The Iranian crisis has highlighted a new source of information: the non-professional journalist. This new species, equipped with a cell phone, a digital camera and access to the Internet and using blogs, Facebook, Twitter and other platforms have provided raw data about events in ways which professional journalists, by virtue of their fewer numbers, never could. It’s not the first time non-professional journalists have been the first and perhaps only source of events in distant places. Images of the December 26, 2004 tsunami which swept through beach resorts in Thailand showed what was possible, when for the first time in history, ordinar people captured striking images and video of events which would otherwise have gone unrecorded.
The trend is clear. An increasingly large percentage of the world’s population will be observers. In a crisis, a statistically significant number of ordinary people will have the presence of mind to record and report. Perhaps the term non-professional journalist should be used in place of the more derogatory “amateur” journalist. Many of the reporters of the future will be far from untutored. Some will be doctors, engineers, pilots, scientists and technicians. Others will be local to the event, and as such understand what they see with a depth of understanding that stranger could not approach. Their on-the-spot testimony may be of the highest value. Not only that, but technology has advanced to the point where an ordinary person’s tools equal or even surpass the professional tools of twenty years ago.
But what will the well-equipped non-professional journalist of the future need, in case say, a revolution breaks out as has happened in Iran? A camera capable cell phone, perhaps. But preferably he should have a modern digital compact camera. The newly released Olympus E-P1 offers interchangleable lenses, HD video and high-end audio. What more could a budding street journalist want? In my opinion, I think what’s missing is a viewfinder. Viewfinders allow you to frame things a little better and faster than a display. And viewfinders don’t emit tell-tale light signatures on dark nights when showing yourself isn’t a good idea. I’ve learned how to tape over all the indicator lights on my vintage Canon G7 and disable the range finding beams. Yet cameras like the E-P1 are such marvels that it seems churlish to complain. Joe Rosenthal captured his immortal picture of the flag-raising at Iwo Jima with a Speed Graphic camera.
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And it didn’t have video or audio recording capability either. When Rosenthal took the his famous shot, he didn’t even know if he had a picture. The film had to be sent to Guam before it could be developed. If Rosenthal could capture the Flag Raising with that monster, then there’s no reason to think that chance, opportunity and unspotted talent will not produce striking reportage in the future.
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(Click here for an Amazon store link for the EP1)
Back in high school I was the “sports photographer”. Speed Graphic shooting 5″x7″ Panatonic-X (ASA 25). No need for lenses. You could enlarge an area about the size of 16mm and get a beautifully crisp 8×10. Big advantage – no “telephoto perspective distortion”.
What will replace traditional newspapers?
I think the job of professional “reporter” will largely be replaced by independents, bloggers, and nonprofessional citizens equiped with ever-smaller and ever more portable tools like cell phones, laptops, and digital cameras. Citizens will become their own reporters of raw data from a newsworthy event.
The job of the “newspaper” would then be to aggregate, cull, and interpret open-source raw data as it comes in and provide a coherent but very timely (bordering on instantaneous) emerging picture. In a word: intelligence collection and generation. The “intelligence” would not only be generated by the paper, but by the comemnts of its subscribers, attached to the intelligence document (article or opinion piece) itself and publicly available.
The payment model would be based on how fresh and novel the news analysis is. Two-day old news and archived news would be free and searchable (i.e. paid for by advertisement). Breaking news and analysis and the ability for the subscriber to comment would have a small fee attached. The newspaper would deal with independent analysts by a 1-day agreement that pays the writer for fresh analysis, but allows them to release their analysis independently and free to the public and everyone else after one day of waiting. The public would be paid little or nothing for raw data in general, but some hard-to-get pictures or stuff might be paid for (think National Enguirer).
Just a guess.
I know a little about the necessary suite of the online tools (Twitter, facebook, etc) but am relatively clueless concerning the basic equipment that a could-be, non-professional, happened-to-be-Johnny-on-the-spot journalist would find most useful. Is there an Amazon list, blog posts, or some such that lists this information?
Professional Journalism may turn out to be a transitory phenomenon, like the video rental store.
Before the late 19th century most reporting was done by actual participants. Explorers, sailors and soldiers sent back reports of what they had seen. Commercial travelers and diplomats recorder their memoirs or sent messages home that might be published. The role of the Publisher in print, broadcast or online is now that of an aggregator of independent contractors. This is a return to tradition.
Years ago I watched a conference in the University of Chicago’s Harper Library on the Future of Broadcast Journalism where I wanted to ask if this was the going to happen. I remember that the professional journalists even then were devoted to the twin themes of institutionalism and credentialing. No one wanted to hear my question.
Is there an Amazon list, blog posts, or some such that lists this information?
Not that I know of. I suspect most equipment won’t be purpose designed. From my desultory observation, I’ve noticed print journalists are not averse to carrying small cameras. Nothing great, but even the most miserable modern cameras are a heck of lot better than the stuff available when Robert Capra was practicing his trade.
…technology has advanced to the point where an ordinary person’s tools equal or even surpass the professional tools of twenty years ago.
A couple of nights ago, Lehrer news hour interviewed an Iranian woman living in California — said woman head of some type of protest-ethnic news organization — and she held up a pen that supposedly doubled as a video camera, and said her organization had slipped 10,000 of them into Iran. Sounded like a bluff to me, but who knows?
The “Lipstick” camera has been around for much more than a decade. Look at the Appendices Disks for the first LOTR production. Peter Jackson and Richard Taylor (the guy in charge of the special effects and model-building) used the lipstick camera to do tests of shots with miniature sets.
I remember watching “Cosmos” back in the mid 1980′s. Carl Sagan showed how the production had used a much bulkier “periscope” attached to a big-ass film camera to shoot miniature sets — like a reconstruction of the Library of Alexandria — so Carl could later be superimposed like a TV weatherman in a video stage.
Lipstick cameras really are the size of a lipstick tube.
There are much smaller cameras, too. Ever had a colonoscopy? The Mullahs might be getting one now, and the camera size is the least of their worries.
6 Salt Lick: They are real. She showed them, and, reportedly, the guys back home watched the same show and started confiscating them … She stated they had another ‘thing’ but she was loathe to describe it for fear of the same thing happening.
I don’t know about the quantity, but am pretty certain the device exists as described.
tom
we’ve come a long way from the FP-45 Liberator dropped by the hundreds of thousands into occupied Europe during WWII.
From Wiki: “The weapon was valued as much for its psychological warfare effect as its actual field performance. It was believed that if vast quantities of these weapons could be delivered into Axis occupied territory, it would have a devastating effect on the morale of occupying troops. The plan was to drop the weapon in such great quantities that occupying forces could never capture or recover all the weapons. It was hoped that the thought of thousands of these unrecovered weapons potentially in the hands of the citizens of occupied countries would have a deleterious effect on enemy morale.”
the cost of the Liberator was $2.50 in 1940′s dollars or about $25.00 now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberator_Pistol
A camera pen with full color video 12 fps video with sound that also works as a 8GB thumb drive is available from E-Bay for $10.00
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-4GB-Spy-Camera-Pen-Hidden-Camcorder-DVR-Recorder-DV_W0QQitemZ220435199210QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ20090616?IMSfp=TL090616215006r36775
otpu
Instapundit over the years has been an “early adopter” for a wide range of digital photo and studio gear. He has displayed photos, posted personal evaluations, links to reviews and (I believe) has archived it all on instapundit.com.
Worth a look for anyone who embarks on the Quest.
tomw — oh, I don’t doubt the device is real. What I doubted was the “10,000″ number.
I vote for the term “Original Observer” to describe whoever performs the “serendipitous” non-professional journalist function.
I want one of those cameras they had in the Will Smith movie “Enemy of the State” that could see through buildings and count the individual squares of toilet paper on the rolls from a helicopter cruising overhead.
Yeah, I want to be able to read someone’s SSN in their wallet, from over the horizon.
Next: Extrapolating disloyalty from a person’s aura.
I have to agree about the viewfinder. I bought a Polaroid 10MP camera for $90 a few months back, but I like it less than my 5MP Nikon.
Unlike the older Nikon the Polaroid does not have a viewfinder – a dumb little hole in the camera you use to aim it. It’s got all kinds of readouts and bar graphs but you either have to point and guess or try to frame the picture using the screen on the back. The screen is of startling qulaity – I wish I had a TV that looked that good – but trying to frame the picture that way is madding.
I am scared to even try to take aerial pictures with the Polaroid. If I didn’t either drop the camera or fall out of the airplane I’d no doubt end up with high resolution pictures of my shoes.
Maybe I can add a viewfinder somehow.
RWE,
Just attach the camera below a gun barrel and use the sites to frame your picture.
If you do not like what you are focusing on you can dispose of it on the spot.
A great leap forward in efficiency.
Technology also allows instant focusing of contextual perspective, say via Wikipedia; access to expert opinion blogs; and access to world-view perspectives of political/social groups.
Regarding world view, for example, see today’s ‘Chronicle of Higher Education’
(http://chronicle.com/weekly/v55/i40/40b00401.htm?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en) for a paean to Obama’s cosmopolitanism, most of all evident in his Cairo speech:
“A truly cosmopolitan culture permits its members to choose different styles of life and thought, including antiquated ones, as long as they don’t harm the neighbors. Obama, like no president before him, has notified the rest of the world that the United States will continue to export its philosophy, ethos, and political theory — but through conversation, not declamation, seeking free adoption, not grudging acquiescence.
“Philosopher prez and cosmopolitan in chief. After all this time, you figure, we were entitled to one. It looks as if we’ve got him.
“Carlin Romano, critic at large for The Chronicle Review and literary critic for The Philadelphia Inquirer, teaches philosophy and media theory at the University of Pennsylvania.”
Cameras provide a kind of perspective and context, and a photo is worth a thousand words (Neda). But what frames people’s ideas is in their heads, and accessible mainly via words.
Gutneberg… Reformation…
Blogging tools… ?…
Onesimus
I would choose a word other than “journalist”. The word has become loaded with negative connotations, much like “lawyer”. Its almost an insult to call them that.
“… non-professional journalist function”
Heh. Non-professional journalist. How redundant.
no justice no mercy –the Angel of Iran’s mourning family evicted from their home.
“A great leap forward in efficiency”
ROFL!!!
And here I thought that this article was going to be about David Brooks and the like.
Civilian Irregular Combat Cameramen recorded the murder of Neda Agha-Soltan. Those images persuaded, changed and influenced more people more rapidly than all the official .gov/.mil Psychological Operations/Strategic Communications/Public Diplomacy efforts put together.
This is Glenn Reynold’s Army of Davids in action. Distributed Information Operations by Strategic Citizens.
The information upon which the electorates of the republics of the world base their voting decisions has been distorted, twisted, spun and tainted by Marxist-sympathizing reporters and columnists with delusions of grandeur. But no matter how many Pulitzers a “journalist” might have, there is always somebody in the blogosphere or on Twitter or Facebook or somewhere who is a true Subject Matter Expert. Old Media can’t compete with that.
when Robert Capra was practicing his trade
Wretchard, do you mean Robert Capa the combat photographer or Frank Capra the film director?
In ye olden film days the preferred “street” camera was a black bodied range finder with a fast lens. (F 1.4 to about F2.O, IIRC) It was quiet, unobtrusive, and with black and white film it could take photos with just street light illumination in a lot of instances.
If someone with some time and money available got to tinkering with the current off the shelf tech., I think it would be possible to make a “wearable” camera. The view finder would be in a pair of glasses perhaps and the rest of the cammera could be hidden.
Toad,the future is now:
Hat Camera
http://www.amazon.com/Deja-View-CamWear-Model-100/dp/B00063E872/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1245965362&sr=8-4
Sun Glasses Camera
http://www.amazon.com/Sunglasses-built-spy-camera-playback/dp/B001GN1356/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1245965362&sr=8-5
Watch Camera
http://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Camera-Watch-Color-Video/dp/B0027RLYOA/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1245965362&sr=8-12
Hat Camera
http://www.amazon.com/SportCAM-WEARABLE-CAMERA-HELMET-CAMCORDER/dp/B00283YNO6/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1245965362&sr=8-10
Tiny Camcorder
http://www.amazon.com/NanoCAM-Hidden-Defence-Camera-Recorder/dp/B001TMFLCK/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1245965362&sr=8-13
Sun Glasses Camera
http://www.amazon.com/KJB-Security-Glasses-Camera-Interchangeable/dp/B001TDSK8G/ref=sr_1_32?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1245965404&sr=8-32
Knecktie Camera
http://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Color-Video-Camera-Camcorder/dp/B001ZSZ45W/ref=sr_1_34?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1245965425&sr=8-34
#16 Mark
- A truly cosmopolitan culture permits its members to choose different styles of life and thought, including antiquated ones, as long as they don’t harm the neighbors. -
I have to assume that given the source, and the subject of the adoration; that the Judeo-Christian tradition, styles of life, and thought are excluded from the tolerance they are so vain about.
Subotai Bahadur
We should all contact our favorite camera company and ask that they consider a “polite” or “do not disturb” (or opera house) mode that disables use of flash and flash-based focus, and mutes the speaker, then does whatever is appropriate to take the best picture or movie possible. Each note should describe a personal scenario where you’d like not to distract a playing or sleeping child, or disturb others in a performance or, say, an art museum, and similar settings, etc.
Honor Their Service – Move America Forward
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Troopathon
Live from Ronald Reagan Library.
Melanie Morgan is a saint.
Interesting statements here
http://www.c-span.org/Watch/Media/2009/06/22/Terr/R/20050/Shahs+Son+Says+Iran+Unrest+Threatens+Clerical+Rule.aspx
about person to person communication, and a tyrannical regime by the Shah’s son. Of course other stuff is addressed as well.
Amateur is from the Latin for somebody who does an activity for the love of it. It is a fine word, deserving rescue from the snobs.
12. Tom Paine
How about Witness to describe someone on the spot who reports?
A reporter has someone to report to,
A witness may or may not.
A journalist will note specifics,
A diarist will note everything, or nothing, depending,
A travel writer is generally on vacation.
A reporter collects and gives “just the facts, mam”.
A Correspondent reports on scene, and
A Correspondent gives background information, and
A Correspondent provides important detail,
to help make sense of an event.
A reporter reports, one way communication.
A correspondent reacts, reflects and allows you to realize what just happened, and maybe even why.
Michael Yon and Michael Totten are co-respondents.
They are more than reporters and less than analysts,
Michael Moore is less than either. A fiction in his own right to left of centered thought. It is not really satire but not really real either.