Newspapers use online audio and video to report on ‘anti-teen’ gadget’s noise

Posted by Martin Stabe on 13 February 2008 at 11:23
Tags: Online, Telegraph.co.uk, Times Online, audio, video

National and regional newspaper websites have been using audio and video capabilities to good effect today in their coverage of the controversy over the “Mosquito” device, which uses a high-pitched sound audible only to young people in order to keep teenagers from congregating.

The children’s commissioner, Sir Al Aynsley-Green, this week spoke out against the use of the ‘Mosquito’ device, which civil libertarians say is discriminatory against the young.

The Commissioner for Children and Young People in Scotland, Kathleen Marshall, and Shami Chakrabarti, the director of the human rights group Liberty, have also spoken out against the device.

The Manchester Evening News and Derby Telegraph has both used an audio file on their web sites to let readers hear the high-pitched sound emitted by a controversial device.

At the foot of its story about the ‘Mosquito’ device used by Rochdale council, the MEN linked to an MP3 audio file of the unpleasant high-pitched squeal that the device emits. In theory, only those under the age of 25 should be able to hear it.

The Derby Evening Telegraph’s web site also published an MP3 of the sound made by the device and called on their readers to state their age and whether they can hear a sound. One reader, claiming to be 30 and able to hear the sound.

Times Online links to two versions of the sound file, one adjusted so it can be heard by readers over-25. Both versions were provided by a mobile ringtone website — reports suggest schoolchildren are using the sound on their mobiles let their phones ring without teachers noticing.

Telegraph.co.uk’s ITN-produced TelegraphTV has an excellent video report (embedded above) on the device, with the 16-kiloherz tone adjusted to be audible to all viewers.

This is Lancashire, also has a video report and vote of its Bolton News readers’ opinion on the device.

The Lancashire report is unusual because it quotes local supporters of a ban on the device. Many other regional newspapers have covered the story, but primarily quoted local businesses and councils defending their use of the device.

The Western Mail interviews the device’s inventor who lives in South Wales and has vowed to defend it in court if necessary.

Tags: Online, Telegraph.co.uk, Times Online, audio, video