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August 29, 2005
FTP Comes to the Rescue for CNN's Hurricane Katrina Coverage
Just a few moments ago on CNN, reporter John Zarella filed a story from New Orleans, which is currently being hammered by Hurricane Katrina. The footage was somewhat grainy, as if it had been shot live via videophone, but it featured cutaway footage from various parts of the city, so it was clear it was an edited package.
When the story ended, CNN's Daryn Kagan explained that network executives had given the order for TV crews not to use satellite trucks - they could get blown over on top of the crew - so reporters in New Orleans could no longer use live satellite feeds to connect to the network. Instead, she said, "CNN is now using a technology called FTP" to get footage from New Orleans. John Zarella and his team uploaded the video package over the Internet so they wouldn't have to file it outside with a satellite truck.
The way Kagan explained it, she almost seemed to be suggesting that CNN was embracing some bleeding-edge tool that's making connectivity possible for reporters in the middle of the storm. Rather, they're using one of the oldest tools available to Internet users. FTP, or file transfer protocol, has been around for decades. It's simply a tool that allows a person to upload or download a file between their computer and a server located somewhere else on the Internet.
Not unlike the way ham radio became a major tool for people caught in the middle of last December's tsunami, journalists are now reverting to some of the most basic Internet tools to ensure they can file their stories in a timely - and safe - manner. -andy
Posted by acarvin at August 29, 2005 11:12 AM
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