Girl with gadgets? No, it's a reporter and her gear. The story considers whether the abiliity to go live and be current with every nuance of a press conference or news event is good for news. Just because you can report something doesn't mean your story will be a prize-winner. Proust recorded the details of the quotidien, but that was literature, not the news.

A deadline every minute, once the preserve of the wire services, is now the motto for most of the press corps, from print reporters with newspaper Web sites to still photographers, cable producers and bloggers. The news cycle has condensed into one endless loop, and with it has come a endless stream of technology to accommodate it, or fuel it, since it is hard to say which came first.

I think audience habits and needs will begin to winnow the news. There will be a niche for the 24/7 newscrawl kind of coverage for viewers who must be up-to-the-minute, but are comfortable skating the surface. There will be folks on the street with a phonecam who will scoop the press corps, like Zapruder did in Dallas. But I believe there will still be an audience for news that has been analyzed and put into context, making up for currency with making sense. It is especially those in the election cycle who are caught in the vortex of more instant news, more news tech gear. "To Web-crazed gadget geeks, these items are yesterday's news. But for many reporters, such supersonic portable gear simply isn't necessary. Only when they get into the competition of the campaign bubble do they realize what they have been missing. " Access is critical in campaigns, and WiFi (search current buzz archives for more on Wi-fi) mean that the value of the campaign filing area is changed. While reporters liked the peace and quiet and time to think as they filed a story, campaigns would manipulate access to the filing areas and with wireless, reporters determine access. Being always on and connected reduces gossiping between candidates and reporters, but it is a way of life on the campaign trail in our gadget-laden world today.