Zapruder Swarms

Jesse Walker | 4.22.2003 3:45 AM

After 9/11, I wrote a short piece on how news outlets had been relying on everyday citizens for footage of the attacks. Since then, the practice has only spread: It's amateurs, not professionals, who are more likely to be taping when an unexpected event occurs, and so it is amateur footage of such events that usually turns up on the news.

Apparently, it isn't just the media that's profiting from the camcorder revolution. The New York Times reports today that NASA has uses for DIY video as well.

Books Editor Jesse Walker is the author of Rebels on the Air and The United States of Paranoia.