Backpack Journalism Rules

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Backpack Journalism Rules
Edgar Huang Indiana University-Purdue University
Indianapolis
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Historical attitude toward BJ

• In a 2002 article (http//www.ojr.org/ojr/workplac
  e/1017771634.php) in Online Journalism Review,
  Matha Stone called backpack journalists a mush
  of mediocrity.
• She wrote However, the do-it-all journalists
  should be the exception, not the rule.

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BRIDGING
and
Classrooms
Newsrooms
Preparing the Next Generation of Journalists for
Converged Media
Huang, E., Davison, K., Davis, T., Bettendorf,
E., Shreve, S. and Nair, A. (2006, Autumn).
Journalism and Communication Monographs. Vol. 8,
No. 3, pp. 221-262.
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Bridging Newsrooms and Classrooms
What is media convergence?

• In this 2003 study, Huang et al identified four
  levels of media convergence
• Corporate merger or alliance
• Form/technological convergence
• Content convergence
• Role convergence

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Bridging Newsrooms and Classrooms
Convergence calls for role change

• A new breed of journalists converged
  journalists is expected.
• Teaming is good, but converged journalists will
  be in an advantageous position.
• For the news company, they are efficient and
  effective employees.
• For journalists themselves, they are more
  marketable and gain more sense of achievement.

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Bridging Newsrooms and Classrooms
Two questions in the nutshell

• Should J-schools train specialists or fit-for-all
  generalists?
• How should college journalism education balance
  the teaching of critical thinking and the
  teaching of technical skills?

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Bridging Newsrooms and Classrooms

1. Should J-schools train specialists or generalists?

• The majority of the respondents (84) agreed or
  strongly agreed that journalism students should
  learn how to write for multiple media platforms.
• The majority of the respondents (85) agreed that
  journalism students with a visual emphasis should
  learn how to produce and edit photos, videos and
  online interactive images.
• Most respondents (78) agreed or strongly agreed
  that all journalism majors should learn multiple
  sets of skills, such as writing, editing, TV
  production, digital photography and Web design.

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Bridging Newsrooms and Classrooms

1. Should J-schools train specialists or
   generalists? (cont.)

• When asked whether journalism students should
  still have a specialization, such as writing,
  photojournalism, broadcasting and new media, over
  half (63) of the respondents agreed or strongly
  agreed. Over a quarter of the respondents (28)
  were negative and 9 were not sure.

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Bridging Newsrooms and Classrooms

1. Should J-schools train specialists or
   generalists? (cont.)

• When asked whether journalism sequences should be
  reorganized considering the trend of
  media-platforms merging in the industry,
• 56 of the professors agreed or strongly agreed,
  
• 22 were not sure,
• 22 disagreed or strongly disagreed.

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Bridging Newsrooms and Classrooms

1. Should J-schools train specialists or
   generalists? (cont.)

• Flexible is a key term repeatedly seen in the
  respondents textual answers as a suggestion for
  training future journalists. A professor wrote
• We cant teach for the now. We have to
  prepare students for when they graduate which
  in most instances is now five years out. And, we
  feel a commitment to expose them to all types of
  writing in all platforms so they can be flexible
  about their career choice at the front end of
  their academics. Then, they can apply the skills
  to a specialty area where they are totally
  proficient.

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Bridging Newsrooms and Classrooms

1. What skills do news professionals need to learn
   most at their current positions?

Editors list News professionals list
1 Good writing Good writing
2 Multimedia production Multimedia production
3 Critical thinking New technology Computer-assisted reporting Visual production
4 New technology New technology Computer-assisted reporting Visual production
5 Computer-assisted reporting New technology Computer-assisted reporting Visual production
6 Visual production Critical thinking
7 Time management Time management
8 Second language Second language
9 On-camera exposure On-camera exposure
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Bridging Newsrooms and Classrooms
Conclusions (continued)

• Respondents with different academic and
  professional backgrounds share the same
  conviction. That is, reporting news in multiple
  media platforms will be tomorrows way news is
  presented dealing with media convergence in
  college journalism education is an urgent
  necessity. The wait-and-see strategy will place a
  J-school in a disadvantaged position over the
  long run.

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Bridging Newsrooms and Classrooms
Conclusions (continued)

• Generalists are needed in the industry though
  such needs may not be necessarily converted into
  requirements in job ads for a while.
• The needs for superhack masters of multimedia
  are out there, but whether the training of such
  superhack masters will become a norm largely
  depends on whether J-schools are willing to and
  able to develop those avant-garde courses.
• Students also need to learn to cooperate and
  collaborate across newsrooms.

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Bridging Newsrooms and Classrooms
Conclusions (continued)

• Attitude and aptitude, together with time
  management ability, will be the key to producing
  quality work in newsrooms.
• The concerns that students being trained in
  multiple media platforms will be jacks of trades
  but masters of none are not grounded.

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Backpackers Rule

• In 2005, Mark Hamilton, a former journalist and a
  then journalism instructor in Vancouver, BC,
  highly praised backpackers. He was so excited
  about the BJ idea that he wrote In fact, if I
  were 19 again and starting out as a journalist,
  Id do whatever it took to be a backpack
  journalist.

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BJ Has Became Mainstream

• In 2006, the Institute for Interactive Journalism
  began to award BJ.

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BJ Has Became Mainstream

• Gannett Broadcasting ran a backpack journalism
  program in early 2007.

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BJ Has Became Mainstream
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BJ Has Became Mainstream

• At the Journal News in White Plains, New York
  Deputy Managing Editor for Presentation Larry
  Nylund, says, The list of qualifications we look
  for in a photojournalism applicant just got a lot
  longer. Why? The photo department in now known
  as the multimedia department, Nylund says. We
  are looking for talented people who can step in
  with the skills needed to tell visual stories in
  many different ways. The photographers in
  Nylunds department contribute to the newspaper,
  magazines, weekly tabloids, a television station
  and a Website. Photographers carry still and
  video cameras, laptops, cell phones. The company
  now has video and audio studios.

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My New Study

• This year, I completed a study Media convergence
  and young audience Finding a converging point,
  in which I concluded, True convergence, based on
  the findings from this study, however, needs to
  be realized on the Internet. As the current
  generations of people in the ages of 40 and
  above, it is very likely that the paper part of
  newspaper will gradually become a nostalgic
  concept, and TV and radio will be assimilated
  into online news presentations.

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My New Study

• In the years to come, a true convergence will
  mean that the news industry provides the younger
  generation an experience of consuming multimedia
  news that is customizable and relevant to them
  all online through computers or other more
  convenient and less expensive hand-held devices
  with an opportunity for audience to be easily
  engaged in participatory journalism.

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The Point Is

• Backpack journalism education should become the
  standard for future journalists.