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Electronic news-gathering (ENG) is when reporters and editors make use of electronic video and audio technologies in order to gather and present news. ENG can involve anything from a single reporter with a single professional video camera, to an entire television crew taking a truck on location. This term was coined during the rise of videotape technology in the 1970's. This term was commonly used in the television news in the 1980's and 90's, but is used less frequently now, as the technology has become commonplace.

Since film requires chemical processing before it can be viewed and edited, it generally took at least an hour from the time the film arrived back at the television station or network news department until it was ready to be broadcast.

News stories were often transferred to bulky 2-inch videotape for distribution and playback, which made the content cumbersome to access.

Transition to ENG

[Beacham]'s account – " One of the very first examples of reliable, news-style video was revealed at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. I was a 16mm cameraman at that convention and turned in the street violence one day to eye the first portable "Portapak" video package from Sony in Japan. It was the first truly portable video package I had ever seen and it made quite an impression on me while carrying that back breaking film camera.

The Sony Portapak was a two-piece, battery powered, self-contained video tape analog recording system that could be carried and operated by one person. Because earlier "portable" television cameras were so large, heavy and cumbersome, the Portapak made it possible for individuals to record video easily outside the studio. This greatly contributed to the rise of Electronic News Gathering as it made portable news more easily accessible than ever before.

Early portable video systems recorded at a lower quality than broadcast studio cameras, which made them less desirable than non portable video systems. When the Portapak video camera was introduced in 1967, it was a new method of video recording, forever shifting ENG.

Also in 1974, KMOX, a station in St. Louis, Mo., was the first to abandon film and switch entirely to ENG. Stations all over the country made the switch over the next decade.

ENG greatly reduces the delay between when the footage is captured and when it can be broadcasted, thus enabling news gathering and reporting to become steady cycle with little time in between when story breaks and when a story can air. Coupled with live microwave and/or satellite trucks, reporters were able to show live what was happening, bringing the audience into news events as they happened.