News is all around us, and it is constantly changing and growing. It never sleeps, nor does it ever slow down. In the last century news has dominated people’s lives, whether they knew it or not. Men and women used to wake up to the daily paper or listen to the radio. In the 50s, it was the evening news that dominated the television. In fact, once the nightly news was over, stations actually quit broadcasting—you couldn’t watch TV in the middle of the night. Now, news is no longer a show people sit down in the evening to read, listen to, or watch. News is a constant flow of information. With the Internet in our pockets, and services such as Twitter and Facebook, news is traveling across the world faster than anyone could ever imagine.
At the NAB in LAS Vegas this past week, a dozen major TV groups announced that they are teaming up to to provide content and spectrum for a National Mobile DTV. This service would reach 150 million customers, and might help push mobile phone providers to equip their phones with TV tuners. This is going to change the world of news as much as, if not more, than the television did in the 1950s. As a person who works in news, I am seeing a shift in the way I must do my job. Gone are the days of going out and just turning a story for the evening news. No—now it is all about, “how much information can I get out to people and how quickly can I do it.”
To add to this groundbreaking endeavor, there was a significant product officially announced this week as well. Vericorder, the Canadian Mobile Media company, announced its launch of “1st Video.” This is the revolutionary software that allows iPhone users to shoot and edit video right on their phone. As a photographer this hurts a little, but as a news hound, this is incredible technology that could bring yet another realm to the world of news. Imagine being able to shoot, edit, and upload video to the web directly from a breaking news story. Local news must be on board with the changes that are taking ground—if they do not adjust, and learn how to use these new technologies, they will lose the ratings battle with the almighty internet.
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