The potential for digital cameras to capture breaking news is in itself old news. News programmes have been using stills and footage sent in by viewers who happened to be in the right place at the right time for ages.

But I saw for the first time this morning an example of the ultimate in moblogging: Mobroadcasting. BBC South‘s news bulletins have this morning been illustrating a breaking news story with a still photo taken by a cameraphone, and have explicitly stated it as such.

The photo, of the plume of smoke caused by a serious fire that had just broken out, was easily as good as the stills you’d get from a ‘proper’ camera – testament to the quality of cameraphones now. Strangely, although the photo made it on to tv, it isn’t yet on the relevant BBCi page.

I wonder how long it will be before we have open collaborative mobroadcasting on our screens.