Reuters apparently sends its reporters out with this combo:

• Nokia N95 phone ~$580: Acts as 5 megapixel video camera, music player, email device and GPS mapper.
• Nokia Wireless Keyboard SU-8W, ~$110: Bluetooth capable to type up reports. Folds down to an easy-to-use size.
• Power Monkey charger ~$120: Uses our mortal enemy, the sun, to charge our electronic devices. For those times when we’re reporting from a very remote location, like Senegal.
• Tripod and mic for the camera, and assorted cords, ~$200

I could definitely see a need for the phone + keyboard in, say, a prominent murder trial. Imagine live blogging the trial, as Ron Sylvester did at his paper last year (link to blog post of his work last year. Sylvester blogs at Technolo-J. His old blog remains a treasure trove of good information).

Tip of the hat to AndyDickenson.net for the heads up. He also links a video on his site.

This time, Sylvester is covering another murder trial. The copy desk said “no more.”

People are going on vacation. We’re short-staffed. There was no time to sort through my updates each hour.

The trial: Ted Burnett is accused of killing Chelsea Brooks, a 14-year-old girl who was nine months pregnant, in June 2006, during a murder-for-hire.

Like any journalist with a passion, he thought around the problem. He started posting updates on Twitter. Usually his paper doesn’t cover jury selection, but this time they did. It was a capital murder trial. He wanted to know who was going to be on the jury.

Who would notice?

I didn’t expect the reaction..

I received an email from a Wichita police officer following the trial on Twitter, saying “Keep it up.”

(snip)

But this is important to me, because they are local people, looking for local news. They’re not readers or viewers or audience anymore – in this world of social networking, they’re my friends. I like that.

Katie, our online content developer, is working on a widget to put my tweets on Kansas.com, when the trial really gets going.

Read Sylvester’s post on Technolo-J. This is great for reporters who want to find a fast easy way to start using this as a liveblogging tool. But you have to be extra vigilant about your copy because there is no safeguard between you and the readers.

(Note: I literally just started using Twitter last week. I’ve been updating much of my technology skills, like making sure I had all my RSS feeds in a Google reader, updating my blog (still in process) and subscribing to Facebook. During my last Anacortes School Board meeting, I sorta practiced with Twitter, right around when Mr. Sylvester started liveblogging the jury selection.)

Follow me on Twitter: KateMartin13

Final Salute by Jim Sheeler (Rocky Mountain News)

Sheeler with the Rocky Mountain News followed a Marine casualty assistance officer to the doors of families who were about to hear their soldier had died in the line of duty. Final Salute won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing, and Todd Heisler’s compelling photos also earned the accolade (Heisler later went on to the New York Times).

After you spend an hour and half a box of Kleenex reading Final Salute, read the interview with Sheeler on why he decided to write a book. The interview itself is a powerful reminder of why journalists need to write these stories — and that we are people, too:

What emotional toll did writing this book have on you, after having already devoted so much time to the original story?

There were times when I’d be interviewing somebody and I’d start crying, and times when I was sitting at the computer late at night and it would happen again. There are scenes that will shake me all my life – hearing Katherine (Cathey) scream on the tarmac (as her husband’s coffin was removed from a plane). It’s a sound no one should have to hear, but, in a way, it’s a sound that everybody should hear. I know I’ll never forget it.

I hardly read the Rocky anymore now that I’ve moved to the Seattle area. After I read that story back in 2005, I emailed Mr. Sheeler and told him how the story made me feel. My husband, Eric, was in the Navy for six years. And while the Navy is not nearly as dangerous as the Army or the Marines, parting was always hard. Before each deployment I made Eric wear a shirt around for several days. While he was gone, I’d smell the shirt to remember him. I felt compelled to tell Mr. Sheeler that story. Mr. Sheeler saved all the emails he got and let us know when a book was coming out.

Here’s a link to the book: Final Salute on Amazon.com.

I’m not sure why this is happening now, but I suspect it has to do with all of the recent layoffs at the Seattle Times and hiring freezes at other papers. My paper wants more local content, and while the stories are not written by local staff, it gives them an opportunity to fill the pages with local-enough content.

I think this is a good plan, though I wonder if this means that local bureaus can continue to cut more and more people because they have this new service to fall back on.