“They file real-time reports with equipment that is a fraction of the cost and size of conventional, shoulder-mounted cameras and other gear. They file primarily for the Web, with images they’ve edited themselves at the scene, and occassionally contribute to television. | The technology has resulted in streaming video from the most remote places on earth. It has also enabled a new breed of reporter, known as a ‘backpack journalist,’ who often has greater mobility and flexibility than a camera crew.”
If more mainstream reporters start using this kind of equipment, perhaps the mainstream media will publish fewer Internet scare stories. Still, note that the article presents television as the medium that the backpack journalists must compete with. I’d rather see this as a professionalization of an ethos already well-established by the efforts of hundreds of thousands of lone-wolf bloggers. The links comes from Rosemary, who also suggests an article on how text-messaging may change the patient-doctor relationship.
