CNN had yet another report on the damage from Hurricane Ike. The reporter was driving around sending images from the camera in his phone. The image was so pixellated it resembled abstract art more than video footage.
Please, ENG reporters, either use proper equipment or else just give an audio report and let the studio show pre-existing footage. If something is important and that’s all you have, then the footage is what it is. But if it’s just scenes of something that isn’t actually happening right now it can wait for a real camera and uplink.
The term might be a little anachronistic nowadays. Back before portable video cameras news crews used 16mm film. The film had to be taken to the studio by the reporter or a courier, and then processed and edited for broadcast. Today nobody uses film and all of the location shots are done on electronic (video) cameras and linked directly to the studio. It can go out live, or it can be edited for a report, or both.
Given that, I (personally) use the term for ‘on location’ reports (that may include edited footage) as opposed to prepared reports that are read and shown from the newsroom.