The Latest Buzzword

Mobile journalism is not a new term, yet it is the latest “buzzword” in newsrooms. Journalists are using their mobile devices as more than a mere tool to contact their sources, editors, producers, etc., but there is no definite definition for what mobile journalism is. Mobile devices have advanced the journalism workflow and how journalists work from the field. Mobile phone applications such as Camera+, Evernote, iTalk, and iMovie are being used by journalists for news reporting, sharing news on mobile news platforms as well as the entire cross-media portfolio, yet this same technology puts the role of a journalist at everyone’s fingertips.

Mobile journalism has yet to have a concrete definition, however industry professionals as well as scholars have come up with various definitions in their own words. Kate Marymont defines a mobile journalist as a journalist who works alone and away from the newsroom to create hyperlocal multimedia for an audience living in or interested in a geographically defined community. Stephen Quinn says a mobile journalist, or “mojo” can report from anywhere armed only with a mobile phone provided they have a reliable wireless connection. According to David Cameron, “mobile journalism” is a loosely applied term to describe a journalistic practice based on reporters equipped with portable multimedia equipment. Still murky, the term or idea of mobile journalism has yet to have a concise and concrete definition across the board, which may present a problem for newsroom cultures or a social system trying to fully adopt the idea. Furthermore, newsrooms may resist adopting a technology that puts journalists on par with the general public.

All of the technologies that journalism has embraced since the telegraph have reflected the twin desires for speed and increased efficiencies. The history of journalists’ use of news gathering technologies illustrates this point: tools like long-distance telephone, the satellite phone and portable electronic news gathering kits used in Afghanistan and Iraq, are all examples of this evolution. Journalists and the news making process continue to adapt to the continuous emergence of new technology and its capabilities making the life in a newsroom today more technologically complex.

Mobile phones allow journalists to report the news wherever it happens, without depending on a system of reporting, i.e. engineering, show producing, live shots, etc., and location-based mobile tools can help reporters reach more specific audiences. In order to fully understand the state of mobile journalism journalism scholars like myself have to study how journalists use their mobile phone while on the job, mobile journalism has to have a concrete definition, and those who define themselves as a mobile journalism experts, have to be able to share their knowledge and their reasoning for its existence in the field.