HOW THE LUNAR CAMERA CHANGED TV NEWS

The lunar TV camera’s tiny electronics helped create a whole new way of gathering news.

In 1969, TV stations shot news footage on film -- film that had to be developed before images could be seen, film incapable of being shown live. Some argued this was good. Film was slow, so news producers had time to reflect, and make sound news judments.

Yet when the moonwalk’s electronics and satellite breakthroughs became commercially available, TV news changed — suddenly, and forever. Lightweight, portable video-cameras took the news out of the studio and into the field. Live TV from the studio was replaced by live broadcasts from just about anywhere.

Soon, the words "Live" and later, "Live Via Satellite" became the norm instead of a rarity. TV stations brought viewers news as it was happening -- on the other side of town, or the other side of the world. The need to be first with the pictures pumped up competition. News judgment became even more important. The big question: Just because we can go on the air live with this story, does that mean we should?