Backpack Journalism

- Erick Ward

It was very interesting to see that both of these articles were written five year ago, because even though both had different thoughts I think that they both were fairly accurate on backpack journalism today. I feel that backpack journalism is here to stay, but I feel the main reason why it has staying power is because there are so many ways that it can be improved. Right now, I think Martha Stone is correct in describing backpack journalism as a "mush of mediocrity."

There is no reason to believe that backpack journalism won't improve drastically over the next few years or so. More classes like the one we all are in now and with journalists working out the kinks of backpack journalism, why can't backpack journalism become the future of journalism. It is a great idea. Being able to go to one website and view all different types of media, interact with the reporter, and other readers is a great way to get news.

Backpack journalism still has a lot of improving to do though. I feel that the biggest negative that backpack journalism has, is that it can be difficult to report on breaking news type stories in a backpack journalism style. It can be very difficult to get a multimedia package on the web with the speed and accuracy that consumers demand today. But there is no reason to believe that jouralism can't eventually get there.