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Jasmine News in Sri Lanka is exploring the potential for mobile telephones to improve the way journalism is practiced and how the public can become actively involved in the news process.
Jasmine News (JNW) in Sri Lanka (www.jnw.lk), which commenced in May last year, delivers breaking news by quick SMS alerts to subscribers.
Short SMS messages are a fast and convenient way for readers to receive news alerts wherever they may be, whether away from their offices or out in the field.
JNW also finds that its easier to interact with subscribers via SMS. Subscribers frequently tip JNW off when they are closest to a news event – an information sharing process that has benefits for all its members.
As a result, JNW is frequently among the fastest breaking news services in Sri Lanka and has seen demand for its news subscriptions from key information users such as embassies, govt departments, corporate and financial institutions and NGOs.
Some of the significant benefits of relying on mobile technology are the following:
1) Can facilitate the setting up of community news services with low start-up cost that are nevertheless effective in news delivery
2) affordable to users due to the low cost of SMS in some countries
3) encourages greater participation and influence of the public in the news gathering and sharing process (i.e public journalism).
JNW will soon explore the potential of picture and video messaging for news, in the hands of the public, which is already being done by Reuters and Yahoo for instance.
4) the potential to offer breaking news services such as provided by Reuters, Bloomberg or Dow Jones, that underpin activity in developed markets, in developing countries at very low cost.
JNW has a moderated Public Mobile Blog that allows anyone to post immediately to the news website allowing direct access via SMS to the news and information process wherever they may be.
While many hurdles to the operation exist due to JNW being started by a couple of journalists with low seed capital and others who contributed with skills, fairly low operation costs have been a significant boon to the venture.
These are some of the many advantages of relying on mobile technology.
Please don’t hesitate to contact us to find out more, support our drive to twin journalism best practice with mobile technology, and inform and educate us about your experiences with mobile telephony for communication.
