Sky News correspondent Nick Martin gave three pieces of advice to those looking to get into mobile reporting at news:rewired – media in motion.
He identified how essential it is that journalists are engaging in mobile reporting and shared some of his experiences reporting from various stories using just an iPhone, including the London Riots.
Nick Martin also highlighted the importance of investigating accessories that can be added to enhance the quality of video and sound. One example he showed was an adapter to be able to plug in an XLR cable to record high quality audio.
Martin’s one big piece of advice is to practise. The key to getting better with mobile reporting is to “take the rough with the smooth”.
He also advised beginners not to panic. While it can seem daunting at times, Martin showcased examples where there was no choice but for reporters to get involved with recording video from their mobiles, such as when reporting from numerous locations on one story with only one cameraman. Martin told a story of how he was covering the deportation of two buses of illegal immigrants in America with one cameraman. They each went on one bus and it was his bus that gave the more interesting story – “like a scene from Scarface”. Martin was left with no choice but to use his iphone footage.
Martin’s final piece of advice was to use mobile reporting only when it was appropriate. He said it is not worth setting up a tripod and XLR cables for an iPhone when the cameraman is just five minutes away and time could be much better spent working out the story and what has happened.