Washington DC reporter Neal Augenstein discusses how and why he has abandoned his collection of bulky production equipment to report via his Apple iPhone 4. Augenstein is an award-winning reporter with WTOP-FM and a frequent contributor to CBS News Radio. Thanks to new apps and progress in digital recording tools, he’s been able to ditch much of his older equipment for professional broadcasting via his smartphone. According to Augenstein: “Now, with the Apple iPhone 4 and several apps, I can produce intricate audio and video reports, broadcast live, take and edit photos, write web content and distribute it through social media from a single device.”
For those interested, the write-up provides a simple step-by-step overview of the tools Augenstein is using with his iPhone and iPad for audio capture, video capture, photography, mobile VoIP, and Twitter integration.
Augenstein addresses whether his new approach is working: “A year in, iPhone-only reporting isn’t perfect. While audio editing works great, with the phone’s built-in microphone I’d estimate the sound quality of my field reports is 92 percent as good as when I use bulky broadcast equipment. Getting better audio for my video is a real challenge. And if I ever have to cover a story from a subway tunnel or location where there’s no WiFi or cell coverage, I won’t be able to file until I resurface.”
The PBS MediaShift post features several iPhone-generated audio reports from Augenstein in addition to a very helpful video tutorial regarding how he performs audio editing on his iPhone 4.
8 Comments
Good enough for radio. Is video next?
Good enough for radio. Is video next?
I love reading about this stuff! Real progress, thanks! I did wonder why, as a radio reporter he needs to capture video and still imagery. I think the answer is, with social media and the web, the line between print, radio and TV journalism is blurring.
I love reading about this stuff! Real progress, thanks! I did wonder why, as a radio reporter he needs to capture video and still imagery. I think the answer is, with social media and the web, the line between print, radio and TV journalism is blurring.
if video is next – way down the road (and it starts to change how broadcast collects its news), it would be interesting to see how people respond to it…does “bulky Production Equipment” give more credibility to a news crew when covering a major event or will equipment such as iPhones really put CNN and a blog on equal footing when it comes to reporting?
if video is next – way down the road (and it starts to change how broadcast collects its news), it would be interesting to see how people respond to it…does “bulky Production Equipment” give more credibility to a news crew when covering a major event or will equipment such as iPhones really put CNN and a blog on equal footing when it comes to reporting?
I expect editorial tools to undergo great change on tablets and to free the editor from the dark room. For many projects the step by step approach of the last hundred years will end and freed of the need to manage movement of data the production team will begin to actually operate in real time as a team with all tasks of production parallel.
I expect editorial tools to undergo great change on tablets and to free the editor from the dark room. For many projects the step by step approach of the last hundred years will end and freed of the need to manage movement of data the production team will begin to actually operate in real time as a team with all tasks of production parallel.
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