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The move by ABC News (DIS) to create new one-man bureaus in overseas markets is going against the grain of cutbacks over the last 20 years.

It's good to see that the traditional media companies can use technology for themselves, and not always look at it as the enemy.

In this case technology is the impetus behind creating the new bureaus. The bureaus will be run by one person with the most up-to-date digital video camera that can be held in the hand. The reporters will work from their homes while traveling around the region they live in. They will also receive laptops which are ready for editing.

Overall they'll do their own shooting, editing and writing, with support from ABC News. From there they'll upload it to New York by broadband, or a portable satellite dish when broadband isn't available.

ABC News president David Westin told The Hollywood Reporter, "Technology now makes it possible for us to have bureaus without a receptionist, three edit suites and studio cameras and so on. The essence of what we do is reporting, it's not production. Production is the way you get it on the air and to people, but reporting is the essence."

While this won't eliminate the high-profile bureaus like in London or New York, it will give ABC the opportunity to have reporters on the ground in areas where it's difficult to get first-hand accounts of news.

We'll probably see a huge surge in this type of reporting for some time to come. It makes good business sense and adds news coverage of areas not normally reported on.

There will be seven one-man bureaus at this time, opening in Dubai; Seoul; Nairobi, Kenya, New Delhi and Mumbai, India; Jakarta, Indonesia; and Rio de Janeiro.