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Bomb explosion live streamed by daily thanks to new technology

A bomb explosion was live streamed by a regional daily using a new technological innovation.

Around 200 readers tuned in when the Oxford Mail used the Twitter-owned app Periscope for the first time to live stream the bomb squad detonating an old mortar shell.

The Mail had received a tip about the Royal Logistic Corp bomb squad, pictured below, being in the village of Wheatley after the discovery of a mortar in a family shed.

Assistant news editor Peter Truman had discovered the Periscope app, which live streams to a web page from an iPhone and can receive messages from viewers, a few days earlier.

Oxford bomb

Reporter Michael Race was sent out and quickly found the field where the Army was working to detonate the explosive.

Switching Periscope on, Michael kept a commentary going for half an hour, describing what was happening and answering questions from viewers, before the mortar was detonated.

Said Peter: “I saw a Twitter user talking about Periscope saying they were watching a live feed of the explosion in New York’s East Village.

“It sounded like a great platform for breaking news so I downloaded the app and then we had to wait for a story that might work.

“Michael did a great job providing audio as he essentially filmed a field for minutes on end.

“But it was worth it as we captured a bomb detonation on camera while people watched live on their mobiles.”

The footage was later edited to a video package of about 90 seconds, which was then shared on both the Mail’s website and Facebook.

6 comments

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  • April 8, 2015 at 10:02 am
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    thanks for the article.. this is great use of the new Periscope App.. I have been on for 10 days using it & its awesome.. it will be incredible for people to see live streams behind the scenes of tv and radio stations, brands and businesses.. tons have already joined and are livestreaming daily great content.

    I am @markshaw on Periscope.. my daily shows give advice and tips on getting the most from Periscope.

    Mark Shaw

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  • April 8, 2015 at 10:51 am
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    The remarkable thing about this story, of course, is not the new technology, but the fact that a reporter was actually permitted to stop cutting and pasting press releases and leave the office to cover a real story. Too much to hope it might start a trend, I imagine.

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  • April 8, 2015 at 12:42 pm
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    @Observer50, I think you’ll find that an audience of 200 is quite large these days especially for something which is happening live locally.

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  • April 8, 2015 at 2:16 pm
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    It doesn’t matter if it was a reporter penning words describing the scene, a great photo printed a week later or even a decent send-in by a member of the public – this continues the tradition of on the ball and on the spot professional journalists using every tool at their disposal (see what I did there?) to tell a story.
    I am no gadget man but even I can see this is a handy thing to have in your pocket. It puts a reporter at the scene of an incident on the same footing as a TV crew.

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  • April 9, 2015 at 8:41 am
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    Wow, the world is changing. In my twenty-odd years as a press photographer we have always been asked/pushed in to blocking bomb squad personnel’s faces.

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