Backpack Journalism

Xenia Shih

I disagree with Martha Stone's opinion that multimedia journalism compromises quality for efficiency and economy. True, multimedia journalists may not be able to execute stories as flawlessly as multi-journalist crews, but multimedia journalism is still in its early phases, and it will continue to improve.

As more campuses begin to offer multimedia journalism training, the demand for backpack journalists who are not only capable of working across a variety of mediums, but who are also masters of such a variety, will increase. Additionally, constantly improving technology will help backpack journalists compensate for their shortcomings since few journalists individually possess the wide range of skills that multi-journalist crews do.

In time, I think that backpack journalists may even surpass specialist journalists as the majority. Though this is not likely to happen in the near future, the face of journalism is changing, and multimedia journalism definitely has a place in its future.