“By 2020, mojo will dominate news" says mobile expert, Glen Mulcahy
Every year, mobile journalism (mojo) moves higher up the agenda for Thomson Foundation’s training priorities.
We have run mojo courses in Kuwait, Sudan, Ukraine and Azerbaijan and have devoted a big part of the annual London summer course to developments in smartphone video technology.
“By 2020, when 5G goes mainstream, mojo will dominate news,” says Glen Mulcahy, Thomson Foundation’s expert trainer who has driven the growth of mobile journalism in RTÉ newsrooms in Ireland and across other European broadcasters.
Glen has inspired and trained more than 1,500 journalists in Europe, the Middle East and the US in television, radio, print and online.
Glen Mulcahy has inspired and trained more than 1,500 journalists in Europe, the Middle East and the US in television, radio, print and online. Image credit: Sir Cam @camdiary
“Europe is leading the way. Norway’s NRK uses smartphones to gather 30 seconds of video for its online department as soon as a journalist arrives on a story. The BBC has developed its own newsgathering app for its journalists, allowing them to grab photos, audio or video and send it back raw but quickly to the newsroom.
By 2020, when 5G goes mainstream, mobile journalism will dominate news.
“In RTÉ we have been exploring mojo as a complete content creation tool, with some of our journalists shooting entire stories for broadcast on their iPhones. And Sky News has pushed the boundaries on live video streaming from mobiles.
“In the Middle East, Al Jazeera commonly uses smartphones in hostile environments to avoid drawing attention to its journalists.”
Mojo is becoming a global movement with new pioneers and practitioners joining daily, says Glen. “It is all proof of the mostly untapped potential of mobile in broadcast.”
Our 2016 annual review is online. View it here
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