Global Communication - Satellite Technology

Satellite Technology

The development and advancement of Satellite technology has played an important and pivotal role in the development of online and digital journalism. Improvements and advancements in satellite technology have enabled scientists to produce and transmit images live across various news mediums from even highly remote areas such as war zones. Such technology was used intensively throughout the Iraq war, to enable journalists to transmit images from the battlefield direct to the public.

One primary form of satellite technology used by journalists is Satellite News Gathering technology. Satellite News Gathering (SNG) is the use of mobile communications equipment for the purpose of worldwide news-casting. Mobile units are usually vans equipped with advanced, two-way audio and video transmitters and receivers, using dish antennas that can be aimed at geostationary satellites.

Satellite News Gathering is the primary form of satellite technology used by journalists and online news services to produce and transmit images and sound directly to global audiences. The SNG technology enables the audience live up-to-the-minute information on breaking news, weather and sport.

Online journalism is enabling journalists to present the latest SNG technology related to gathering, producing and transmitting news from war zones to international audiences. It is in these “times of crisis that journalists are most likely to use satellite imaging to gain access to denied areas such as areas under military conflict or during a natural or human made disaster� (Kawamoto, 2003: 82) The Iraq war showcased these technologies that were implemented to produce and distribute news live and direct to international audiences. These digital technologies included:

• Wireless laptops and handheld digital cameras for filling reports from battlefields and military installations
• Satellite video transmitters that run off cigarette lighters
• Interactive 3D maps for updating troop movements, casualties, and weapons used
• Computer simulations
• Web based services available for online viewers eg 24 hour video streams
• Satellite phones standard equipment with video capability, allowed live coverage from battlefield, unseen in any prior war
• GPS (Geographical positioning system)
• Web-cams in Baghdad to provide to provide continuous, unedited video from their websites
• Extensive use of satellite imagery, providing high resolution

The use of these satellite technologies allow journalists to give “the public a visual understanding of the developments� (Kawamoto, 2003: 83) throughout such crises as war. However, the new media’s access to satellite imagery raises a new and possibly controversial issue in regards to ethics and the misuse of such technology. (Seib, 2004: 50)

Bibliography

Kawamoto, K. (2003) Digital Journalism: Emerging Media and the Changing Horizons of Journalism, Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc.

Seib, P. (2004) Beyond the Front Lines, New York: Palgrave Macmillian

Kellie McCall 17:40, 19 Oct 2004 (EST)