Risky, but profitable

Technology is prevailing. It can be foreseen that Backpack Journalism, or Convergence Journalism, will become one of the mainstreams in news reporting, although whether it can rule the kingdom is a question to be decided. New technologies, including the Internet, create a powerful platform for news delivery and integrate all elements such as video, audio, text, photo, Flash, etc, allowing reporters to tell the most accurate stories possible. This new platform is interactive, going beyond one-way story telling. People can comment and receive feedback from the others, an area where traditional media fails. Neither Martha Stone nor Jane Stevens denied the trend of multimedia in news reporting. With no doubt, Backpack Journalism will pass the test of time and get a good grade.

While for Backpack Journalists, the two writers hold opposite opinions. Personally speaking, I believe that backpack journalists will be in demand in the near future. These multimedia-oriented journalists are more job-efficient, cost-saving, and can do richer journalistic storytelling. One report that I read about backpack journalists mentioned that they are in a great demand in local media and correspondent post overseas. Yet I agree with some of Martha Stone’s points: backpack journalists should be well trained and multimedia companies should create long-tern strategic plans for the training. Otherwise, there will likely be a lot of mediocre backpack journalists – the “Jack of all trades, and master of none”. Although convergence journalism is a great challenge to the financial resources and management of media companies, I think that it would be a good investment – risky, but profitable.

Yes, we can do it all...

...but just not at the same time. I think a convergence journalism degree will give us the experience to handle situations where we will need the background to deliver our stories on different types of media. Be it print, video, TV or web. I think it's also important to have an emphasis on one form of media, while expanding on our knowledge of the others. Jane Stevens recounts her experience at VNI in the mid-1990's "Most of us had mastered one medium by the time we picked up a video camera--in my case, a 20-year career in newspapers."

I think martha Stone is getting a little ahead of herself when descibing scenarios of the backpack journalist who must cover all forms of media at once. I think Stevens rendition is a little more realistic. That the multimedia journalist will have a focus media overing a story, as well as others on hand to help with the rest.

I like the freedom and versatility that convergence seems to offer, But I don't think everyone is cut out for it. But for those of us that are, I think it could prove to be fulfilling.

Backpacks + good reporting = great journalism

From Jennifer:
According to Martha Stone, the greatest weakness of backpack journalism is the “jack of all trades” philosophy. Although backpack journalists strengths and training are different than those of a print journalist, the things that make both journalists successful is the same - accurate reporting and good journalism skills.
Backpack journalism offers different ways of telling a story. Stories can be more personable, interesting, and accurate when different media platforms are used. However, it doesn’t matter if a backpack journalist can create a website if they don’t have good reporting skills and training.

Ideas always rule!

Joyce Choi

True that a computer-illiterate person could hardly be hired as a reporter (and many other jobs) nowadays, I still tend to believe that ideas rule over technology.

Technology helps realize ideas, but itself doesn't generate ideas. I don't agree that specialist would be sieved out for not knowing multimedia. A specialist not only possesses the skill to manage the technology, but should also hold expert ideas that they know how to manifest them through their gears. Having said that, if these specialists could even master some bit of multimedia skills - these people are kings!

If some reporters are kicked out, I would say these people are either too mediocre to adjust themselves in the trend; or too mediocre they've been in their so-called expert field.

I, however, trust that in the midst of this civic journalism world, what specialist/smart people/people who have an idea will suffer is not lacking of skills, but to fear all the mediocrity (in terms of ideas) that may marginalize them. They would have to find ways to get "in-group" with mediocre people sometimes, if not always.

Briefcase Journalism

I'm not sure whether or not this backpack journalism is here to stay, but I will say this: just a few years ago, the big thing in journalism was briefcase journalism.

Just after Sept. 11, the first images to come out of Afghanistan were wired not through satellite but by videophone. It was a brand new technology back then, this $10,000 equipment that one reporter could operate in the field to transmit grainy footage of breaking events from the field. (A link to an article about the videophone is here.) The entire videophone could fit inside a briefcase. CNN popularized the videophone just five years ago, but these days, the equipment doesn't exist anymore. It's been taken over by better technology that can transmit sharper images in less time. The newest, hippest technology circa 2001 is now obsolete in 2006.

So when I start thinking about this backpack journalism, I first wonder what the new technology is going to be five years from now, in 2011. If backpack journalists can adapt to it, then these journalists should be here to stay.

Then and Now

The idea of convergence journalism was ridiculous to me. Print was real and in-depth and broadcast was the surface of the story with video. How could someone merge two contradicting areas and make it look good? Also, like most of the critics of convergence journalism, I found the idea of being ok in a lot of areas compared to being amazing in one area a backward concept. You would scarifice the quality of the story and information for the look of the story.

That's what I thought back then. Now, its a different story.

After hearing all the statistics of readership and actually seeing convergence pieces, I was convinced that this was the future. The media market is looking for jounralists that can do everything. The risk of mediocre journalism is getting smaller. More and more journalists are getting trained in convergence media and convergence teams can focus teammembers in their area of expertise, thus avoiding mediocre journalism.

The critics have legitimate concerns, but as we get technological advancements and more trained professionals in the field, convergence journalism will be able to delivery news to people in ways that they will get the whole story.

The exception, not the rule.

Mo Scarpelli --
It's interesting to read two different perspectives on what is my future career. Martha Stone's point of view seemed the more realistic one (maybe because pessimism is sometimes mistaken in my mind for realism), because it faced the faults of the backpacking journalist. I think Stone is quite right about the difficulty of accurately and skillfully capturing a story on all fronts (photo, audio, video, etc.). Preston Mendenhall admits himself that he couldn't offer the high quality of that of a team of journalists for the story he covered in Afghanistan.
This does not mean, however, that a successful convergence journalist is impossible. The backpack journalist is a newer concept. This means there will be failures, there will be shoddy news coverage, and American journalism may suffer for a little while as a result (though not on a massive scale, as not ALL stories will be covered this way). And I don't doubt that Stone is absolutely correct when she says that backpack journalists should "be the exception, not the rule." The multitasking, especially under harsh deadlines, is not for every journalists - some are better at being masters (or striving to be masters) in one craft. But I'm not discouraged; I don't believe that the backpacking journalist will always be "a mush of mediocrity" because the exceptions have a chance to shine. Those that do it well will prevail. Those that don't can stick to one thing, because for many more years many news organizations will continue to do things the old fashioned way.
I'm probably oversimplifying the issue, but I truly want to remain hopeful. I mean... this is my major, isn't it?

Convergence Confab

From Steff Sanchez:
One day, I hope to have a really cool job. Seriously. I think that being a ‘Backpack Journalist’ would be perfect. (It seems to be slick, kind of like the special forces of news media.)
What is wrong with wanting to be a Renaissance [Wo]Man of Journalism for the Digital Age? It is understandable for there to be initial kinks – multimedia journalism is only in its infancy. I strongly agree with Preston Mendhall’s sentiment from the Stone article, in that: “…multimedia journalists are here to stay. It has evolved to the point where one person can pretty much do it all. We're just waiting for the technology to do it better.”
There is a market for backpack journalism. Think of it this way: our generation has been computer savvy almost our entire lives (perhaps around kindergarten?) We no longer strongly consume news via radio, newspaper, or television, but will compulsively check email (or dare I say Facebook) daily. To me, it just makes sense. As the technology develops and the field establishes itself, there is no reason that convergence journalism should not catch on.

[Postscriptum: I like capitalization. And my writing is very informal. Please ignore my disregarding AP style, etc. etc. *or at least do not take off points?*–SS]

Cell phone killed the video star

Cisco (Francisco Fisher)

Putting the practicality of backpack journalism aside, one thing can be said of one-person news teams; they have cool toys.

Richard Bilton, a reporter from the BBC, was the first to film a television news broadcast using a cell phone in 2003. The portability of the video equipment (as opposed to a conventional television camera) allowed the BBC correspondent to report from within a small boat.

In “The Backpack Journalist Is a ‘Mush of Mediocrity,’” posted on the OJR, Preston Mendenhall points out that, “With a small digital camera, you can get a lot more footage by being discreet."

Depending on the story, the video acquired from a cell phone gives the audience a look at action that might avoid larger cameras, or be out of their reach. As discussed in “Mush,” the trade-off between the quantity of material and the quality of the broadcast decide the size of the team assembled to report the story. As technology improves, however, so will the lone journalist’s footage.

Getting better all the time

Backpacker journalism is a mush of mediocrity (at least right now), and it's also here to stay.

Stevens doesn't deny that she has a lot to learn about using the various media to its full professional and creative potential. She admits that occasionally, even she, "a master of multimedia," has forgotten to wipe the smudge off her camera lens or fully take her microphone out of the camera view. I imagine that happens all the time to other backpack journalists all over the world--especially those of us who don't get aired on National Geographic on our first try. Most of the backpack journalists who first specialize in a specific medium (which these days is still most of us) will naturally miss something when reporting on something on unfamiliar technological terrian. Photographers will write crummy copy. Writers will overexpose pictures. Broadcast people will screw up everything. At the same time, more information in more media adds something interesting to the story, even if part of it isn't professionally done. Jones is exactly right when she says "whipping up a satisfying meal of professionally prepared multimedia journalism...is a feast few journalists can serve up." But she won't be right for long.

Martha Stone's 'Mush of Mediocrity'

Stone brought up interesting points in her piece. 'Backpack' journalists, she claims, are just an excuse from publishers to keep overhead costs down. While multi-media journalism may indeed be coming from a backpack style of grass roots, her conjecture has immediate evidence-
Chains like Gannet do eliminate overhead wherever they can, and they will probably substitute jacks-of-all-trades media backpackers in place of experienced professionals. Content willl suffer.
It seems clear that a single person who can manage print, radio, and video content, and form a coherent and professional quality story on a web page all while operating out of a suitcase is a rare commodity. Perhaps for simple things, hacks are sufficient. But for stories of import or nuance, nothing beats a team.
The central problem of the 'backpack' idea is that it's too easy to get held hostage by the technology. Someone with huge technical savvy and a pile of digital toys will tend to put all of them to use whenever possible. But what tells the best story? Maybe video is superfluous in some cases. Maybe audio would only get in the way in others. A single backpacker would probably miss those subtle cues, but a team would be more successful.

The anonymous world of convergence?

If Jane Stevens’ “Backpack journalism is here to stay” were a sky that radiates optimism, I would say I spotted a few clouds.

One, I am perplexed about the role of teamwork in converged media. Although Stevens explicitly suggests that multimedia storytelling requires more teamwork, the examples she provides do not always support her point. Looking, for instance, at Preston Mendenhall’s experience, I arrived at a conclusion that a multimedia journalist is someone who doesn’t need to rely on a photographer, or cameraman and sound recordist: A multimedia journalist is someone who is able to do this work on his/her own. This may mean that with time, as convergence reporters get better training and become more proficient, one will be able to produce stories without even having to engage in teamwork as we know it.

Second, a journalist’s work in a multimedia organization may largely go anonymous. This is especially the case with producer-driven stories. (As Stevens puts it in one of her examples, “The reporters file what’s in front of them, and don’t know how much of their contribution will end up being published, or in what form.”)

But this may also be the case with reporter-driven stories. If a reporter, in addition to gathering information, needs to shoot video, record sound or take photos, she/he may become too overwhelmed with these tasks to develop a personal style in her/his reporting/writing or visual coverage.

Does this mean that in converged media the “human” aspect – real-life communication (as between crew members) and one’s personality (that is more likely to emanate from one’s work if the reporter concentrates on one specific area of journalism) – may gradually fade away, and all we will be left with is the number of megabytes submitted by the deadline?