What is backpack journalist?

New technology gives birth to 'backpack journalist'

Armed with $15,000 in satellite phones and computers, Preston Mendenhall is a journalistic one-man band, writing stories, taking photographs and shooting video in combat zones.

The international editor for MSNBC.com has joined other reporters in Iraq, where he is recording the reaction of the Kurds in the northern part of the country to the American-led bombing.

He represents a new breed of reporter: the "backpack journalist."

These journalists rely on lightweight laptops, satellite phones, inexpensive editing software and digital cameras — equipment that is a fraction of the cost and size of conventional, shoulder-mounted gear. They file video from some of the most remote spots on Earth, supplying material primarily to the Web, but occasionally to television.

more.........

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/world/iraq/2003-03-25-backpack-journalists_x.htm

http://www.ojr.org/ojr/workplace/1017771634.php

http://www.advancingthestory.com/2009/01/26/backpack-journalism-toolkit/