Car Crash Mobile Pics Go National

A regional reporter has highlighted the value of mobile journalism as her first-on-the-scene pictures of Cristiano Ronaldo’s car crash made the national news.

Manchester Evening News journalist Nicola Dowling used a mobile phone to take photographs and video footage of the footballer’s wrecked Ferrari at the scene of the accident near Manchester Airport.



Holdthefrontpage.co.uk reports that the resultant content was used by the MEN, local TV station Channel M, and syndicated to national media including the BBC, Sky News and The Sun.

Dowling captured the exclusive footage using a Nokia N95 mobile phone, which were distributed to all MEN journalists in 2008.

“In a situation like this where you have got to get something in a short space of time they are invaluable,” said Dowling.

MEN editor Paul Horrocks added: “It proves the worth of reporters with some training using a mobile phone as a video camera in the way Nicola did.”