Call Me Biased

Lauren Sharp

I have to start by pointing out that the time frame of these articles should be taken into consideration, because I'm pretty sure it's rather obvious to anyone in the news world right now that backpack and convergence journalism have taken off and are extremely useful and generally efficient, especially as the internet continues to grow. However, a big part of me still believes that if it is cost effective and possible, a team should be sent to cover stories. We are educating people now so that they can be an individual and do a great job getting the many facets of a story together for publishing, but I believe due to all the aspects that are covered and the fact that we are all only human, a team will create a better overall outcome, just because each person can totally commit to one or two tasks and make them the best they can be in a shorter amount of time than it would take one person to do all this. Backpack journalism definitely has its pros though, especially since journalists are being taught everything they need for this field while in school, instead of being educated specifically in one area and then learning the basics of the rest. At times it is more practical to send one person to cover a story, and if they can do a good job of it then I think it's a useful practice to continue.