According to Tom Joyce <trytonotspamtomxjoyce@verizon.net>:

    I am not a professional news photographer, but I *do* have a
camera which was made for the AP which may shed some light on the
subject.

    It is a Kodak/Nikon hybrid.  Start with a Nikon N90s, and add a
back and sub-base from Kodak which turns it into a digital (only 1.3 MP,
but a digital still).

    Among the features is one which I never enabled (It required
signing up for some download software from Kodak).  That is that the
camera can be connected to a cell phone, and will download images
through the cell phone to some specific news office (probably why the
licensing process and fee).  It requires special software at the
receiving end as well.

    This camera was from about 1995, IIRC (though that was not when
*I* got it. :-) Presumably, similar features are still available in the
cameras which they use -- or they may have some sort of universal box
which takes the place of the cell phone and will accept images from just
about any digital camera today.

    I'll be interested to see what is reported here as current
practice.

    Enjoy,
        DoN.

I haven't seen anyone here say that they are a pro news shooter, so unless
someone is just keeping quiet about it, you may not find any here.

The ones I've seen and heard from tend to use a laptop, and depending on
where they are, either WiFi (provided at many venues like sporting events),
a cell phone, or a satellite link (as used in Iraq, for example, during
and after the invasion).

The truly portable satellite service is now (finally) available in the US,
as a couple of new satellites were put into orbit.  I was extremely
interested in it because I like to travel, but my interest waned once I
saw the pricing, which is astronomical.  Portable satellite service is
like the Holy Grail for me, but not till the price comes down a bit. :)

Larger news agencies sometimes use more custom solutions that can bypass
the laptop entirely and transmit the images via a cell phone link.  It
would be set up to automatically upload to AP or whoever the person is
working for.  I'm not sure how often this is still used, though; my
entirely unscientific observation is that laptops are a lot more common
now.  You often see the guys crouched in a corner somewhere picking
shots to upload on a 12" Powerbook.

I'm not a pro news photog but I use sat phones a lot.  I'd say most
likely laptop (or PDA could work) via ftp file and any sat phone.  Most
Sat phones have plug together modem set-ups or have the modem built in
and ftp is fast and direct.