Satellite Phones help
develop ‘Backpack Journalists’ in Iraq
Friday, 4 April, 2003
Sending journalists out to
report on unrest in the Middle East is not a new concept for the media;
news articles from the Gulf War, Afghanistan, and now Iraq have dominated
recent times.
However, the difference in Iraq is the technology they are using to file
their reports, it has undergone something of a technological revolution.
Access to specialist satellite equipment is open to more people than ever
before.
MOBELL EQUIPS FRONT LINE REPORTERS
Express & Star deputy editor Keith Harrison
Mobell
has helped equip the only two Midlands based journalists with
some of the hardware they need to report ‘up to the minute’ news
from the front lines in Iraq.
Deputy editor Keith Harrison and photographer Alan Evans of the Express & Star have
hired an Iridium Satellite
phone to use alongside their RBGAN satellite modem and Apple
G3 laptop computer in the Gulf as part of their standard equipment.
Using the Iridium network of
66 satellites orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 450 miles, the
journalists will be able to speak to their news desk back in England
without having to rely on the Iraqi telephone networks that could
become a military target.
SATELLITE TECHNOLOGY BECOMES
USER FRIENDLY
The use of satellite phones
is not a totally new development for war reporters, they were used
in the Gulf War back in 1991, the difference lies in the size and availability
of satellite phones. Today, instead of having to operate 40kg units
that needed generators or mains power, journalists are able to use
handsets like the Iridium satellite phone that weighs a much friendlier
382g and, operates much like a standard mobile phone.
Also, as is the case with all technologies, the more developed they become
the lower the prices go. Now it is not just the media market leaders that
can afford to use satellite technology but many freelancers and smaller
companies as well.
GREATER MEDIA COVERAGE
The term ‘Backpack Journalist’ has
been coined to describe this new generation of reporters who are using
compact, light weight satellite technology such as the Iridium satellite
phone; one person with one pack can carry all the equipment needed
to file news reports. As a result it is easier for them to operate
from the thick of the action.
What this means for people back home is more spontaneous, independent and ‘up
to the minute’ information from the world’s danger zones.
