Mobile journalism: journalism live and in real time
Mobile journalism, or “mojo”, refers to journalism that takes place outside the newsroom, “live and in real time”. Technological advances, which have improved information quality and, above all, immediacy, have radically changed matters. Media companies now feed their channels – especially the digital ones – with the most recent and live information possible to offer them to their audiences. This means that they exploit as much as possible journalistic work undertaken outside the newsroom, from anywhere and at any time.
But technological advances have changed the world facing mobile journalism, which is no longer the private property or the exclusive province of journalists. Universal access to smartphones which allow multimedia recording and reproduction enable any event or social or sporting act to be captured by anyone present, not necessarily a journalist.
Moreover, the technical quality of news content has always been less important than the significance of the story. A poor quality audio, a blurred photo, a shaky video – all of these may be of incalculable journalistic and news value.
These and other arguments lead us to the conclusion that journalists’ main rivals in capturing news stories is now their own audiences. As a result, media companies must use and channel these tendencies to make the most of news assets wherever they come from, particularly those provided by the public. This means eliminating technological barriers by using systems that allow information flows from any place and at all times, so that content can be published in any media. In short, “everything, everywhere”.