Backpack Journalism

Tanya Sneddon

Both backpack journalism articles had their truths. I agree that multimedia, backpack journalists are not going to be the norm in tomorrow's newsrooms, at least not until the media industries establish training procedures and a program to properly delegate and maintain these extra-involved news packages. The "negative" article made a strong point that backpack journalists are going to be few and far between in newsrooms, and for the mean time, I think this is true.

Convergence journalism is a new field, and considering how few people have learned the programs and the discipline it requires to report across the mediums, it will be a while until the industry and the editors catch up to speed with this new innovative and self-starting breed of journalists. The news industry is currently facing an economic crisis as advertisers are pulling ads and tv and newspapers are sinking into the red.

For now, I think editors and owners are embracing multimedia journalists for the wrong reasons - just because it is much cheaper to send one, "jack of all trades" journalist to report a story does not necessarily mean that that is the best way for a particular story to be told. Not all news stories lend themselves to single person, multimedia reporting, as both articles admit.

Until editors and newsrooms can establish the power and the proper means to use this new convergence journalist to both his or her, the news company, and the reader's best ability and benefit, convergence reporters must step carefully into their first assignments and ensure that they are reporting across the mediums in the best interest of the STORY, not the BUDGET.

When this distinction can be made in the newsrooms and on the storyboards, convergence will reign in this new era of multimedia journalism.