ABC News Misses an Opportunity

Listen:

Stephanie Stokes, a journalist at the Time-Picayune newspaper in New Orleans, sent me the following clipping:

Under pressure to cut costs, ABC News has “resorted to using iPhone for shooting some stories.” (Italics my own).

Resorted to! One can only imagine the gnashing of teeth, the wailing, the rending of clothing. “Oh my God. Now we are going to be forced to use a superior piece of technology which will, when used properly, give us far better stories.”

ABC News is being dragged kicking and screaming in the 21^st Century and very much against their will. Good.

Luckily, from their perspective, this travesty is only going to be inflicted on them for “some stories”. One can imagine when they will be using iPhones – perhaps go get a few seconds of b-roll. Perhaps.

What ABC News does not understand is that, again, when used properly, the iPhone is a far superior tool for creating TV news stories than dragging around a small refrigerator on your shoulder – or having someone else drag it for you – which is more often the case.

Why is the iPhone a superior tool for TV journalism? Well, first of all, it shoots 4K@60fps, with all three of its cameras. (That’s right, three cameras). With the right app, it can even shoot with all three cameras simultaneously. It is unquestionably ‘broadcast quality’. Second, it not only shoots outstanding and beautiful video, it also edits. Try doing that with your Sony XDCam. Plus, while you are editing, you can also add music and graphics. Oh, and it goes live.

Aside from all of that, you can comfortably slip it into your pocket. As everyone has one of these and pretty much everyone now shoots video, it puts your subject at ease immediately. No more shoving a giant lens in front of someone’s face and having to say “just ignore the camera and talk to me.” In situations where no cameras are allowed, well, just put the camera in your pocket and walk on in.

Of course, there is also the cost. A new iPhone 14 costs about $1500 (the Max Pro with 1TB of memory). The SONY Sony PXW-Z450 4K costs $25,000, but of course, that is only for the body. That doesn’t include the lens (a single lens), nor does it include the tripod you are gonna need, batteries that could run a Tesla and a whole raft of other junk. And don’t try putting that one in your pocket.

People stealing gear is a big problem when you have big gear, but now when your gear is a phone.

But what about the “quality?”

If you think of the iPhone as just a cheap substitute for a “professional” camera and use it in the same way, (which I think is probably how ABC News sees it), then you don’t understand what an iPhone can do for you and for TV journalism.

AH Waite Courtesy wikicommons

In the early days of photojournalism, all still photographers used big view cameras. They were massive things that cost a fortune, weighed a ton and required a big tripod. (Sound familiar?). You had to lug the things around, but they shot on large format sheet film which gave amazing resolution to the images. Then, in 1923, the Leica company introduced a small, hand-held, 35mm camera – the Leica 1.  Instead of big format film, it shot on tiny 35 mm roll film. It was small, lightweight, portable and you could put it in your pocket.

W. Eugene Smith Courtesy wikicommons

Of course, a lot of photographers in those days were afraid of the Leica.

“A toy!” they said. “It’s not a real camera.”

Now, if you had taken the Leica and screwed it to a tripod and used it like a cheap view camera, you would not have understood what a powerful new tool you had in your hands.  Some photographers did just that, but others tried a very different approach.  They went hand-held. They got close. And in doing so, they created an entirely new kind of photojournalism. Powerful.  Intense. Personal. Strong. Intimate.

In 1961, the Museum of Modern Art in New York opened an exhibition called The Family of Man. In doing so, it elevated this kind of Leica-driven photojournalism from a craft to a fine art. It has remained there ever since. Photographers like Cartier Bresson, Robert Capa, W. Eugene Smith and pretty much all of Magnum made their careers with Leicas.   

What the Leica did for photography, the iPhone can do for video and TV journalism. But it means using the tool in a very different way. But if you do so, you can create some amazing results.

For the past few years, we have been working with a number of TV news broadcasters around the world to teach journalists to work in this way. Here is an example from KPIX, the CBS O&O in San Francisco – shot on an iPhone in one day by one journalist. You tell me.