Al Jazeera Journalism Review

How the Pandemic Introduced Me to Mobile Journalism

6 Minute Read
 

During the height of the global pandemic, in May of 2020 as countries closed their borders, I became “stranded” in the United States. I found myself  without a crew of a photographer and a producer and television camera equipment. I did however, have an iPhone and a kit I assembled after taking an Al Jazeera mobile journalism course a few months prior. The year before, my hectic travel schedule as a senior correspondent forced me to leave the mobile journalism course midway through. However, I recognised how vital the skills could be and pushed my bosses to allow me to take the next available course. The timing proved to be perfect. 

At a time when many of my colleagues were unable to work in the field due to Covid-19 concerns and restrictions placed on travel, I became a crew of one and began to produce, shoot and report my own stories just a few months after completing the mobile journalism course. Granted, I already knew how to shoot and edit. However,  I needed the training to learn how to produce news stories with my mobile phone that met Al Jazeera standards. Due to working solo and with the limitations of shooting on an iPhone, I chose non-breaking news, enterprise stories where I was not bound by the demands of a looming deadline. 

 

1
"When many of my colleagues were unable to work in the field [..] I became a crew of one and began to produce, shoot and report my own stories". Photo Credit: Craig Atkinson

Shooting alone was often welcomed by the people I interviewed, many of whom were adamant about limiting exposure to other people, due to fears of the spread of the virus, and often had to be convinced to do in person interviews in lieu of speaking to me via Zoom . For example, when shooting a story about youth homelessness due to the pandemic, I arranged overnight access to a homeless shelter in Chicago. The staff were extremely worried about a Covid-19 outbreak which would have shuttered the shelter and left young people out on the street. The media liaison told me it was much easier to give me permission as a one woman crew than a typical three person team. Furthermore, after the shoot,  the staff mentioned that by walking in with only a duffel bag slung across my chest and my iPhone shoved in my jeans pocket, I was able to quickly put people disinclined to speak to journalists at ease. 

In fact, I was able to develop a rapport with the young people taking refuge at the shelter for the night, by joking that I know I didn’t look like a real news crew but that I was working alone with my iPhone during the pandemic. A few people shyly approached me as I was moving around the shelter to get shots to ask me questions. I even offered a few of these tech savvy  members of Generation Z a closer look at my shots and how the iPhone kit worked. That only made it easier for me to tell this story of their plight. Not one of the young people at the shelter refused to be on camera. That is rare  when doing such a sensitive story that involves people worried about being stigmatized. 

When I shot a story with “Maria,” a survivor of domestic violence, I believe the unobtrusive nature of an iPhone on a tripod helped reduce the apprehension she felt. Up until five minutes before “Maria” arrived for the interview at a park she chose near her home, she told me she wasn’t sure she could summon the strength to speak about her ordeal. At the conclusion of our interview, she told me she often forgot that there was a camera recording. 

There is no question that there are limitations and challenges of working alone with a mobile phone.  I needed extra time to set up my equipment and microphone to comply with Aljazeera’s Covid-19  guidelines. I also had to be very mindful of lighting conditions so I avoided shooting at night. I was also unable to film in rainy weather as I couldn't find gear to protect my equipment. If the conditions were windy, it was almost impossible to shoot without the shot being shaky, which was expected given how light the gear is.  

 

3
"I needed extra time to set up my equipment and microphone to comply with Aljazeera’s Covid-19 guidelines". Photo Credit: Craig Atkinson

 

I discovered that filming objects from a far distance using an iPhone was almost pointless. Unlike a standard television camera, the zoom function on the iPhone is inadequate. To get the best shots, build proper sequences and create wide, medium and tight shots, you literally need to move closer to the object you are shooting. That means pulling the iPhone off the tripod and setting it on the ground to stabilize it. I would never shoot with a mobile phone hand-held unless I was  shooting something such as a protest. In that instance, I purchased a stabilizing piece of equipment called a gimbal, that creates broadcast quality nice and smooth moving shots. 

Being unable to monitor audio quality while shooting interviews was also a major drawback. I was forced to pause filming repeatedly to check audio levels, to avoid returning from the field and finding the audio unusable.

Due to storage limitations on an iPhone, I had to be very careful  how I recorded shots. I limited my interviews to no more than a couple of questions or several minutes each, since they would occupy a lot of storage space. Otherwise,  I had to stop during a shoot to transfer video clips to an external hard drive, which was time consuming and proved to be impractical as I was often given access to places for only a specific period of time and people I worked with had busy schedules.

The stories I shot with my iPhone also covered different topics, such as voter suppression in the United States ahead of the 2020 presidential and congressional elections, essential workers in a county jail where there was a Covid-19 outbreak and a new American economic initiative to pair workers with available jobs in the trades. 

During the racial justice protests that swept America after a Minneapolis Police Officer murdered George Floyd, I used the iPhone kit I’d assembled to do live shots on multiple occasions. In doing so, I became an additional correspondent in the field contributing to our network’s coverage of this historic protest movement when there was either no photographer or interest in paying for a satellite truck.

There were of course times people snidely remarked that they couldn’t believe that a senior correspondent with Al Jazeera English would be working alone with her iPhone. I realized that for many Americans I lacked the credibility and prestige of showing up at a shoot with a full crew of a producer and a photographer with a television camera and equipment that couldn’t be purchased by anyone at the mall. However, the finished stories were the real proof of performance. To an untrained eye, I believe and I was told that the video is virtually indistinguishable from that of a standard television camera. Credit needs to be given to the team of editors in Washington DC who transformed my video into quality, compelling news stories for Al Jazeera English

 

2
"During the racial justice protests that swept America after a Minneapolis Police Officer murdered George Floyd, I used the iPhone kit I’d assembled to do live shots on multiple occasions". Photo Credit: Craig Atkinson

 

From an Al Jazeera standpoint, my ability to work with a mobile phone turned me, a senior correspondent, into a full news crew.  While I would not recommend correspondents work with a mobile phone on a daily basis or to cover breaking news stories as it diverts attention from our primary role, a mobile phone can prove to be  invaluable . It can become a second camera for a team in the field, an emergency alternative when a photographer is unavailable, a discrete way to record when official journalist access is restricted and it reduces the costs of newsgathering for enterprise stories.  

In the end, the fact that I worked alone to produce, shoot and report stories on my iPhone is likely irrelevant to our audience. What is relevant, is that I was able to continue working during  unprecedented circumstances at the beginning of the pandemic to report stories and highlight voices that align with our mission to give “voice to the voiceless and speak truth to power.” Ultimately, our goal as a network is to create compelling, impactful stories regardless of the circumstances we face and the tools we use.

 

More Articles

Suffering in silence - the Kashmiri journalists facing a mental health crisis

THE LONG READ: Al Jazeera Journalism Review has interviewed more than 20 journalists in India-controlled Kashmir who are facing exhausting, insurmountable obstacles to doing their jobs safely every single day

Adil Akhoon
Adil Amin Akhoon, Khalid Bashir Gura Published on: 29 May, 2023
How to analyse satellite imagery

When you have a story, but still need to tie up loose ends to answer where or when a particular event occurred, satellite imagery can point you in the right direction

Sara
Sara Creta Published on: 25 May, 2023
OSINT: Tracking ships, planes and weapons

Tracking ships and planes is an increasingly valuable technique in open-source investigations carried out by journalists. In part 4 of our special series, we examine how it works

Sara
Sara Creta Published on: 18 May, 2023
How social media bans have crippled journalism in India’s Punjab

The Indian government has ordered social media platforms to block hundreds of accounts of journalists and activists

Meer Faisal
Meer Faisal Published on: 16 May, 2023
Tear gas and internet blackouts - reporting on protests in Pakistan

REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK: Following the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, violence has erupted across Pakistan. For journalists, it is like reporting from the centre of a storm

Anam Hussain
Anam Hussain Published on: 14 May, 2023
Remembering Shireen; my colleague and a 'role model for professionalism'

On the eve of the first anniversary of the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, Al Jazeera's Senior Correspondent in Palestine, her colleague commemorates the compassion, integrity and professionalism which made her the extraordinary journalist and human being that she was

Walid
Walid Omary Published on: 10 May, 2023
Planning and carrying out an open-source investigation

Part three of our special series of articles on using OSINT in journalism. This time, follow our four steps to completing an open-source investigation

Sara
Sara Creta Published on: 9 May, 2023
What is an open-source investigation?

In the second part of our special series on using open-source intelligence in journalism, we look at what constitutes and open-source investigation

Sara
Sara Creta Published on: 4 May, 2023
How misinformation in the media wreaked havoc on an Indian village

When journalists - and social media ‘influencers’ claiming to be journalists - aimed for sensationalism and did not check their facts about the outbreak of the HIV virus in an Indian village, the results were devastating

Saurabh Sharma
Saurabh Sharma Published on: 1 May, 2023
Using open-source intelligence in journalism

Where once journalists relied on sources for information - also known as ‘human intelligence’ (HUMINT) - they now increasingly rely on ‘open-source’ intelligence (OSINT) gathered from the internet, satellite imagery, corporate databases and much, much more

Phil
Phil Rees Published on: 12 Apr, 2023
Why is life so dangerous for Pakistani journalists?

Pakistani journalists face huge danger in the course of carrying out their work. Why is so little being done to address this?

Anam Hussain
Anam Hussain Published on: 6 Apr, 2023
Investigating the assassination of my own father

As a journalist, reporting on the murder of my father meant answering questions about my own position as an objective observer

Diana Lopez
Diana Lopez Zuleta Published on: 3 Apr, 2023
‘I have disturbing dreams’ - the reporters suffering mental trauma on the job

Remaining objective while bearing witness to atrocities and suffering abuse from authorities is taking its toll on the mental health of journalists in India

Saurabh Sharma
Saurabh Sharma Published on: 20 Mar, 2023
Understanding data journalism

Data journalism is about much more than just sorting through facts and figures. In the first part of our series, we look at what constitutes data-based storytelling

Mohammed Haddad
Mohammed Haddad Published on: 16 Mar, 2023
Why are journalists being prevented from reporting on the earthquakes? 

Media workers have played a vital role in ensuring help arrives for earthquake victims in Turkey, but many claim they are being prevented from doing their jobs

Aidan
Aidan White Published on: 5 Mar, 2023
Field notes from an earthquake - reporting on human misery

REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK: Where do you draw the line when covering human suffering? When does reporting on a devastating earthquake cross over from objective journalism to tasteless voyeurism?

Ilya
Ilya U Topper Published on: 20 Feb, 2023
‘I reported the truth - and was taken to jail’ - the journalists in prison in India

Indian journalist Siddique Kappan has been released after more than two years in prison just for doing his job. We talked to him and others who have been arrested or imprisoned

Saurabh Sharma
Saurabh Sharma Published on: 15 Feb, 2023
‘Leading the voiceless’ - how low-caste Indian journalists are crowdfunding their own newsrooms

Dalit representation in Indian media organisations is very low. Some journalists from the lowest Hindu caste are finding innovative ways to start up their own news platforms

Saurabh Sharma
Saurabh Sharma Published on: 13 Feb, 2023
Investigative journalism: Handling data and gathering evidence

Data is only one part of the investigative story. In Part 5 of our series on investigative journalism, we look at different methods of gathering evidence

Malak Khalil Published on: 9 Feb, 2023
Investigative journalism: Going undercover 

Covert operations for a journalistic investigation should be undertaken as a last resort only. In Part 4 of our series on investigative journalism, we explore the best ways to go undercover

Malak Khalil Published on: 2 Feb, 2023
‘They called us agents of imperialism’ - remembering the bombing of Zimbabwe’s Daily News

Twenty-two years after the bombing of a newspaper printing plant in January 2001, the perpetrators are still at large - and a state-sanctioned assault on a free press continues

Derick M
Derick Matsengarwodzi Published on: 30 Jan, 2023
Investigative journalism: How to develop and manage your sources

Your sources are the backbone of any investigation. In Part 3 of our series on investigative journalism, we look at how to find, foster and manage them

Malak Khalil Published on: 26 Jan, 2023
Investigative journalism: Hypothesis-based investigations

What is a hypothesis-based investigation, how do you come up with one and how do you investigate and prove it? Part 2 of our series on investigative journalism

Malak Khalil Published on: 19 Jan, 2023
Investigative journalism: What should you investigate?

In the first of our series on investigative journalism, we look at how journalists decide what to investigate

Malak Khalil Published on: 12 Jan, 2023