TV station to replace camera equipment with iPhones and selfie sticks

It seems as though journalists will soon have something in common with snap-happy tourists, as selfie sticks and iPhones slowly take over the job once done by a camera crew.

Swiss station Léman Bleu is reported to have scrapped the traditional news format of sending their reporters out to cover stories with a camera crew. Instead, journalists will film stories themselves using an iPhone 6 and the tacky, yet immensely popular selfie stick. News director Laurent Keller says the move was made in an effort to stay relevant and cut costs.

“It’s a search for lightness and responsiveness, but also a way to reduce the costs of producing a newscast,” he told the Swiss newspaper Le Temps.

While the quality of footage may be different than what viewers are used to, Keller says that doesn’t mean it’s inferior. Plus, it will allow reporters to quickly go live from virtually anywhere, both on air and online.

“It’s up to us to reinvent the grammar of the image, to learn to shoot differently,” Keller said.

This isn’t the first time a news outlet has attempted to rely on footage exclusively from an iGadget. Earlier this year Fox46, a station in Charlotte, NC, tried to get their reporters to file stories using iPads, but ditched the experiment after deeming the quality of the stories as “amateurish.”