Spotlight: The Mojo Interview
GASTÓN ROITBERG, The Digital Assistant Managing Editor of LA NACION in Argentina asked to interview me for the Media and Trends series. (I was recommended to him by the ever-gracious Mario Garcia.)
INTERVIEW: “Robb Montgomery champions mobile journalism as an essential, democratizing tool for modern reporting.”
NOTE: The interview took place in English and was published in print and online in Spanish.
THE INTERVIEW
HEADLINE: Robb Montgomery: “We All Have a TV Studio in Our Pocket”
INTRO: Robb Montgomery is a key figure in the transformation of digital journalism. Founder of the Smart Film School and author of essential books such as Mobile Journalism and Smartphone Video Storytelling, he has taught journalists worldwide how to tell impactful stories with something as simple as a mobile phone.
Throughout his career, he has worked with major media outlets like Reuters and global institutions such as the UN, adapting his teaching methods to the cultural and editorial context of each organization. His approach combines visual storytelling with design thinking techniques to accelerate newsroom innovation.
Montgomery believes the main obstacle is not a lack of technology, but journalists’ limited visual literacy. In his workshops, he teaches how to report with images, write with images, and write for images, reversing the traditional text-centered paradigm.
In this interview with LA NACION, he discusses the challenges of mobile journalism (Mojo), its integration in universities, the advantages of smartphone video, the uses of artificial intelligence in audiovisual production, and how Latin American journalists can lead this mobile revolution.
1. You’ve trained journalists in more than 40 countries. What common challenges do reporters face when adopting mobile journalism, and how do they overcome them?
A: I have taught Mobile Journalism workshops in broadcast and digital newsrooms worldwide and there is a wide gap in the adoption rate globally. In Germany, the U.S. and other ‘tech-centric meccas’ for journalists, Mojo has not really taken off yet.
Whereas in Asia, Latin America, France, Austria, U.K., Spain, Africa, Austria, Italy and Scandinavia – Mojo is a well-known and practised mode of operating in the field for top-end broadcasters and everyone else for that matter. The key to growing it in the USA is to make mojo courses required for first-year media students. Mojo lays the foundation for multimedia reporting. Professors from USA Media schools tell me that they have abandoned teaching the MMJ model and are turning to Mojo to teach multimedia.
2. In your book “Mobile Journalism”, you highlight the use of smartphones for storytelling. What is the most frequent mistake journalists make when starting to use this tool?
A: The MoJo storytelling obstacles for reporters of almost every stripe that I have worked with are the same. Their main blocks are a lack of visual storytelling literacy rather than a lack of tech fluency.
In my workshops I lead journalists to produce compelling visually-led stories with their phones by adopting a simple workflow:
Report IN pictures first, then write WITH pictures, and lastly write TO pictures.
In newsrooms where this reporting flow is understood as a default field reporting mode; reporters, editors and producers are better equipped to exploit the potential of the story forms that mobile journalism unleashes.
Mojo is an excellent mode for improvisation and for capturing breaking news, serendipitous stories, travel features, crisis reporting, and personality profiles in the field.
3. You founded the Smart Film School in 2014. How has mobile journalism education evolved since then, and what changes have you observed in students’ needs?
A: Back in the early 2000’s I was leading ‘Multimedia storytelling’ workshops with journalism groups across Canada, Asia and the USA with tools that fit into your backpack.
Back then it was a small point-and-shoot camera, an HDV camcorder, a Zoom audio recorder, and a laptop.
The tools have gotten smaller and far more capable, but the opportunities for journalists to go out into the field to find, capture, edit, script, and transmit a story without ever returning to the newsroom are the same.
It is the fluency with picture language that is missing from most reporter’s tool kit, not the tech.
Every reporter has a smartphone. Most simply do not know how to use it as the ultimate reporter’s notebook.
That is the prime reason to train every one of staff and make mojo courses mandatory for all new hires and new media students.
4. You’ve worked with organizations such as the UN and Reuters. How do you adapt your training programs to suit the different cultures and journalistic styles of these institutions?
A: For bigger media organizations MoJo is adopted as a layer to support the full range of multimedia that a news organization can produce.
It does not replace the kind of work that only a specialized crew can do. (Camera, Reporter, Audio, Producer)
The smartphone is just the latest (and by far the greatest) tool for helping journalists tell big stories with small cameras. So we do more of a mix of custom training and consulting with special teams like the current affairs producers one week, new hires the following week, and social media teams the third week. Each group has their own set of uniques experiences and knowledge gaps.
5. In your experience, how has visual storytelling influenced the way audiences consume news in the digital era?
A: Visual language is like music it, it is a universal language. People don’t have to be taught how to listen to music of read a visual sentence, but if your are text-centric reporter, you do need to study how to compose visually-led stories with journalism integrity.
6. You’ve led redesign projects at newspapers like the Chicago Sun-Times. What lessons from those processes do you now apply in mobile content production?
A: Design thinking processes and methods are versatile tools that can be applied to develop many types of new news products and services. Redesign projects are often seen as an exercise in developing a consistent and original visual identity / branding, but the reality is that the nuts and bolts of the design method are not always visually-led. I have learned to assume the role of sprint master who is leading cross-functional teams to identify a challenge, define the audience personas you want to serve, and then rapidly prototype ideas to bring a vision to the page. What is fun for me is when clients like the Hindustan Times hire me teach all their editorial people how to make mobile journalism AND how to use design thinking to develop new video story forms. The combination is a wonderful catalyst for extending digital transformation and energizing creative, original solutions from within.
7. Throughout your career, how have you seen perceptions of mobile journalism change within traditional newsrooms?
A: There is always an ebb and flow. Some years Mojo has been about teaching reporters how to produce video news packages, other years it has been bout doing live shots. Today a lot of attention has been focused on building news persona formulas for social media and high-quality documentary films for YouTube and broadcast.
8. In your book “Smartphone Video Storytelling”, you mention the importance of planning. What advice would you give journalists to effectively plan a mobile story?
A: First, I challenge journalists to learn 10 common video story formats and how to report and edit each of them so that when they are in pre-production for a new topic, that have a library of experiences to choose from when developing their story form.
Everyone in the media house needs to know the 10 types of video stories you can produce with Mojo.
Makes it much easier to agree with your editor which one you are pursuing before you go out. And then know which one to pivot to when circumstances change in the field.
Editors need to appreciate how much time it takes to shoot, edit script and send video stories. (This is why I love to have assigning editors attend my workshops – so that they make realistic assignments for reporters)
9. You’ve won awards for your documentaries filmed with smartphones. What advantages and limitations do you find when using this technology for long-form productions?
A: The advantages are pretty clear when you see the work I have done filming a story in the world’s highest treehouse in the Laos jungle or ice swimming in Helsinki in February. Small cameras are ideal for solo filmmakers to exploit their nimble nature. The limitations are also kind of clear. No long-lens shots, video clip storage, battery run time, and your personal energy levels are always in scarce supply. These limitations help you discover your inner McGyver and get maximum results from minimum gear and time.
10. How is artificial intelligence changing the way we produce video content, especially in mobile journalism? Are you optimistic or cautious about its influence on creativity and ethics?
A: In pre-production, AI tools can assist in your research and identify gaps and potential story lines. In post-production, one of biggest time consuming tasks is logging interview footage. So I would like a good AI app that will assist reporters to quickly log and capture (Markup and trim) the best sound bites from a video interview and let them edit the best bites by simply editing the text as they would in a word processor. That would be valuable feature to build into video editing app as it would speed the process up.
11. You’ve taught at universities like those in Singapore and London. How is mobile journalism being integrated into today’s academic journalism programs?
A: It is still my hope that mobile journalism is seen by the deans of journalism schools as a modern version of “News writing 101” A foundation course. The fundamentals that students learn making a 10-project, full-semester course reinforce my belief that MOJO should be a mandatory course for all first year students.
I guess that is why I wrote the academic textbook “Mobile Journalism” and produced the 100-lesson online masterclass used by universities in the UK and Singapore. I built these to help university instructors have always fresh updates, curated examples, behind-the-scenes insights from pros, and case studies for both them and their students.
More university media schools in Europe and the USA have been contacting me as a result of agreeing with this vision.
LINKS:
Mojo Book: https://www.visualeditors.com/mobile-journalism-university-edition-textbook/
Smart Film School: https://www.smartfilmschool.com
12. In your experience, how can journalists effectively use mobile journalism to cover live events in real time?
A: It is a lot easier than it was 15 years ago when I was covering a massive student protest in Rome for Radio-Free Europe that I stumbled upon by accident. These days, you can get the right microphones for doing live work, and there are apps that integrate with broadcast systems to make it low-cost and far simpler.
13. For journalists in Latin America, what specific advice would you offer for implementing mobile journalism in resource-constrained environments?
A: Mojo is a perfect mode for the resourceful reporter to explore. A few years ago a student filmmaker from Mexico City won a big award at the Mobile Journalism Awards which truly shows that mojo levels the playing field. This year a reporter from Spanish public television won TWO of the top prizes in the Mojo Awards. I am especially proud that women reporters are often successfully leading the way.
LINK:
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The AI summary
I am going to provide you with a summary of the interview that I generated with Perplexity, and then I am going to share with you with the English version of Gastón’s questions and my answers. (Of course this is with Gastón’s permission!)
When you read his interview, I want you examine the quality of the questions.
I was struck by how thought-provoking they were but also impressed that he was referencing the embedded themes from my work that showed that he spent some time inside my books and films before he ever reached out to me for an interview.
This should be the norm for journalists. Interview prep like this is impressive and I will use this as an example for my students.
There are no shortcuts to producing high-quality journalism.
A word about how I use AI . . .
I am currently a Master’s student at Media University Berlin where I am earning a Master’s degree in Visual Media Anthropology. I am taking classes with instructors are teaching how to use AI tools responsibly – and I am always reluctant to use them for journalism.
Nevertheless. I have found a nice hack for accessing useful AI tech that fits my mobile journalism ethos.
When I want to research a topic and really drill down, I have found a simple method that works and doesn’t require an account or a subscription.
I use the Arc browser app as my mobile launchpad for AI and in the settings I make Perplexity my default search engine. That’s all there is to it.
It just works.
So, I opened the Arc browser on my iPhone and prompted it to summarize the published interview and translate it to English.
Here is what Perplexity returned:
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Summary: Interview with Robb Montgomery on Mobile Journalism
Robb Montgomery is an internationally recognized journalist, educator, and author who has trained professionals in over 40 countries. He is a leading advocate for mobile journalism (Mojo), emphasizing that today, “everyone has a TV studio in their pocket” thanks to smartphones.
Key Points from the Interview
- Global Mojo Adoption:
Montgomery observes that mobile journalism is more widely adopted in regions like Asia, Latin America, and Europe than in the US, where he believes Mojo courses should be mandatory for journalism students. He notes that Mojo lays the foundation for multimedia journalism. - Visual Literacy Over Technology:
The main barrier to effective mobile journalism is not technology, but a lack of visual literacy among journalists. He teaches a workflow that prioritizes reporting, writing, and planning stories in images, not just text. - Evolution of Training:
While technology has become more compact and powerful, the core challenge remains teaching journalists to use smartphones as their primary reporting tool. Montgomery stresses the importance of making Mojo training standard for all newsroom staff and students. - Customized Training:
He adapts his training to different newsroom cultures and teams, integrating Mojo as a complementary layer to existing multimedia workflows. - Impact of Visual Storytelling:
Visual language is universal, and Montgomery encourages text-focused journalists to learn how to compose visual stories with journalistic integrity. - Design Thinking:
He applies design thinking to newsroom innovation, helping teams define challenges, understand audiences, and prototype solutions. This approach, combined with Mojo, drives digital transformation. - Changing Perceptions:
Perceptions of Mojo in newsrooms have shifted over time, with current trends focusing on social media formats and high-quality documentaries for platforms like YouTube and TV. - Story Planning Advice:
He recommends journalists learn multiple video story formats, so they can efficiently plan and adapt stories as situations change. - Advantages and Limits of Mobile Video:
Small cameras are ideal for solo filmmakers and improvisation, though they have limitations like battery life and storage. These constraints foster creativity. - AI in Journalism:
Montgomery sees AI as a tool for research and streamlining editing, such as using AI to quickly trim interviews by editing text. - Academic Integration:
He advocates for Mojo to be a core, first-year subject in journalism schools. He has developed textbooks and online courses used in universities worldwide. - Live Event Coverage:
Covering live events is now much easier with modern apps and microphones, compared to a decade ago. - Advice for Latin American Journalists:
Mojo is especially empowering for resourceful journalists in low-resource settings, helping level the playing field and enabling award-winning work, with women increasingly leading these achievements.
In essence:
Robb Montgomery champions mobile journalism as an essential, democratizing tool for modern reporting. He believes the future of journalism relies on visual literacy, adaptability, and leveraging technology to tell impactful stories-regardless of resources or location.”
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