Newington, VA – June 2, 2010 – Communications Engineering, Inc. (CEI) announced today that it has joined forces with Emmy award-winning producer Bill Gentile to develop a dynamic solution to one of the industry’s biggest challenges — turning a broadcast journalist into an entire in-the-field production crew.
Following several months of research and development, CEI and Bill Gentile have created the Bill Gentile Backpack Journalism System, a versatile, cost-effective solution designed to meet the demands of today’s remote location broadcasting. The customized system offers extensive features and options for a wide range of uses and environments. The system will debut at InfoComm June 9-11 in Las Vegas at CEI’s booth (#C5177).
Bill Gentile has become synonymous with pioneering backpack journalism, covering stories on five continents over a 30-year career, as well as teaching other journalists his groundbreaking methods. Incorporating his hands-on expertise with CEI’s broad technical capabilities, the Bill Gentile Backpack Journalism System takes the uncertainty and guesswork out of choosing the best system for field production needs.
The Bill Gentile Backpack Journalism System features quality equipment and accessories from leading manufacturers, including Sony, Apple, G-Technology and Manfrotto. Numerous options are available for customizing the system to suit specific requirements. The entire system is configured by CEI and coveredby a three-year warranty, backed up by CEI’s experienced in-house service department.
“Today’s news organizations are under increased pressure to minimize costs and expand the capabilities of their reporters, and the backpack journalism system provides them with the comprehensive tools to do their jobs effectively in a variety of environments,” Gentile said. “Partnering with CEI to create this custom backpack system makes perfect sense because of their technical knowledge and long-term experience in the broadcast industry.”
“We’re fortunate to have such a skilled, highly respected journalist as a partner in the development of the backpack journalism system,” said John Wesley Nash, Executive Vice President and COO of CEI. “Bill brings a tremendous wealth of knowledge to this project. He knows exactly what photo journalists need in the field, understands the challenges they face, and has helped us put together what is certain to be a system that allows them to be very mobile and still deliver high-quality stories.”
Background:
CEI, located in Newington, VA, is a leading, award-winning broadcast and multi-media systems integrator. The company also offers complete equipment service, support and training, and supplies products and services to a wide range of commercial clients and non-profit businesses. Federal agencies and government organizations can be supplied through GSA. CEI has helped to define the leading edge of systems engineering and implementation for the communications industry since the mid1980’s.
About Bill Gentile:
Bill Gentile is an independent journalist and documentary filmmaker teaching at American University in Washington, DC. His career spans three decades, five continents and nearly every facet of journalism and mass communication, most especially visual communication, or visual storytelling. He is a pioneer of backpack journalism and today he is one of the craft’s most noted practitioners.
His recent works include “Nurses Needed,” about the nursing shortage across the United States, and “Afghanistan: The Forgotten War,” about America’s deepening involvement in that Central Asian country. Broadcast in 2008 by NOW on PBS, the stories were named NOW’s Number 1 and Number 3, respectively, most popular of the year. The Afghanistan story was nominated in 2009 for a National Emmy Award.
Gentile has completed assignments for The Learning Channel, the Discovery Channel, National Geographic Television, ABC’s Nightline With Ted Koppel, NOW With Bill Moyers, NOW hosted by David Brancaccio, Court TV and Lion TV. He shared the Robert F. Kennedy Award for Human Rights Reporting, Honorable Mention, for a story on rape during the 1994 Rwanda Genocide. He shared two National Emmy Awards and was nominated for two others. For more information, visit www.billgentile.com.
