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?