Heavy and unattractive the machine has a strong primitive feel to it. Long ago it was once one of the most important tools in a journalist’s arsenal to create a story. Today the device is almost extinct.

Brad Kalbfeld, an AP journalist for over three decades, remembers when he had to carry his portable typewriter with him to cover stories from all over the world. He graced his presence in Steve Klein’s Online Journalism class and reminisced what print journalists had to deal with in the past and offered advice for success in the ever evolving world of journalism for the future.

From covering the Pope to the rise of solidarity in Poland, Kalbfeld was once the very epitome of the traditional print journalist. Today he is a proponent of the online wave and acknowledges the mass benefits for journalist to accept and embrace the transition to the web.

“Your careers will be better and journalism will be better,” said Kalbfeld, regarding the potential of new media to bring the world of journalism to a higher pedestal.

Kalbfeld was gracious enough to bring along several of his old school journalism equipment to help the students realize just what he had to go through years ago. Along with the typewriter was a prehistoric like tape recorder and a laptop that resembled an oversized calculator; tools of the trade that were revolutionary and a necessity back in the seventies and eighties. Today all he needs is his IPod Touch.
“I can do everything on this,” said Kalbfeld. “If I don’t understand this, I’m screwed.”

Kalbfeld insisted that prospective journalist need to understand how the public is consuming information in order to produce the news that the public wants in the most efficient manner possible.

“Everything is possible once you’ve digitized the news,” argued Kalbfeld. “You have to think what the audience wants.”

While Kalbfeld acknowledges that the online transition is not easy for everyone, especially for traditional journalists who are used to doing things a particular way, he maintained that journalists have to learn to deal with the changing ground rules since it will benefit the profession as a whole. Kalbfeld believes that although it might take a few years eventually information going online instead of on paper will be better for everyone.

“We are in an integrated, interactive world and we need to think about journalism as a whole,” Kalbfeld said.

As advice for the prospective new journalists in the class, he said that, “We all have to build for ourselves skill sets that will allow us to survive.”

Kalbfeld believes that those willing to embrace the marriage of journalist and new media will be much better off.