Mobile Work and the Transformation of Journalistic Labor from the Mid-1970s Through the 1990s

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2025

Abstract

This article explores the evolution of a set of portable technologies and tools that were developed between the second half of the 1970s and the end of the 1990s. These technologies catered to the needs of some users and were imagined and marketed toward specific audiences at a particular place and time. Among these users were journalists. They represented a prototypical category of mobile workers who needed and still need not only to be “out there” in the field but also to be able to quickly send work back to the newsroom. Mobile journalism was first conceived of as “portable” journalism and involved a long transition from a suite of analog technologies to digital devices. In this project, we examine that transition to see how it took place and what some of its consequences are for mobile work today.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

Information and Culture

First Page

280

Last Page

304

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