Is the net catching up with traditional news media? It has definitely changed the way a lot of us get news. I think it supplements the other ways of getting news, rather than becoming people's primary way of getting it. Most of the news networks, including us, have their own news websites but if there's a big breaking story, people will still turn on their TVs. It's similar to when television first came along. I'm sure some thought it would spell the end for newspapers, but they all perform a different function and end up complementing each other. The more ways of delivering news, the better really!
What technology does the intrepid foreign correspondent take abroad? The thing that came into its own in Afghanistan was the videophone. They had been used before but their early flickering images are now getting a lot better. We were in Mazar-e Sharif with only a videophone to get pictures back. Because there were no satellites in the field, videophones were used all over and they made a real difference. I can carry a small videophone with me, set it up and get a picture back to London from Guantanamo Bay! We also had Thuraya satellite phones as standard issue, which are nice and portable.
Technical hitches? With high-tech equipment, you can be stymied by the basics, as you still need a power source. I've been in situations where the videophone and edit-pack were really small, yet half the tent was taken up by the generator and several five-gallon containers of petrol! Dust and heat were our biggest problem in Afghanistan. We ended up editing at Bagram Airbase in a van we'd been travelling around in, but it became the only dust-free zone for the equipment.
Was the net to be found in Afghanistan? When we first went over there was none, but a lot of the kids were asking us about it. Some of the Red Cross staff had satellite access to the net. People were fascinated by it and wanted to know how they could get access. After the Taliban fell, our translator wanted to use some of the money he'd been making to set up an internet cafe in Mazar-e Sharif. Things change quickly: there's even an internet cafe in Georgetown, Sierra Leone!
Broadband? There's a Local Area network at work and we've just got BT Openworld at home. It took ages to set it up and we were beset with technical problems but it's finally up and running. It speeds everything up nicely. The net is a great resource tool. I'm off to Washington next week so I can log on to the Washington Post site and get all the first-hand information. My pet hate, however, is pop-up adverts!
Favourite sites? www.timeout.com/london and www.net-a-porter.com
Visit: www.itn.co.uk
