Backpack journalism: friend or foe? For me, it’s neither. It teeters somewhere in the middle, and reading both Jane Stevens’s and Martha Stone’s articles makes it easy to understand why.
With the economy on the decline and Internet news increasing as steadily as expected, the trend towards backpack journalism seems rather logical. But while the skills posed by such trailblazers as Preston Mendelhall have produced quality converged stories, it is important to remember that the method should not replace the finished product in importance. In other words, reporters and editors should acknowledge the obstacles and limitations of backpack journalism, not accept them.
I could see how increasing technology and more informed teachers in journalism schools could make converged, backpack journalism more possible that Stone, and even Stevens could’ve imagined. But the thing newsrooms should watch out for, I feel, is treating it like a “trend”, as in thinking that good journalism is backpack journalism, and regardless of what new methods catch on with consumers, hold all news to the same standard.
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