In modern journalistic practice, there are many genres. One of the most popular and demanded is considered to be a report. It was he who first came into the world after every socially significant event.
What is a report?
The definition of one of the most important concepts in the media can be found in any dictionary of journalistic terminology. So, the authors characterize the report as "material from the scene, characterized by objectivity and efficiency." Its main goal is to create a “presence effect”, to enable the viewer, listener or reader to see the situation through the eyes of a journalist.
Compositionally, the report consists of 3 parts.
- Introduction: a brief sketch of what is happening. Location and time, as well as a description of its participants. The introduction should be bright in order to attract attention and cause a desire to continue familiarization with the material.
- Main part: information block. The characteristics of the event, dialogs with participants, descriptions of details that will help you better understand the essence of what is happening and feel your involvement in the story.
- The ending: the impression of the author, his thoughts and emotions, as well as a summarized rating of the episode.
The style of writing the report may vary depending on the nature of the event. It may be a light description of the youthful atmosphere: “09:30. The sun has long risen, but our athletes do not think to wake up. Are they so sure of their victory? ” If the event is more formal, you need to withstand officialdom: “The head of the organization opened the evening. He thanked all those present and admitted that he had never delivered a speech to such an exquisite audience. ”
Reporting Types
Event
The reason for creating this type of reporting is a vivid and memorable incident, incident or incident that attracted the attention of the public. The “presence effect” is achieved thanks to the chronological sequence, the indication of a clear time and place of what is happening, the use of details and vivid details.
Staged
The journalist becomes the main participant, and not a passive observer, if the ongoing action is directed by himself. For example, a provoked street demonstration created to track people's reactions to it. In this case, reporting from the scene is an example of a field media experiment.
Thematic cognitive
Events and processes in this form of reporting do not require operational coverage, the reader needs to fully reveal new facets of society.
Actual
It is a momentary response to what is happening. Actual reporting is an example of material requiring special promptness: the sooner the public learns about an important event, the faster they can respond to it.
Problem
Creating such a report, the journalist seeks not only to cover the event, but also to explore the social phenomena that caused it. This view requires the author's own thoughts, his analysis and evaluation.
How to write a problematic report?
This species is also called analytical. In his work on a problematic report, the journalist first of all asks himself not “What?”, But “Why?” The basic is the search for the causes of various social problems and unrest.
To write a problem report, first of all, you need to deal with all the components of the situation. Place, time, participants, chronology of events. Have similar stories happened before? Are there any statistics on this issue?
When the base is assembled, you can start writing an article. Problem reporting is an example of journalistic material with mixed genre elements. The author actively uses sketches, factual information, expresses his opinion and gives his own forecasts of further events.
What is the structure of such a report in the newspaper? An example of an article’s outline: a thesis (a description of the situation and a problematic question), arguments (the author explains the reasons for the discussion, gives an interpretation of facts, compares similar phenomena), a conclusion (the result of understanding all the facts, assessing the level of their significance, designating one’s position).
How to write a thematic informative report?
This journalistic material is divided into two subspecies: special and investigation. The first - requires the journalist to disclose a pressing issue. You need to make sure that the selected topic can really be classified as “special”. At the heart of the second is the process of obtaining information directly. The thematic reportage is an example of how a journalist can broaden the horizons of his reader.
To create such material, the first thing to do is to determine the sphere of society's life, which will be highlighted. Then choose in it an aspect that can cause resonance.
Particular attention should be paid to the method of presenting information: active dialogs, constant movement and vivid details will keep readers in a constant tone.
Often, in order to better understand what is happening, the authors temporarily change their profession and are fully introduced into the process under study. Such a thematically informative report is an example of the complete reincarnation of a journalist. The difficulty level in this case increases several times.
How to write a current report?
First you need to understand what falls under the key category of this concept? Relevance - the significance of something in the current situation. Based on the definition, such a report covers the events of "the malice of the day" that occurred the evening before or immediately on the day the material was created.
The main thing is efficiency. The author still does not have time to assess the situation and form his own opinion, but he must highlight what happened. To do this, you must have a large list of contacts, in which there is someone who can immediately take a comment and find out the details.
A journalist must quickly find answers to many questions in order to prepare an up-to-date report. Example: what happened, where, when, with whom, why and what would be the possible consequences?
Although the speed and pressure in such situations are over the top, you need to prepare a publication promptly. When writing an article in the "reporting" genre, examples of texts by other authors can help create material quickly and efficiently. Thus, a journalist kills two birds with one stone: he writes the latest news both promptly and in accordance with all the rules of the genre.
