NYT on mobile tech and frontline war reporting, kevinsites.net suspension

An item in today's New York Times by Amy Harmon on technology and war reporting, which also discusses the suspension on Friday of the www.kevinsites.net warblog.

Reporters covering the war in Iraq are at one with their technology as never before. Television reporters are toting hand-held video cameras and print journalists have traded the 70-pound satellite phones of the 1991 Gulf War for svelte models that can be held up to their ear. High-speed Internet lines in the desert and more satellites in the sky mean journalists can make a connection almost anywhere. As the conflict unfolds, they are tapping into the global communications grid regularly.

News gatherers say the smaller gadgets and bigger bandwidth have broadened their reach in a way that is sure to change how people perceive the war. Just as television forced the world to confront graphic images of war for the first time during the Vietnam War, today's digital devices are beginning to provide a more intimate and multifaceted view of the war in Iraq than would have ever been possible before.

"Technology has advanced to the point where the only limitation is in the imagination of the correspondent," said Frank Governale, the vice president for operations at CBS News. "Given access by the military and willpower of the people, we can pretty much go live from wherever we want. It's a scary thought."

Image (NYT): A system used by NBC that provides Internet access and multiple telephone connections. Link to NYT story (registration required), Discuss