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Visual radio online

Posted: 08/01/04 By: Jemima Kiss

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Argentine radio show 'La Cornisa' has established what is believed to be the first photoblog offered by a radio or TV programme.

Designed to provide extended news coverage for its audience, the site works in the same way as a traditional blog, but with images taken by a camera on a mobile phone.

La Cornisa broadcasts politics and general interest on weekday mornings from Buenos Aires, Argentina's capital. The photoblog was launched on 8 December by La Cornisa sports columnist Fabián Tetelboim, who flew to Tokyo to cover the Intercontinental Cup football match between Boca Jrs and Milan.

Images are emailed from the phone and uploaded straight to the textamerica.com, a community web site for mobile phone bloggers or 'mobloggers'. The site is completely free to use.

La Cornisa’s project was directed by Julián Gallo, professor of new media journalism at the Universidad de San Andrés in Buenos Aires.

"For us, it is an impressive development in the production and distribution of news," said Mr Gallo, former creative director at clarin.com, one of Argentina’s biggest media organisations.

"We haven't seen any other radio or TV channel which is using photoblogs, but we believe it will soon become general practice."

Technology has always had a significant impact on journalistic practice, says Mr Gallo, and photoblogs offer the chance to present some unique and intimate images.

He says that mobile phone cameras can create the style of candid photography typified by Erich Salomon, the 20th century German photojournalist who became known for his portraits of politicians and public figures caught off-guard.

"The fact that they are low quality photos does not pose a problem. They are opportunistic photos whose interest goes beyond resolution," he told dotJournalism.

"Anyway, the technological capacity of phones will soon allow a quality that will be more than enough for online photography."

From February, La Cornisa's photoblog project will be sponsored by one of the country’s mobile phone operators, giving the station a new income stream. The team also wants to extend the coverage to include video clips on the blog.

See also:
http://boca03.textamerica.com
http://blackout.textamerica.com
http://www.vodafone.jp/english/products/kisyu/v601sh/index.html

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