Christine Tatum, SPJ president, opened a can of worms recently when she suggested a list of tech items that newsroom journalists should personally own: laptop, phone, audio recorder, camera, video camera, flash drive and microphone.

Surprised at the ferocity of backlash she encountered, she wrote a blog post asking for input from readers.

This quote struck me: “They expect fire but give me flint to make it.”

For capital-budget strapped alts, this is even more painful. In my first newsroom, none of the computers had the same version of MS Word, making editing a nightmare. Purchasing equipment yourself can be impossible on an altie salary. It can be difficult to produce great multimedia journalism with older equipment.

How has the technology - or lack of it - impacted your newsroom? Have you been able to find inexpensive ways to produce multimedia?