry your camera kit in; do not scrimp too much - a good bag will last years and protects your expensive equipment; some of the more expensive bags, such as those made Lowe (Lowe Pro bags) have a padded compartment for a laptop computer as well as space for notebook and stationery.

PDA note-taking

Where typing is appropriate, notes at a press conference may be taken on a laptop computer or personal digital assistant (PDA) of the type that accepts a small, folding keyboard.

Palm makes a number of suitable PDA handheld computers using their own operating system. Other manufacturers make PDAs for the Microsoft Windows for handhelds operating system. Both operating systems make use of word processing software and both will run the FileMaker Pro database edition for handheld computers. Both types will download via cable or Bluetooth wireless connection to your computer. Some PDAs will also perform as sound recorders, MP3 music players, image displays and mobile phones.

PDAs range considerably in price, however the cheaper may not accept the folding keyboard. They are especially useful where articles are to be written away from home or workplace and where space is limited. The PDA and keyboard fits easily into shoulder bag, brief case or a deep pocket.

Emerging newsgathering technologies

Apple makes an MP3 player known as the iPod in models for the Mac and Windows operating systems. Although originally designed for recording and playing music, the top end of the range is a multi-purpose tool:

• a plug-in microphone is available, enabling it to be used for voice recording
• the contents of Apple's calendar and address book that come free with the company's computers can be downloaded into the iPod, making it a planning and to-do list, all potentially useful to the journalist
• it accepts a digital media reader so digital photographs can be downloaded into it straight from camera cards for storage
• it serves as a compact, mobile, external hard drive for computer files.

Other such devices have appeared since the iPod hit the market. Like the computer which gave birth to them and with which they are designed to interact, the iPod and similar devices are multipurpose tools, a factor that figured prominently in the success of the computer. The iPod also demonstrates the increasing sophistication and capability of mass market technologies that are useful in professional work as well as in the mass market.

Technologies of communication

Technologies such as satellite phones and video phone are at present out of the reach of non-government, small business and community-based organisations, however their use by major news organisations is revolutionising the way that information is gathered and distributed and is shortening the time between the occurrrence of an incident and its being made public.

The satellite phone

The satellite phone has been in use for a number of years. The technology:

• consists of a compact carry case containing a handset and computerised transmission equipment plus a small directional antenna that is pointed in the direction of a communications satellite
• provides a direct link from a journalist in the field to a news organisation in another part of the world via a communications satellite in orbit around the Earth; both text and photographs can be transmitted.

The satellite phone is most useful where telecommunications are unreliable. An example of its usefullness was provided prior to and during the US-led attack on Iraq in 2003, when the technology allowed Sydney Morning Herald correspondent, Paul McGough, to report events in Bagdhad unhindered by Iraqi media minders (more information: McGough P, 2003; In Bagdhad - A Reporter's War; Allan & Unwin, Sydney; ISBN 1 74114 219 9).

The satellite phone allows the reporter to bypass a country's telecommunications system, reducing the chance of their information being censored. The technology understandably alarms authoritarian regimes as it gets around their ability to control information. At one stage immediately before the invasion of Iraq, Saddam Husein's government prevented the use of satellite phones by sealing them in a bag when the reporter entered the country. The bags were checked to confirm that they were sealed when the reporter left Iraq.

The video phone

The video phone transmits video and sound channels via communications satellite to a news organisation in another place. Although the quality of the image is poor at present, there is sufficient definition for use in news reports. The advantage of the technology is in making live-to-air reports from remote locations.

The technology is of recent development and is being increasingly used by media organisations:

• an early use of the tool by the Australian media was made by ABC television to provide direct-to-air reports during the George Speight-led coup in Fiji in the late 1990s
• its use was more common during the 2003 attack on Iraq when correspondents traveling with the troops could send back live reports to their viewing audiences
• wider use was made of the video phone during the 2004 tsunami crisis when it allowed reporters to go live to air with reports from affected areas.

Email and weblog

Email for isolated communities in developing countries

Email is a cheap, fast and effective means of sending text and still images around the world. Firmly established as a tool in daily use by business, community organisations and individuals, its has become a basic tool in the collection and disemination of news.

Email is useable on a PDAs that have mobile phones or wireless networking devices (802.11b or g cards) built in.

An innovative use of email that demonstrates its wider possibilities, by an aid organisation rather than by the media, is made by the South Pacific development agency, the Melanesian Farmers First Network (http://www.terracircle.org.au) that has established email stations at isolated locations in the Solomon Islands, the PNG highlands and in the mountains of central Bougainville. Such locations are far from national telecommunications networks and grid power.

The email stations make use of photovoltaic (solar electric) panels to produce energy that is stored in batteries. This powers a laptop computer, a data modem and a high-frequency (HF) radio that distributes email messages through the existing HF radio network. The service operates like the old telegraph system - the sender writes their message on a form; this is typed into the laptop by the email operator and is sent out; incoming messages are printed and collected by the recipient.

The weblog

The weblog (commonly abbreviated to 'blog') uses software that makes it possible to place frequent messages on websites. Weblogs are useful where information is to be presented in log form, such as a diary, or where a semi-continuous chronicle is appropriate.

Pax Salam was the name of a blogger who produced reports from Bagdhad during the bombing and invasion. The weblog provided an up to date commentary on life in the city during the conflict.

There is discussion in media circles as to whether blogging is a valid form of journalism. Perhaps a criteria for making such judgements is whether the blogger follows established journalistic practices in regard to maintaining accuracy. This does not prevent advocacy journalism in which the blogger takes a particular line, providing the bias of the writer is made clear.