Friday, July 08, 2005
Cellphones Change the View of Disaster
Source: LA Times Shortly after bombs ripped through London's transportation system Thursday morning, U.S. and British television networks began airing the first footage of the aftermath — dim images of shaken commuters streaming through a smoky underground tunnel.
The video provided an immediate and intimate look at the scene but was hardly polished or professional. That's because it was shot by passengers with mobile phones — the first widespread use of that technology in covering a major breaking news story.
Sky News aired a haunting 20-second clip captured by a commuter on a train between the King's Cross and Russell Square stations, who e-mailed it to the British television network, Fox News' sister channel. It showed lines of people filing through dark tunnels under greenish lights and an alarmed man staring at the camera, part of his face obscured by a cloth over his mouth. BBC aired video from cellphones throughout the day, as well.
The video did not provide the usual crisp images sought by news producers. Shakily filmed, the footage showed frightened Londoners cast in an eerie green light, holding handkerchiefs over their mouths to block the smoke as they struggled to get out of the subway.
"It looked to me like a goldfish aquarium," said John Moody, Fox News' senior vice president for news editorial. "Right now, the pictures themselves are not sharp enough to be used on a daily basis. But when you've only got one picture of something, you can make vast allowances for the quality."
"It was a little bit murky and blurry, but the viewer could get a sense that something bad had happened," said Marcy McGinnis, senior vice president for news coverage at CBS.
"It's a harbinger of what's to come in terms of citizen journalism," said Jon Klein, president of CNN/U.S. "These days, you just have to be in the wrong place at the right time, and you too can cover the news."
Read the complete article HERE
# posted by ATN @ 3:46 AM 
