Janie Porter, a news anchor and reporter with 10 Connects in Tampa Bay, Fla., is a pioneer in backpack journalism.

Traditionally, when TV stations show "live shots," they have a reporter in the field, but they also may need a cameraman and a satellite truck driver. It can be a big, unwieldy and expensive operation.

But Janie can do it all on her own with a camera, a couple laptops and Skype.

Skype is helping change TV journalism. The first shots from the plane crash near Buffalo, N.Y. earlier this year, were taken with Skype.

Janie said that the simple set-up enables reporters to start reporting back and even to get in closer quicker than the traditional approach.

Al Tompkins, of the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., himself a former TV newsman, said: "This type of reporting marks a new day. It is more than backpack journalism or one-woman-band reporting; it is soup to nuts, live reporting without a live truck or a signal that looks like a Max Headroom video. Obviously, it is also a potential cost-saving way to use fewer people and to send in live reports without using expensive trucks.

TV reporting with Skype is catching on big time.

Janie said 10 Connects has been experimenting with the technology, putting Skype-enabled cameras into news vehicles so they can broadcast live scenes, such as traffic congestion, without needing a crew.

She said her station also has given Skype video set-ups to some sources who are interviewed regularly. She said a strawberry farmer can report in when the crop is affected by a freeze--without having to send a reporter to the farm, which an hour away.

TV news is fast paced to begin with. Skype helps stations get their scoops on the air even faster.