News breakers

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Moeed Ahmad, Supervisor, Internet Media, New Media Section, Al Jazeera Network.

Qatar-based Al Jazeera Network is fast developing a reputation for not only developing advanced mobile media services but also leveraging the technology in breaking news environments. Aaron Greenwood caught up with three senior executives charged with shaping the broadcaster's new media fortunes.

Al Jazeera has fast developed a reputation for developing leading-edge mobile TV services. Was it difficult to encourage the organization to embrace the shift when these services were first conceived?

Messaoui: We've been developing our mobile TV service for the past two to three years. We believe the future of news lies in mobile and that cellular networks will provide the access point to this big cloud of content, which users will be able to access on-demand.

We create and produce content that must be available for access from any mobile device.

Users also need to be provided the ability to interact with this content. Mobile TV viewers are unique in the sense that they're generally early adopters who are hugely enthusiastic about interacting with the content.

You recently launched a new mobile TV service in conjunction with Mobiclip. How was this service conceived?

Mustafa: We have video-on-demand services designed for various levels of handset sophistication. We appreciate that the technology is far more sophisticated these days than what it was even two to three years ago, and the possibilities are far greater in terms of sophisticated delivery approaches.

We're not a technology company, so we partner with key specialists in this area. For live streaming on the iPhone platform we've partnered with LiveStation. Mobiclip, which is an expert at the chipset level, has supported our rollout of services for Symbian and Windows Mobile platforms.

The service is available worldwide, except in some countries which have certain restrictions. For example, in Malaysia Mobiclip is not included. As Al Jazeera, our intention is to be available in as many markets as possible worldwide.

What kinds of services are available to mobile TV subscribers?

Mustafa: The Al Jazeera mobile interface provides users with three options: Al Jazeera English or Arabic live streaming services, as well as video-on-demand, which includes news bulletins produced four times a day for English-language subscribers.

We've redesigned the traditional television interface for mobile viewing screens, so there are features like a bigger and more legible news ticker.

We're also looking to develop content specifically for mobile distribution.

Al Jazeera is also developing a reputation for its journalists putting mobile handsets to good use in the field...

Mustafa: We're the only news broadcaster in the region to be using mobile video uploads on such a large scale.

We've deployed an Al Jazeera reports application, which allows journalists to send video reports direct to the broadcast playout centre. We recommend a high-end handset equipped with a decent camera. The software provides the journos with a number of very useful features, including geotagging the footage, and even some basic in-phone editing.

We've managed to report on developing situations on the ground which wouldn't have been possible with more traditional forms of technology.

For example, we recently had a situation where one of our photo-journos, who was very famous for the footage he shot in Fallujah during the Iraq War, was visiting Chad. While he was there, he witnessed a car bomb explode and he instantly recorded the video to his phone, and because he was close to the hotel, he could access the Wi-Fi connection. The video was broadcast live on Al Jazeera Arabic literally within minutes of the explosion occurring.

But isn't it challenging sourcing network resources in some of these countries?

Mustafa: Wi-Fi and 3G services are available in many more locations than most people realise, which makes the platform ideal for breaking news scenarios. It also opens up many more possibilities for us in terms of the applications we can develop for our journalists.

Ahmad: Part of our role is evangelising these technologies in the newsroom and convincing the journalists of their benefits in the field.

What sort of value-add opportunities do you think mobile apps offer news organisations such as Al Jazeera?

Ahmad: Mobile footage is perfectly suited to online distribution. Since most handsets are also now equipped with GPS applications, we're encouraging our journos to log their locations with each report so we can map them online using Google Maps. This works brilliantly for reporters working in remote locations and it really adds depth to the coverage itself.

Messaoui: The footage is also uploaded to our YouTube channel, which increases the circulation of each report.

Given the largely unreliable nature of mobile networks in this part of the world, have you built much latency into your mobile upload service?

Mustafa: We have built a certain amount of redundancy into it to guard against weak or unstable connections. If a signal drops out mid-upload for example, it will continue on once the connection is re-established.

Messaoui: Most of the news hotspots, particularly in Africa, suffer from poor connectivity. But that has to be taken into consideration when developing an application such as this, to ensure it's as easy to use as possible. In conflict areas such as warzones, the technology must be easy to use.

Mustafa: When the conflict in Gaza was happening earlier this year most of the mobile telecoms networks were destroyed. Yet, we were receiving video footage from viewers via sites like YouTube.

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