The Mobile Storytelling Podcast

Spanish journalist Leonor Suarez used her mobile phone to cover the Spanish Civil War. Not the real event off course, but a reenactment of the 1930’s war for a documentary. How did she experience being a director, cameraman and journalist at the same time? And what were the challenges in working on the phone?

Clubhouse is the new ‘hip and happening’ social platform. Everybody wants to be on it and some are even willing to pay for an invite. But is this social audio platform useful for journalism? And what about recording a complete podcast on it? We tried it for this very special (and experimental) first episode of season two of the Mobile Storytelling Podcast. With guest appearances by Louisa Houben (ZDF), Marc Settle (BBC) and many others.

Marc Settle is training his colleagues for "that" moment in their career. "My goal is to make people aware of the capabilities of the phone when they need it," for exaple breaking news, when the satellite truck is still miles away. The one scene that can change a journalistic career - Marc Settle is training journalists at the BBC to use their smartphone for mobile reporting. They will always be moments when the camera crew will have the better shot - "but we need more people to be able to use their phone for reporting." Marc gives us a great inside into one of the biggest broadcasters in the world and its workflows around the smartphone. He also talks about his role as a trainer - and of course he gives some hints on apps that he really likes.

"The smartphone makes me feel safe." Martin Heller has been reporting on protests and demonstrations for nearly 20 years. A lot of his current reports are filmed and edited on smartphones. "Somedays it helps not be seen as a reporter with a big microphone and a cameracrew, especially when journalists are shouted at or even attacked." He started using his smartphone for reporting in 2013 with an iPhone 4. Currently he leads a video team at WELT media outlet in Berlin. For him it´s "a decision in every second" what to do next: edit or send a tweet or go live. He tells us about his light equipment, his approach to reporting even in dangerous or challenging situations and emphasizes the importance of video journalists especially at protests: "Sometimes it´s one image, one scene that tells the whole story of a protest."

He doesn´t do the dance, but still - Marcel Anderwert is quite succesful on TikTok. What an achievement as a news reporter! Marcel works for the Swiss Broadcaster SRF. Initially, he reported for national news like everyone else - he went out with a camera crew. But he always had a passion for smartphones. At his comapy, they called him "the iPhone doctor" because he repaired his colleagues´ phones early on (and even charged them for it!). Then he started telling his stories with his smartphone, and noone noticed. Convinced by his filming skills, SRF then commissioned him to produce solely for social media channels. Since then Marcel is experimenting with formats, platforms and technology, but always focussing on the story. In this episode he tells us how he shoots a story that finds its audience on classical TV as well as TikTok.

“Storytelling was always a part of my live." But first, Sallyanne Massimini studied fine arts - she worked in arts galleries and loved painting(s). Only in her senior year in college she discovered visual effects and video and ventured into film making. Then her career took of: She worked on commercials, documentaries and fiction. But still she tells us: "Every frame is a painting." Framing and composition are important to her - she tranfers her artistic knowledge to film making. That brings a lot of planning with it before a shoot, but; "Sometimes, you´re so completey focussed on a moment, and you wait for magic to happen." Sal got her hands on a prototype of REDs legendary Hydrogen One phone and started shooting also, but not only on her phone.

Eleanor Mannion´s story shows how Mobile Journalism can change a career path. She stumbled into journalism "by accident", as she recalls: Normally working as prodction staff behind the cameras at Ireland´s publix service broadcaster RTE, she took part in a Mobile Journalism Training. And loved it! Since then she has embarked on an impressive journalism career even filming a documentary with her smartphone. She currently works in a unit that is producing journalistic content for a younger audience, being consumed mostly on mobile phones. She talks to us about the challenges and chances that lie in mobile journalism.

“Technology changes, storytelling never will." Mike Castellucci even shows this on a t-shirt he wears from time to time. "Me taking everything to the extreme, I started shooting not only 2 minute stories with my phone, but half our shows for network television." Mike is the mastermind behind "Phoning it in", a television programme that is completely shot on mobile phones. It all started with his boss asking him to go on an interview without a camera crew but his phone - and ended with an Emmy award (and several others). In our podcast, Mike tells us how he shoots his network shows, how an iphone ended up under a big bulls feet, how important it is to honour people and their stories. Mike also teaches journalism at Michigan State University and produced a special Corona programme together with his students that won him another award.

“My passion is editing. To design an app for editing is like editing to me." Teri Morgan is the Co-Founder of Luma Touch, the company behind the iOs-App "Luma Fusion". - A podcast about listening to users, start-up culture and agility: Many believe Luma Fusion it is the best and unrivalled editing app for storytellers on iPhones. But how did Luma Touch manage to devolop such an unrivalled market leader? Teri tells us about her passion. "When non-linear editing started, the good old boys said: This is never gonna take of," she remembers. "But I started reading every page of the manual." Working at Luma Touch is "the most fun I ever had in my life" she tells us in our podcast. And she shares some thoughts about future developments and updates.

“My God, I didn´t know my phone could do that!" Glen Mulcahy still gets this reaction, nearly a decade after he started training journalists in how to tell a story with their smartphone. Glen started a movement: He founded the "Mobile Journalism Conference" (later turned into "MojoFest"). He even left his job as technology lead with the Irish public-service broadcaster RTE to concentrate on bringing mobile journalism to journalists worldwide. "The smartphone poses a chance and a danger to journalism at the same time, the volume of content being produced these days is a gift and a curse, all in one go." "Stop worrying about office space," he tells media companies during the #corona pandemic, "but build a completely mobile eco system." By this, journalism could become the lifeblood of a community again.

“You want to be as invisible as possible." During the corona pandemic, RAI-3-journalist Nico Piro has reported from Italy´s hotspots. He was one of the first TV reporters to film in an emergency hospital built during the crisis in Bergamo - with his smartphone. "In such a hospital, there´s pain, there´s suffering", he tells us in our podcast. "So you don´t want to invade the place." His smartphone was small enough for him to blend into the surrounding, to respect difficult situation patients and staff were in. An the phone was easy enough to clean after working in a ward with a high viral charge. Before corona, Nico has worked as foreign correspondent for the TG 3 news programme covering the war in Afghanistan and other areas of the world - partly also with his smartphone. The important thing for him: It´s the story that counts, and the smartphone is one tool to tell a story. He also thinks the phone is great for beginners to learn their ropes in journalism.

There is a time when a sock might play an important role in mobile journalism. It´s not our trick, but it´s a good trick! And it´s one of the tricks, ideas and thougts we have gathered around microphones in this edition of the mobile storytelling podcast: How good are the mics build into your phone? Which mics are the ones you should buy if you´re on a budget and have money to spend for one microphone? What mics do you need for video interviews, which ones for podcasts? Wytse and Bjoern have collected their thoughts on microphones in this 3rd edition of the Mobile Storytelling Podcast.

"For them, Mobile Storytelling really makes a difference." Sara Hteit is training young refugees in Lebanese camps in how to tell their story with their smartphone. Her trainings are funded by Deutsche Welle Academy, and some of her trainees even ended up working as journalists for media outlets in Lebanon. "We´re not only giving them a voice, we´re giving them hope, a purpose for what to do in live," she tells us in the third episode of our podcast. Her target group don´t own fancy iPhone models: "Mobile Journalism" in refugee camps means filming with an old Android phone, often without any accessories. With Covid-19, the situation has worsened: "Right now, our trainees in the camps are really struggling." Their smartphones become means of telling lockdown stories - and Sara herself can only be in touch via WhatsApp or video call as Lebanon has introduced strong Corona rules as well.

"Recording into the couch might get you the best result." Nick Garnett is a legend in mobile reporting. He has been using his iPhone 3 GS to go live for the BBC more than a decade ago, and since then he has hardly done anything else than reporting from where the stories happened. In the first episode of the Mobile Storytelling Podcast, he shares his best tipps and tricks on how to report indepentendly from whereever you are - like not sitting on the couch but talking into it for better sound . We also asked Nick about his views on how journalism is changing during the #Corona pandemic and if home production with mobile tools finally sees its breakthrough: "We won't go back to working the way we did before."