Major news events often drive changes in technology. The pandemic minted a whole new generation of news reporters who were forced to become at-home audio and video engineers. The collapse of the World Trade Center in 2001 forced New York-based reporters to rediscover the value of cell phones and learn to use them for live feeds and recording.
For journalists, working from make-shift “newsrooms” throughout the chaotic city during that time, the mobile phone became a lifeline to the breaking story around them. Conventional land lines were indeed old-fashioned and have remained that way ever since.
