An ideal news article has three elements: Text, photos and multimedia features. Over the past few years I’ve been working to put together a toolkit that would allow me to produce each of those elements for Recordnet.com and The Record.

The first item in the kit was a MacBook Pro for writing text while out of the office, if necessary. Then a Pentax K200 digital camera was added for taking photos. This Christmas I was able to complete the kit with a Flip HD camera for multimedia.

My first test of the kit came Jan. 5, when I brought my cameras to the Andrew Jackson Jihad concert at the Plea for Peace Center in Stockton. It resulted in a blog about weeknight entertainment in the city that you can find here.

I discovered that producing the text and video for the blog was relatively easy, as I have experience with both. Taking photos, however, was a challenge that involved making a complicated connection between the light, the subject and the technology of the camera. It’s as much of an art as it is a science, and it gave me additional respect for the great news photogs I know and admire.

But whether or not it can work financially shouldn’t be the only question journalists ask themselves before seeking philanthropic support.

More importantly, they need to ask if it’s moral.

Again, there’s only so much nonprofit funding available. Donors don’t have enough money to support every worthwhile cause; instead, they choose to fund some charities over others.