Backpack Journalism Response

Kelsey Waananen

I’m a believer in what Jane Stevens has to say. I embrace the sentiment that backpack journalism is here to stay and not just because I want to feel better about how I chose to attempt to make an income, but because it has already proven its endurance.

“Backpack Journalism Is Here to Stay” was posted in 2002 and in it Stevens discusses that “over the next 20 years, if economic conditions don’t worsen and technological developments continue apace, the content of the newspaper and television news shows are likely to be delivered principally over the Internet.”

By golly, seven years and a droopy economy later, it seems that she’s quite right. Now, it can be argued what is meant by ‘principally’ but in 2002 I doubt anyone could have fully embraced even the concept of something such as the iPhone let alone have known how many people actually demand to own one. Technology has not slowed and as long as people are provided with easy ways to access what they want, they will. That’s the beauty of our market economy- the demand for multimedia news is there, and we are expected to rise to the occasion and supply it.

However, Stevens describes certain conditions under which backpack journalism must operate that I think are crucial to ensure its longevity.

There will be specialization. Any argument saying that one person is not enough is missing the point. Backpack journalists will learn how to do everything to help enhance the skills of fellow journalists, not to be expected to do everything alone. A journalist can choose to operate alone, should a situation call for that but I don’t see it as being the norm.

There will be teamwork. A team of people who are completely competent, at the very least, in multiple ways to capture and relate events? Please, show me a more unstoppable force. If one person isn’t able to capture/ didn’t notice something key, chances are the other members will be able to. The potential in stories will be more fully realized.

There will be training. It will need to be constant training because as she stated, what’s happening is “the evolution of an entirely new storytelling medium.” The skills required are innate in few but they can be cultivated in many, so long as the subjects prove willing to learn and adapt.


So I suppose what I really mean to say is- bravo, Jane Stevens, bravo.