Camera phones play major role in coverage
Devices helping to fuel spread of citizen journalism
Alfie Dennen was petrified. The 29-year-old London resident had just received an image on his cellphone from Adam Stacey, a friend standing in a smoky tunnel in the London Underground. Since cellphone networks were either overloaded or shut down across the city, Dennen could not get in touch with his friend, and the only indication that Stacey was fine was that he needed to have gotten above ground to send the photo.
Five minutes later, Dennen posted the dark and blurry cellphone image, which shows Stacey holding a cloth over his face in front of a subway train, on his picture weblog hosted by moblog.co.uk. Within a few hours , the image was broadcast and rebroadcast by major television networks across Britain, providing a riveting on-site image of the chaos that had enveloped the London Underground.
''I thought that it was an arresting image and realized this needs to be out there," Dennen said. ''I think it's become one of the iconic images of the day."
Using only cellphones and an Internet weblog, Stacey and Dennen provided what the photographers and television crews of major news organizations could not deliver for some time -- a firsthand glimpse of the scene of the terror attack.
Major news networks soon caught on. The London news service ITV News began to periodically display phone numbers to which viewers were invited to send text messages or video phone pictures. It and other networks have since broadcast many viewer-created pictures and video clips.
No longer simply a novel toy, camera phones have become the latest tool to broaden coverage of breaking news, providing thousands of additional lenses to cover dramatic events that sometimes are not immediately accessible by mainstream organizations.
In addition to the images of the London disaster, cellphone cameras have contributed to the coverage of other global events such as the tsunami disaster. But yesterday's case is the first time usage of the device has made a significant impact, said John Palfrey, executive director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School.
''This is the first time that it's happened in a way that's truly meaningful," he said. ''It's a very fine example of a combination of real editorial decision-making and distributed journalism -- ordinary people who happen to have access to a version of the truth."
Citizen journalism -- where readers or viewers are also major news contributors -- is a growing movement among many news outlets. Some news websites, such as Wikinews.org and OhmyNews.com, already rely on readers to contribute the majority of their content. New England Cable News officials have also said that the channel's website will begin to accept video clips from viewers, potentially for broadcast, beginning next week. (Boston.com, which is owned by the Globe's parent, The New York Times Co., hosts the NECN website. NECN video clips also appear exclusively on Boston.com.) Some Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News subscribers receive special sections with reader-written content.
In the wake of the London disaster, American networks are also taking advantage of the cellphone images. Jon Klein, president of CNN/U.S., said that the network has aired a video clip that they received from Sky News, showing the inside of one of the subway cars shortly after the bombing. Yesterday's events show the effectiveness of using viewers' cellphones to expand coverage, Klein added.
''I've never seen cellphone coverage of a major news event before," he said. ''It's terrific if used properly and vetted properly. I think we'll see an explosion of cellphone video."
The use of cellphones to cover news events has become more feasible in recent years due to their widespread availability. Phones with camera and video capability now make up about a third of all of Verizon Wireless's cellphone sales, said Verizon Wireless spokesperson Jeffrey Nelson.
''Wireless devices are turning into the Swiss Army knife of modern days," said Roger Entner, an analyst with Boston-based Ovum. Entner said that publicity from the televised cellphone clips might also drive up sales of camera phones in the United Kingdom.
Pierre Barbeau, general manager of Sprint Picture Mail, said that the images coming from London fulfill what had always been an intention of cellphone cameras.
''We've always believed that the role of the camera phone goes far beyond that of fun and games," he said. ''This is an eye-opener."
In London, Dennen said he continues to update his website almost constantly with news and images sent in by readers, but that he still has not been able to get in touch with Stacey.
''Some of the best and most arresting content is from people on the street," he said.
Joe Light can be reached at jlight@globe.com. 