news writing, a basic skill for layout editing
2024-09-23
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xie daoyi
summary:the layout editor is the producer of news products, and typesetting is a news creation activity, a kind of "re-creation" based on written news articles.
the layout editor must first "understand" the words used to express the news, laying the foundation for "recreation".
the layout editor uses layout elements, whether it is to creatively reflect the text of news articles on the page or to highlight the "news points", all of which are based on proficient news writing skills. therefore, news writing is a basic skill for layout editors.
the way for layout editors to master the basic skills of news writing is to study news theory, hone news awareness, and improve writing skills.
keywords:basic skills of news writing and layout editing
the launch of a fine newspaper is the result of both the news collection and editing of the reporters and editors, and the creative work of the layout editors. studies have shown that when a newspaper is in hand, the first thing that comes into contact with people's eyes is the overall visual style of the layout, that is, the theme layout that expresses the characteristics of the news, rather than the details of the news content. the layout is like an invisible hand, guiding the audience's sight, allowing the audience to accept news information, understand the editor's ideas, and appreciate the character and characteristics of the newspaper.
like reporters and editors who collect and compile text, layout editors are not only producers of news products, but their layout work is also a kind of news creation activity, or the "re-creation" of news. layout editors must not only arrange the layout clearly, eye-catching, neatly and generously, but also use layout elements to re-create the intentions of reporters and editors - strengthen, highlight, concentrate, etc., to enhance the news effect. especially in the modern newspaper publishing process, the institutional setting of "large interview department and small editorial department", the audience market environment of the "picture reading era", and the shortcomings of paper media compared with electronic media, the position of layout editors is particularly important.
however, regardless of the important position of layout editors in modern newspaper production or whether their work belongs to "news creative labor", it is all based on textual news articles. as the "first reader", layout editors must first "understand" the text of news expression to lay the foundation for "re-creation". that is to say, the creative work of layout editors is based on textual manuscripts. it is precisely because of the constraints of "foundation" and "prerequisite" that modern newspaper production requires layout editors to reach the realm of "understanding". therefore, the basic skill of news writing is very important for layout editors, so important that it is in the position of "basic skills" in the comprehensive quality of their news activities. and there is no other way to cultivate this "basic skill" except "getting into it physically" and "getting into it mentally", mastering skilled news writing skills, and reaching a level that is on par with professional text editors.
1. a layout editor is more than just a layout craftsman
for a long time, the layout editing work of newspapers has not received enough attention. many people think that this kind of work is just to delete, modify, and patch up the work of others (manuscripts), fill the pages, and decorate the pages beautifully. it is a simple repetitive work with no creativity. in fact, the creativity of layout editing work is reflected in all aspects of newspaper publishing and permeates every link of publishing.
1. publishing is an indispensable part of news production
as we all know, the production process of a newspaper is divided into three processes: editing, publishing, and printing. among them, editing (including text and photos) is the most basic production. publishing is to "move" the content of the report to the page, which is a link between editing and printing; printing is the materialization of ideological products. editing and publishing produce manuscripts and the carrier of manuscripts - pages, which are both intellectual activities, while printing is to "attach" human intelligence to the machine and materialize the news into "newsprint".
publishing is the link between editing and printing, and the specific operator connecting these two links is the layout editor. publishing is becoming more and more important in the production process of modern newspapers, and the status of layout editors has also risen accordingly. this is the origin of the position of "visual director" in many newspapers nowadays.
2. page editors are important producers of news products
in the process of making text and pictures into layouts, the work of layout editors has creative characteristics. because layout design and production work is by no means a passive simple patchwork of text news, but according to the characteristics of the manuscript, the characteristics of the newspaper, the overall style, and according to one's own understanding, the news information and ideas expressed in the text manuscript are directly or indirectly conveyed to the readers through layout language, such as layout position, space size, font, font size, color, pictures, etc., so that readers can clearly understand what the manuscript wants to express. this is like a director rehearsing a play. the director must make the relationship between the main and supporting roles concise and clear through his own handling of the role, rendering of the artistic conception, and portrayal of the details, so that the audience can see it at a glance, so that the content that does not need to be conveyed can be conveyed to the audience in a subtle way. in this sense, the layout editor is an important producer of news products.
3. the work of page editors is to recreate the "semi-finished" news
in the production process of modern news products, layout design and production have become a kind of artistic creation with value-added. undoubtedly, layout editing is a "value-added artistic creation" based on text news articles. words are a fixed symbol formed with the development of human society. with the continuous development of human society, this fixed symbol has become more and more abstract, with richer connotations, and the function of recording human activities and creating civilization has become more and more complex. the pace of life in modern society is fast, and modern people have entered the "picture reading era" in their acceptance of information. therefore, it is difficult for them to "see at a glance" the overly abstract or complex text information expression. the newspaper, which is a carrier with text as the main body, cannot allow the audience to easily discover its "hidden" important information, thus weakening its value. the value of layout editing is to "make" abstract symbols into more expressive symbols in the "picture reading era" to make news concrete, that is, to "restore" abstract words to figurative symbols. that is, the modern editing concept proposes to provide "non-text" reports to "readers" in a "non-writing" way. this sentence is the best summary of the value-added work of layout editing.
"non-writing" refers to the expression method of layout design, which is different from text writing. it uses pictures, colors and other pictorial spatial languages to express the content of the layout. "non-text" refers to the reader's need to read pictures. layout design uses pictures, charts, lines, colors, blank spaces and other layout elements to express the visual language of newspaper layout, making the newspaper "easy to read" and effectively conveying information to the audience through "visual" information transmission methods.
in short, in the modern newspaper editing concept, the work of the page layout editor is a kind of creative value-added labor. the editor is responsible for "restoring" the text news articles into a figurative form of information expression, and all of this is based on the text manuscripts.
2. the significance of page editors improving news writing skills in page layout work
since the work of layout editors is based on text manuscripts, their creative work is based on "reading and understanding". the so-called "reading and understanding" means to weigh the information value of text manuscripts through "reading", to understand the intentions of the editors and writers, and thus grasp the social significance of the information contained in the manuscripts.
1. “read” the information content of the manuscript
the layout editor must first weigh the weight of the manuscript. every manuscript has information content, but the "amount" contained is large or small. and as social attention changes, this content will also change accordingly. the size and change of this "amount" is reflected in the different positions of the newspaper layout, and the attention it attracts is also different, so the layout editor's means of handling it are also different. all of this must be based on the premise that the layout editor "understands" the text manuscript. a "layout craftsman" who does not understand news writing and is passive and mechanical will handle the same manuscript differently from a layout editor who is well versed in news writing and is proactive and creative, so the added value reflected in the newspaper is completely different. in terms of title creation, some manuscripts are very important, but the information is single, so the layout editor may only use one line of the main title, but the title font size will be quite large to attract the audience's attention; some information is "intensive", the lead and sub-title may be very long, so the layout editor may adopt a "clustering" method to process it, allowing the audience to grasp the basic content of the news in a shorter time.
2. “read” the intentions of the editor of the manuscript
by "reading", the layout editor not only weighs the news content of the manuscript, but also understands the intentions of the editors of the text and pictures, so as to complete the reporting purpose of the text and picture authors on the page.
because of the abstract nature of text, the editor's writing intention is also hidden in it. what the editor wants to highlight, emphasize, criticize, remind, etc. are all "implicit" in the "objective expression" of news. this requires the layout editor to "penetrate" through the layout language, that is, through the link of "interpreting" the layout, and then adopt a certain form of expression to achieve the goal of the text editor.
in the practice of layout, editors often use means such as highlighting, gathering, diverting, and increasing to reflect the intention of text manuscripts. the so-called "highlighting" means placing manuscripts with great news value and dense news information in important layout positions, or using layout language to make manuscripts attract the audience's attention. the so-called "gathering" means organically "collecting" two or more manuscripts with the same theme but different focuses, angles, and levels together to make them more complete and systematic, and to explain a certain event clearly from multiple aspects and angles, so that the audience has a comprehensive understanding of a certain social hot spot, which is conducive to highlighting the credibility of the newspaper and achieving the correctness of news and public opinion guidance. the so-called "diverting" means diverting an important news article to other pages when the layout capacity does not allow it. common means include "see page x for related reports", etc., which meets the contradiction between audience needs and limited layout capacity. the so-called "increasing" means that the layout editor, when the responsibilities allow, adopts means such as "links" and "summaries" to further strengthen the important information and significance of the text manuscripts.
3. “read” out “news points”
since every manuscript has a "news point", that is, content that can attract readers' attention and cause social repercussions, the layout editor must be able to highlight this content through layout language. before this process, the layout editor must "read" the "news point" from the abstract text. today's newspaper reading has entered the era of "fast-paced, shallow reading". it is difficult for newspapers without dense news to occupy a place in the market. now many paper media, especially newspapers of the nature of party committee organs, have buried a lot of news information of social concern in the text due to the constraints of factors such as the news environment. therefore, how to "not hurt the bones of the original manuscript" and highlight the "news point" is an important aspect of considering the level of layout editing. at present, many newspapers have set aside a special area on the front page to publish "introductions", and the "introduction" is the title. and making introductions is the basic skill of a layout editor. the premise of this basic skill is to accurately interpret the original manuscript and accurately pick out the "news point".
3. the news writing ability of layout editors lies in their own cultivation
as a layout editor, whether it is using layout elements to creatively reflect textual news releases on the layout, or using layout elements to pick out "news points", it is based on the skillful news writing ability. in other words, news writing is a basic skill for layout editors. this basic skill is not achieved overnight, and requires hard work. it is not something that can be acquired by feeling or cleverness, but it must be acquired through the cultivation of news theory, the cultivation of news awareness, and the practice of news writing to appreciate the "three flavors" of it.
1. study journalism theory
generally speaking, many newspaper layout editors are graduates of university art schools. in the traditional newspaper production period, this background can be called "professional counterparts", because traditional newspapers pay more attention to the decorative effect on the layout, while modern newspapers pay more attention to visual impact on the layout, that is, to highlight the connotation of news through layout language. in addition to skillfully using decorative elements in layout elements, modern newspaper layout editors should also use other layout elements to highlight the connotation of news. therefore, in addition to art theory, layout editors must also have basic news theory, newspaper editing theory, news writing theory, and even advertising publication theory. among these theories, the most important is news writing theory, because only by mastering news writing theory can you "interpret" other people's news works, appreciate other people's writing intentions, and accurately use layout language to creatively reflect the connotation of other people's textual news works on the layout.
2. strengthen news awareness
the so-called "news awareness" is a professional habit of sensitively discovering news clues, accurately judging the value of news, and actively collecting news materials. it is a comprehensive reflection of the comprehensive quality and professional spirit of journalists. for newspaper layout editors, it is not only a prerequisite for news writing, but also an inevitable condition for adding value to news text manuscripts in the layout process. the former is to ensure that there is something to write, that it can be written, and that what is written is qualified or exquisite. the latter is to ensure that the value-added creation of text manuscripts on the page is accurate, serious, and perfect.
news consciousness has a very distinct "active" feature. it requires journalists to actively accept news information, actively collect news materials, and actively engage in news writing (production). "news is fragile", not only for news works, but also for news information, because a piece of news is valuable only when it is reported in time, and once the time has passed, it becomes information garbage. therefore, only by tempering one's news consciousness can a layout editor sensitively "capture" news clues, obtain news materials in time, generate a strong impulse to write news, and write valuable news works. more importantly, use the ruler of news value to "measure" the news content of each text manuscript to determine the arrangement of the manuscript on the page.
3. improve your writing skills
undoubtedly, layout editors generally "read" and "evaluate" news. in addition to measuring news rules, "reading" and "evaluating" may also be mixed with personal preferences. this means that under normal circumstances of objectivity and fairness, sometimes mistakes are inevitable, and it is difficult to avoid situations where one's expectations are too high and one's skills are too low. to avoid these situations, the most effective way is to write news yourself and understand the "three flavors" of the early production of news products. only in this way can you think in the shoes of the editors and writers, and make up for the shortcomings of the previous links with your own accumulation, discovery, and perspective.
generally speaking, for the special genre of news, in addition to being able to grasp (that is, be able to accurately capture news information), collect (that is, be able to successfully complete news interviews), and write (that is, be able to skillfully process news materials into various news genres), layout editors also need to be more skilled than ordinary text reporters and editors in four aspects.
first, truth and accuracy. although every journalist knows that "truth is the life of news" and regards it as a professional criterion, unconscious inaccuracies, partial inaccuracies, and inaccuracies in details cannot be completely avoided. as the operator of the last step of newspaper editing, the layout editor can play the role of a "gatekeeper" if he is proficient in news writing.
the second aspect is vividness and liveliness. a layout editor who is skilled in news writing can, after reading the text manuscript, use the layout language to "reprocess" the manuscript, making it more vivid, vivid and lively, so as to attract the readers' attention and play the role of a "makeup artist".
the third aspect is clarity and simplicity. a layout editor who is skilled in news writing can, after reading the original text, simplify the manuscript to make it concise and clear, playing the role of a "cleaner".
fourth, clarity and order. a layout editor who is skilled in news writing can read through the original text and adjust the sentences and paragraphs of the manuscript to make it more logical, thus playing the role of "smooth hand".
author unit: hunan daily
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