Backpack Journalism Blog

WASHINGTON, DC, 10 May 2012 — This article and related content are the result of an interview I did in Caracas with the newspaper, El Universal. For the whole story, click HERE.

WASHINGTON, DC, 10 May 2012 – Got back last night from a weeklong trip to Caracas, Venezuela, teaching and promoting backpack journalism. Funded by the U.S. Department of State, the trip was scheduled to coincide with World Press Freedom Day. (See attached photos.)

Perhaps more than any other visit that I’ve made to Venezuela, I believe this one stands out as the most gratifying on a personal as well as professional level. The trip included presentations, a two-day Backpack Journalism Workshop and a series of interviews with Venezuelan and foreign journalists.

The highlight of the week was the time spent at Andres Bello Catholic University (UCAB), where some 90 students from across the institution attended my Thursday 10 May presentation, “Technology and the New Age of Information.” About 30 of these students attended a two-day Backpack Journalism Workshop. The workshop was a great success, with students arriving early, leaving late and working hard all day in between. All of them finished their projects on time.

It was at UCAB that I was so deeply impressed with the quality and the character of the young generation of Venezuelans. I found their intelligence, their maturity and their optimism to be truly gratifying.

On Monday 7 May at Monteavila University, I repeated the “Technology and the New Age of Information” address to a classroom of about 40 students. Despite the fact that only a handful of those attending the event envisioned a career in the field of communication, most of them seemed compelled by the examples of my work that I presented, and by the idea that technology was democratizing the international dialogue that we refer to as “journalism.”

An afternoon interview with journalists from El Universal provided another opportunity to spread the idea that technology and the Internet are democratizing communication by making the tools of the craft available to vast numbers of ordinary citizens. Curiously, I found myself talking to a team of journalists that included a reporter, a photographer and a videographer — about how multi-media journalists like myself now can work alone. My hope is that they see the power and the promise of the methodology that I presented there. I hope they weren’t offended.

On Tuesday 8 May, I visited the Foreign Press Association at the Reuters news bureau, where a handful of members discussed the challenges facing them in this time of government pressure and deep polarization of Venezuelan society. I advised them to maintain close contact with organizations like the Committee to Protect Journalists (with which I have a good working relationship) and Reporters Without Borders.

At Venevision, I was received by an administration and staff who gave a tour of the facilities and with whom I discussed at length the challenges and the opportunities presented by the revolution in technology that we employ to practice our craft. We discussed the methodology of backpack journalism and how I use it to participate in an increasingly inclusive global conversation. It’s all part of the broad endeavor to employ journalism to bring about positive, democratic change.

Thanks for following.

Above, I meet with colleagues at the Venezuelan Foreign Press Association, which is housed at the Reuters bureau in Caracas. From left are Jota Rodriguez of the Agencia Photographer Press International; freelance fixer/producer Luisa Berlioz R.; myself; Lisett Gonzalez of Venevision; Andreina Flores of Radio Francia Internacional and RCN Radio Colombia.

Below, I’m interviewed at Venevision. To my left are Eduardo H. Croes of the U.S. embassy; Jose Ramon de la Cotera, vice president of information and opinion at Venevision; and Sol Vargas Arnal, director of Internet content.

Below, the closest I’ll ever get to being an anchor:

Newswise — American University’s School of Communication is one of nine higher education institutions selected by Sony for an innovative new program that puts the newest media technology in the hands of students and faculty. Bill Gentile, director of American University’s Backpack Journalism Project, will introduce Sony DSLR technology to SOC Backpack courses on an experimental basis during the summer session of 2012, with full implementation in the Film and Media Arts curriculum during the fall semester, including a Backpack course for AU students studying abroad in Cuba. Read more HERE.

CARACAS, Venezuela, 7 May 2012 — I took my Backpack Journalism presentation today to Monteavila University in Caracas to a group of very enthusiastic students. Most of them do not aspire to practice journalism but found the power and the promise of our craft to be compelling.

CARACAS, Venezuela, 5 May 2012 — This is the group of students who participated in the Backpack Journalism Workshop that I conducted at the Andres Bello Catholic University in Caracas. The event ended Saturday with a viewing of student projects. What a wonderful group of talented young men and women.

CARACAS, Venezuela, 5 May 2012 — Finished up a terrific Backpack Journalism Workshop with a wonderful group of students at the Andres Bello Catholic University in Caracas. I spent the day shooting with them on campus, watching them interview subjects, overseeing edits and watching final projects. Just as importantly, I spent time with them discussing their lives, their challenges and their aspirations. As so often happens when I visit Latin America, I am deeply moved and gratified by the privilege of entering this generation’s world and viewing their intelligence, their optimism and their potential. My greatest hope is that they are able to reach their goals.

Above, students make images for their projects in the university food court. Below, students put the final edit on their project.

Below, I pose with one of the student groups after finishing their project.

CARACAS, Venezuela, 4 May 2012 — Students attending my Backpack Journalism Workshop in Caracas, Venezuela, view the results of their first day at the workshop. Today we focused on the basics of the visual storytelling language, the vocabulary, and the progression from clip to sequence to scene to story.

Below, students work on their projects.

CARACAS, Venezuela, 3 May 2012 — Had a great two-hour session today with students at the Andres Bello Catholic University. About 90 students from all sectors of the university showed up for the presentation, which marked World Press Freedom Day. During the talk, “Technology and the New Age of Information,” I showed a bit of the piece I did for NOW on PBS in Afghanistan and discussed the role of backpack journalism.

Quoting from a speech I delivered at the Harvard Club in New York City two years ago, I said:

“We are, right now, at an extraordinary juncture in the history of mankind, technology and communication. Even more important than the Gutenberg press, the advances in digital cameras and the Internet provide us unprecedented opportunity. Ordinary citizens of the world now wield extraordinary power. We wield the power to communicate instantly, globally and in a language, the visual language, which supersedes both the written and the spoken word. This visual language knows no frontiers. It needs no translation. It is contingent on no corporate support. It is one of the most powerful tools of our time…And backpack journalism is the embodiment of this visual language.

“No matter what the new media landscape looks like after the current upheaval, backpack journalism will be an important part of it.”

If anything, backpack journalism will be even more important in the future than I expected two years ago.

CARACAS, Venezuela 2 May 2012 — Friends and relatives of prisoners inside the notorious La Planta Penitentiary in Caracas maintain a presence at the prison gates to ensure those inside are not transferred to facilities far from the capital. Prisoners inside rioted on Monday 30 April, sparking a 10-minute gun battle and speculation that authorities may move some of them to other institutions. I made a few quick images on my way from the airport to Caracas where I’ll be conducting a number of Backpack Journalism Workshops at universities here.

Below, the road to the city.

Below, traffic and billboards on the climb to my hotel.

Below, a view of Caracas from the 8th floor of my hotel.

WASHINGTON, DC, 7 April 2012 — We now are accepting registration for the May 17-20 Backpack Journalism Workshop in Washington, DC. Click HERE for information on how to “Engage. Embrace. Empower” with visual communication.

My workshops are intensive, four-day immersions in the craft of “backpack journalism” defined as character-driven television/web productions with hand-held digital cameras by a single practitioner. The workshops cover the gamut of the visual storytelling process from the genesis and shaping of story ideas, to shooting powerful images that drive the story, to the capture and use of sound, to script writing, narration, and editing. The workshops are appropriate for beginners with some experience as well as existing practitioners who desire to sharpen their skills or acquire new ones. We welcome photojournalists, print and video journalists, aspiring documentary filmmakers and independent storytellers.

I teach the full range of skills required for effective visual storytelling—from Controlling Idea and Dramatic Arc to pitching, shooting, producing, scriptwriting, narrating and editing the final product. I bring in an Internet marketing expert so participants can learn to market their work, using the latest and most effective social media tools.

My assistants are some of the best and brightest of the field, and they come to each event with the latest information about the field, with a burning desire teach and with a positive attitude.

The era of the backpack video journalist has arrived. It’s revolutionizing the global exchange of information and ideas — and changing the way we live. I bring over 30 years of field experience to teach how to produce powerful TV and web productions. Information is power, and I aim to help you harness that power to document and to change the world.

So don’t wait to “Engage. Embrace. Empower.” Join us for the next workshop in Washington, DC, on 17-20 May 2012.