The Rise of Mojo-Mobile Journalism in Asia

Not a familiar term, Mojo stands for Mobile Journalists comprising of free¬lance reporters who do not have a news¬room or office in the news agency’s premises. Mobile journalists are armed with sophisticated gadgets or technical tools like camcorders, digital cameras, laptop PCs with broadband wireless and the ubiq¬uitous smartphones.

Mojos feed news to newspaper Web sites, online magazines, online newspapers, Web sites of newspa¬pers, sites like YouTube and even their own blogs.

Some years back, Nokia and Reu¬ters created what they called the Mo¬bile Journalism Toolkit which com¬prised of a Nokia N95 cell phone, keyboard, small tripod and a solar charger. This toolkit enables Reuters journalists to file news from the orig¬inal scene substantiated with video and photos taken from their mobile phone. These Mojos were spared the agony of lugging along laptop com¬puters, cameras, microphones and other paraphernalia.

It is a common phenomenon nowadays to show vid¬eo taken by amateurs on their mobile phones to throw light on some gruesome incidents in remote locations of the world. In such cases citizen journalists take the role of Mojos and wielding their cameras record such incidents and send it to news agencies via MMS.

Such is the power of Mobile Journalism.

In Asia, the growing usage of mobile phones and oth¬er devices, media censorship and gaining popularity of Web-based tools and social networking, have resulted in a quantum leap in mobile journalism.

Whether it be reporting on natural disasters, conflict zones, government action or inaction, or just fun news, the mojos have captured it. Mojos filed shots of protests in Burma, bombings in Jakarta, and the aftermath of the typhoon Ketsana in Philippines soon after the event took place.

Mobile devices can help Mojos record events incog¬nito where forbidden, as in case of riots against an op¬pressive government, scenes of crimes and so on.

Information and communication technologies are lev¬eraged to their maximum capabilities by Mojos to bring news to the world as soon as possible. This has indirectly spurred a war among news agencies as to who files the news first.

Dr. Stephen Quinn, professor of Journalism at Deakin University in Australia, says in his book “Mojo-Mobile Journalism in the Asian Region,” that out of the over 4.2 billion mobile phones used in the world, 43 percent are in the Asian region. Usage being so widespread in Asia it is easy for Mojos to collect news and upload it to a Web site or send it for editing to news agencies.

New gadgets like the Flip video camcorders are used to record video and post it on the Web. Even small devic¬es like Flip Mino can record high-definition videos. The iPhone’s applications enable it to be used as a podcast tool for reporting purposes. The Poddio app for the iPhone help Mojos gather and edit recordings instantly before upload. By dragging icons, audio clips can be added to video sequences making the Poddio an optimized sound editor for broadcasters.

According to Datamonitor re¬ports, mobile phone usage in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to shoot up which will lead to more Mojo news reports. Mobile phones are better alternatives to laptops giv¬en their compact size, coverage and ease of use. As Quinn puts it, mobile devices should not hinder the task of gathering and re¬porting news.

Although the task may be easy it is imperative for Mo¬bile Journalists to possess journalism, research and writing skills and the ability to handle cameras and other mobile devices apart from following certain ethics in journalism.

Previously HAM radio operators used to keep tabs on happenings and broadcasted news by radio from a stationary post. Mojos now report from event sites with pictures. Looks like it is time for TV news crews to make way for Mojos and amateur citizen journalists. News will reach faster on an “as is where is” basis on news portals along with supporting video.