ცნობილი ვაშინგტონელი ჟურნალისტი და ამერიკის უნივერსიტეტის პროფესორი Bill Gentile თბილისშია. 21 მაისს ქართველ სტუდენტებს შეხვდა და დარბაზი ემოციებით დატვირთა. ბატონმა ბილმა გაიხსენა საკუთარი გზის დასაწყისი ჟურნალისტიკაში, ყველა ის ქვეყანა, რომლის ომი თუ რევოლუცია გააშუქა, ყველა ის ადამიანი, ვინც ამ საინტერესო და რთულ პროფესიულ გზაზე შეხვდა... მადლობა მას და ორგანიზატორებს!
Backpack journalism is an emerging form of journalism that requires a journalist to be a reporter, photographer, and videographer, as well as an editor and producer of stories. There is no set definition for this practice, but it is essentially “ a method using … journalism to create powerful, intimate stories that take people beyond the boundary of their own life experience and connects them with the currents, forces and situations reshaping our world on a daily basis.”This method uses various media tools, such as lightweight laptops, satellite phones, inexpensive editing software and digital cameras to more fully engage both the audience’s intellect and emotion. Backpack journalists file material to supply the Web, and occasionally television, from locations that would be otherwise inaccessible to large news teams. Although the term originated within the sphere of broadcast journalism, it has expanded to include all areas of the media world.
An accomplished backpack journalist must be a master of new technologies, capable of fusing previously separated roles, such as writer and videographer, and able to produce a story that ensures accuracy, fairness and balance, shaped by high standards and solidified practices.
In the United States, backpack journalism is said to have evolved out of Video News International (VNI), a project by The New York Times, in the mid-1990s. Michael Rosenblum, a former broadcast journalist, thought that training print journalists and photographers to use small high-quality digital video cameras would encourage television networks to do more international coverage because it would be more cost effective.
After September 11, 2001, multiple news organizations created specific websites to share continuing developments after the terrorist attack. These sites told the stories of what happened on that day, supplemented by slide shows and video of the events of September 11, information about Afghanistan, Pakistan, the history of terrorism, and links pointing to outside resources.
Other news organizations, such as the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) and the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), set out to compete with these sites, and so backpack journalism spurred further into being.
