Backpack Journalism

Martha Stone takes her stance full throttle by quoting various experts who believe that we shouldn't expect journalists to take it all on in what's regarded as backpack journalism. In ten or fifteen years down the line, I think many of us will only laugh at these journalists who said that it's not plausible for us to become backpack journalists because it's much too overwhelming. 

Stone also argues that "the do-it-all journalists should be the exception, not the rule." With this, I side with Jane Stevens who approaches backpack journalism with a can-do attitude, knowing that it's inevitable. She implies that after all, if we don't learn to tackle these new forms of media, somebody will. So why not? Unlike Stone, we shouldn't quash backpack journalism's potential before we've even let it take off and thrive. And to know if it can thrive, I think we need more time. 

Even if the status of the internet's business model for media publications hasn't quite been solved, we can only choose to move forward and moving forward consists of tackling those new forms of online media. If we compromise our old ways of story telling to move forward, it will be a tremendous feat to work and live by new rules but it's necessary to take the risk and to believe in it -  and in doing so, we will be making an investment in the future.