Media Convergence | Where Should In-depth Reporting Go in the Age of Converged Media
2024-08-07
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As a category of traditional news reporting, in-depth reporting was once considered the "killer weapon" that represented the competitiveness of the media. Reports such as "China's Northwest Corner", "Overnight Stay at the Inn", "China Youth Daily's three-color" report on the Daxing'anling fire, and "Southern Weekend's" report on the toxic milk powder incident all had a huge impact at the time. At the same time, many in-depth reporters "became famous overnight", and in-depth reporting once occupied the top of the industry.
However, based on the overall trend in recent years, the in-depth reports that have been published have encountered traffic "bottleneck" from time to time, and the number of media, reporters, and publications has been decreasing year by year at a rate visible to the naked eye. The overall feeling is that in-depth reporting is gradually declining.
Since its inception, in-depth reporting has guarded the times with its irreplaceable value. Faced with the fact that in-depth reporting is becoming less and less common, how to revitalize it is an issue that needs to be addressed urgently.
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"Interpretations" come one after another, but in-depth reports that take longer often lose the initiative and lack the ability to "attract traffic."
When the input and output of in-depth reporting are not proportional, it is inevitable that it will be marginalized even within the media organization, and the reporting team and financial support will be reduced. It is understood that many in-depth reporting teams of print media have been cancelled. The production capacity of in-depth reporting is getting weaker and weaker.
In addition, the information cocoon trapped by the filtering mechanisms and algorithm-guided information of major platforms has also affected the dissemination of in-depth reports. Under the "tailor-made" "directional dissemination", people's reading preferences are constantly strengthened, and in-depth reports that have not been selected are difficult to "squeeze" into the public's field of vision.
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Although it seems that in-depth reporting is on the decline and its expression is not so suitable for modern communication rules, this does not mean that in-depth reporting has lost its value and is no longer needed. The more crises and difficulties we face, the more we need to carefully examine in-depth reporting, clarify its positioning, and seek opportunities to break through.
Compared with general reports, in-depth reports pay more attention to the facts themselves, focusing on answering "why" and "what to do". Through in-depth analysis of social events, the causes and consequences of the events are fully presented, and the facts and strength speak for themselves.It can bring a new perspective on event interpretation to the public with its unique content and profound insights.
As society continues to develop, new phenomena and new problems emerge in an endless stream. The rigorous closed loop of in-depth reporting from beginning to end can better promote problem solving and play a prominent role in influencing public decision-making, policy interpretation and public opinion supervision.If we can "break the circle" with the help of modern media technology, it will help the mainstream voice spread further and the social governance value of in-depth reporting will be highlighted.
In the era of traffic, Internet hot spots are "exploding", and the public's attention to hot spots remains high. However, unauthoritative and incomplete interpretations often "turn the truth upside down", and netizens who do not know the truth are easily "led astray", and the public's value orientation and emotional experience are repeatedly reversed. In this case,Cyberspace is in urgent need of in-depth, extensive and authoritative reporting to dispel rumors and resolve differences. Obviously, in-depth reporting can take on this responsibility.
The multiple values and significance of in-depth reporting make it irreplaceable.
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In fact, in the past two years, people have clearly felt the disadvantages of fragmented communication. Every time an incident occurs, there is a serious overabundance of information on the one hand, but a lack of effective information on the other. Sometimes the more information you get, the further away from the truth you may be. Therefore, in terms of public demand, in-depth reporting is still needed.
If in-depth reporting wants to improve its competitiveness in the current communication track, it must consolidate its advantages, make up for its shortcomings, and constantly adapt to the changing characteristics of communication.
Strengthen content and gain competitive advantage.In-depth reporting should constantly improve its authority and professionalism to ensure high quality. On the one hand, the selection of topics should be extended and expanded to the direction of audience concern, such as paying more attention to hot topics in people's livelihood; on the other hand, the depth, breadth and height of the reports should be expanded to allow the audience to gain something from reading and resolve doubts, and to obtain more guidance and enlightenment from them. Especially in hot events and critical moments, we should not evade, lose our ground, or lose our voice, but be able to make rational voices in the complex "controversial" voices, put forward constructive opinions, and promote the resolution of events.
Strengthen teamwork and improve timeliness.In-depth reporting requires a lot of investigation and interviews, which is difficult to complete in a short period of time by one person alone. At this time, if there is teamwork and tacit cooperation, efficiency can be greatly improved. In a sense, "rushing against time" tests the writing of in-depth reports not the ability to act, but the teamwork ability, including the editors in the back should have strong topic planning and manuscript collection capabilities, the reporters in the front should have strong investigation and interview capabilities and long-form report writing capabilities, and the writing style of the entire team tends to be consistent and quickly reach a tacit understanding. The team also needs to establish a rapid response mechanism to ensure that it can quickly assemble and get to work in the face of emergencies or important news.
In terms of agenda setting, the audience can be involved in planning and discussion to raise expectations, identify with opinions, and resonate with emotions, thereby triggering public attention and spontaneous dissemination, gradually building audience awareness of in-depth reporting, and increasing audience stickiness.
Strengthen visual expression and enhance the pleasure of reading.Focus on visual expression, change the narrative style appropriately, and use a variety of elements such as pictures, text, charts, cartoons, etc. The "fragmentation" of layout design can weaken the "heaviness" of reading and improve readability and dissemination rate.
Media linkage forms a three-dimensional communication pattern.Build multi-media communication channels represented by WeChat, Weibo, Douyin, Bilibili, Toutiao, etc., and complete "in-depth communication" through the "mutual cooperation" of different media. For example, Weibo platform sends messages and leads topics, WeChat public accounts and Toutiao publish in-depth reports, video accounts and Douyin conduct commentators' comments, and Bilibili conducts further analysis of the report collection "second creation". Different platforms can "preview" to display the core content or fascinating parts of the in-depth report, and can also "drain traffic" from each other to cultivate and accumulate audience groups.
From the perspective of information supply, this is an era that is easy to be "distracted" and also an era that is easy to be "panic". Since in-depth reporting has chosen the "heartfelt" approach, it should continue to move forward with determination. If it can often provide "reassurances" to the audience when they are "panicked", then why worry that the audience will not be "moved"?
Source: Interview Editor WeChat Official Account
Edited by Jing Shiyao
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