I don't think that being a "jack of all trades" makes a journalist suffer. If a journalist has mastered the key, basic elements of journalism: listening, observing, showing (not telling), etc., that journalist's work will be solid. Though technology is changing, good journalism isn't. For example: good writing is good writing, whether it's in a newspaper or online.
To me, the reason backpack journalists are looked down upon, looked at as lacking, is because of the lack of value placed on news today. The foreign editor for USA Today once told a class I was in that the old adage was that newspapers should cost as much as a cup of coffee, and that we'd lost that. It's true: coffee at Starbucks is $4 or $5. Our society doesn't place enough value on the news, so not enough money is going into the news, so newspapers must costs, so they don't have enough money to give journalists the time it takes to put together a good story. That's why journalism suffers, not because a journalist's technological versatility, and journalists must be technologically versatile in order to survive. It's a vicious circle of unanswered questions.
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