CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Well now that the world has videophones at its fingertips, here's a new take on an old saying, a picture is worth a thousand calls. CNN Tokyo bureau chief Rebecca MacKinnon shows us.</s>REBECCA MACKINNON, CNN TOKYO BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): When a celebrity hits Tokyo, some fans bring their cameras. Others don't bother, they can capture history with a mobile phone. Mobile phones equipped with small still cameras are now standard in Japan these days. You can e-mail the pictures instantly to friends around the world. The cameraphone revolution is even starting to change the way the media here reports the news. (on camera): It used to be that going live on TV required satellite equipment costing tens of thousands of dollars, plus the help of several trained professionals. But now here in Japan, all you need is one of these. I can dial a designated number, and here I am. Now this cameraphone actually has two cameras in it, one on the front and one on the side. So I can flip it around like this and show you a live picture of what is happening around me in this plaza. Now this is not, by any means, a perfect system at this point. But in breaking news situations, it's a heck of a lot better than nothing. (voice-over): Experts believe about 50 percent of the cell phones in Japan, on the street, in the subway now have at least still cameras built into them, and that means potentially any citizen at the right place and the right time can become a journalist. This road accident, shot by a truck driver, was broadcast on the national news. At TV Osaki, engineer Ratona Musino (ph) believes that's just the beginning. Now when something big happens, he says, ordinary bystanders will take pictures or even video on the scene long before the journalists get there. We're thinking about ways to collect more news from ordinary people.</s>MACKINNON: Who said the revolution would not be televised? Rebecca MacKinnon, CNN, Tokyo.
Look and Listen: Cellcams Come of Age