In lean times, TV reporters must be jacks of all trades

Whatever the pluses and minuses, a trend that took root in local television is spreading to the pricier precincts of network news as well.

When ABC News recently announced a massive wave of buyouts that could cut 300 to 400 jobs -- up to 25 percent of the workforce -- executives said its journalists would be expected to report, shoot and edit their own stories in addition to relying on film crews. All the networks, including ABC, have dabbled in the practice. But in an era of layoffs and shuttered offices -- ABC will have no physical bureaus outside Washington -- it is quickly becoming a necessity. "I would not say cost wasn't a factor, but it was not the driving factor," says Alexandra Wallace, senior vice president at NBC, which began the switch in earnest four years ago. "Sometimes you can get an intimacy with a tiny camera that you wouldn't get with a 2 1/2 -foot camera sitting on someone's shoulder. . . . I mostly consider everyone here a digital journalist."