K.A. Dodhiya, a reporter for the Mumbai Mirror, used his camera phone to take photos of poor Indian students who are required to clean the entire school — cleaning toilets, mopping floors, etc. (see left) — that is not required of the wealthier students, according to an article in the newspaper.
The article says, “The boarders this correspondent spoke to while secretly capturing the work they were being made to do on his camera phone, said they do not at all enjoy cleaning the classrooms and toilets they use with their friends during the day.”
Interesting that the reporter used a camera phone to “secretly capture” the boys working. Yes, it is sometimes easier to unobtrusively take photos with a camera phone. But there are really small digital cameras (that the reporter might not have had) that take far superior photos.
However, the camera phone photos serve their purpose: They document the boys cleaning floors and toilets.
Purpose
The article’s purpose isn’t to highlight camera phone photos, of course, but rather to document the students’ cleaning and discuss whether it’s appropriate for a school to require it.
However, the fuzzy, grainy camera phone photos help to highlight the “secretive” nature of the journalistic assignment — just as poor video and audio from satellite phones highlight that foreign correspondents are indeed overseas.
CNNIBN, an Indian TV news channel, encourages people with camera phones to contribute to their coverage of live/major events as part of their 'Citizen Journalist' initiative. Contributions generally take the form of MMS clips shot on the scene.
Posted by: sobers | Wednesday, September 27, 2006 at 04:43 PM