Mobile news

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Mobile News

Mobile News services are growing in popularity along with an explosion in the usage of SMS messages worldwide and a few organizations are exporing these services. International news agency CNN advertises its mobile news services over its news broadcasts regularly.

Reuters also provides mobile alerts free to customers in the U.S. and Canada. Other institutions offering SMS news services include Channelnewsasia Sky News Starcomm.

A small news agency Jasmine News in Sri Lanka is exploring public journalism using mobile telephony. Its only a matter of time before a number of news organizations explore public journalism via the medium of mobile phones.

Setting up SMS news services cost significantly less compared to setting up larger news organizations. Mobile News also has the potential to place the power of breaking news reporting in the hands of small communities and facilitate a much better exchange of information among users due to the ease of usage of mobile phones compared with conventional media such as radio, TV or newspapers.

SMS news services can be distinguished between "instant" and "on-demand" SMS news services, with instant pushed SMS messages having the most potential to transform public engagement with news.

Other institutions are exploring activism and the power for mobiles to record news in the hands of the public. Witness.org tries to empower people all over the world to tell their stories and share their experiences so that they have a voice.

Reuters and Yahoo have started You Witness News where news photos can be sent to Reuters at pics@reuters.com.

The Mobile Data Association (MDA) has forecast that SMS will become even more popular in 2007, reaching 45 billion for the year (3.75 billion a month, or 123 million a day).