There have been many changes since those days. In my opinion without measure, ENG and SNG trucks, wireless microphones and portable editors. These items have freed up the newsroom and have given the photographer and reporter flexibility and freedom to get closer to the story and stay longer. It's easy enough to look at digital technology or rapidly improving CCDs or non-linear editing etc., and just pick your favorite toy from the current electronic Christmas stocking. But technological advancements in an age when routine quantum leaps in quality are expected, can't hold onto their significance for long.
Time always has to be the final judge of what was important and what was a short-sighted gimmick.
I'm an old timer who's seen amazing advances in TV over the past 28 years. TV news photography went from the middle ages to the space age overnight. The unweildy Auricon that required a body brace for handheld sound photography, that had an amplifier and a heavy, testicle-crushing battery dangling precipitously below it was replaced by a lightweight camera that could easily be handheld. The old batteries lost their voltage gradually, tricking cameramen into thinking they were shooting 24ps, when they were actually accidentally undercranking, overexposing film and making people sound like they had just inhaled helium. The CP's battery dropped voltage dramatically, causing the camera to downshift dramatically, thereby warning the photographer to change batteries.