The mission of any journalist is to collect information and present facts in the most attractive form for the target audience. In today's changing world, journalists use research methods and data from the social and behavioral disciplines to collect and analyze data. Which?

They resort to computer software methods of data analysis. They collect information in databases, analyze publications of other authors, including graphical tables and statistical charts, take into account the demographic factor, analyze the geographical display of system information. The methods of collecting information in journalism are quite diverse.

General principles and methods of information gathering in journalism

The tasks of a journalist include not only the accumulation of information, but also the ability to highlight the most important points. He must formulate, organize and interpret the available information. That is, not only to receive and publish, but also to make sure that the material is perceived by the target audience. The role of journalism is currently so multifaceted that it forces you to constantly be in a multitasking mode of managing, processing and analyzing data, while taking care of the maximum efficiency of the process.

Science journalism
Science journalism aims to include data collection, coverage of science and the search for truth. Scientific journalism is characterized by methods of collecting and processing information, including objectivity and an analytical approach to the material received. Some publications are based on the analysis of previously published data. The range of acceptable methods of collecting information in journalism is quite wide, and exclusive data can be used, provided that they are open to the public. One of the most popular sources of information among journalists is specialized Internet sites where collected data is stored, the owners of which in most cases welcome this approach, as it increases traffic to scientific sites.

Methods of collecting and processing information of political observers

There are two levels of journalism in covering political events. One of them is a presentation of material aimed at the average consumer of news, simply put, the layman. The target audience of a political observer of the next level is a potential participant in political events in the country and in the world, for whom news is not just an exchange of information, but a kind of ritual. Any election campaign can serve as a classic example, because during this period the percentage of people who believe that their choice will change the course of history increases many times. It is this audience that will not only forgive a journalist or political commentator for a harsh tone or profanity, but is also more likely to give preference to them. In this case, the journalist can operate with publicly available data, the main thing is to present them in a spectacular interpretation.

The Benefits of Some Information Gathering Methods in Journalism
Journalism is aimed at resolving conflicts between interest groups, based on an objective assessment of their impact and ability to influence the result. Most of the methods of collecting and processing information in journalism mainly include the analysis and forecast of electoral behavior, which, in fairness, it should be noted, are almost always controversial. However, interest in scientific news and political reviews is steadily growing, which is certainly the merit of journalists who take into account current trends based on sociological methods and poll results.

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Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation

Federal State Autonomous Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education

"Volgograd State University"

Institute of Philology and Intercultural Communication

Department of Journalism and Media Communications

COURSE WORK

By disciplineFundamentals of journalism

Introduction

1. Sources of information: classification, reliability and reliability of sources, legal and ethical standards for working with sources

1.1 Practical task

2. Describe the methods of collecting information in journalism: observation method, interview method, document analysis method, experiment method

2.1 Practical task

3. Journalistic work as a whole: factors of topic selection, stages of concept formation, genre selection, text structure (specificity of headings, leads, composition features), language of the work

3.1 Practical task

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

In the modern world, the speed of information dissemination is increasing every day. Over the past ten years, technological progress has come a long way. Today, we have become accustomed to electronic devices and computers that we could not even dream of before.

Naturally, progress could not but affect the media. Many well-known print publications have moved to the Internet, because. Internet users are becoming more and more every day, while paper counterparts are increasingly reduced in circulation or completely disappear from shop windows. At the same time, many new Internet publications appear, primarily information and entertainment resources, but there are more serious ones among them.

But despite the obvious technological progress and the emergence of new types of information representation, the theoretical foundations of journalistic activity, their knowledge remains the most important stage in the development of a professional journalist.

This is the reason for the relevance of this course work. In it, we will consider the main methods of collecting information, their features, classifying sources according to various criteria, determining the distinguishing features of their reliability and reliability, and studying the legal and ethical standards for working with them. The main stages of creating a journalistic work, the role and features of each of them will also be considered.

1. Sources of information: classification, reliability and reliability of sources, legal and ethical standards for working with sources

Sources of information in journalism are the subject of activity or the object of the event, with which the journalist enters into close interaction in order to obtain the necessary information of a certain direction and type.

The main sources of information in journalism include:

1. State organizations - storage facilities (police, ambulance, fire service, emergency services, traffic police, courts), which allow you to find out information of an unfavorable nature and favorable events that have occurred in society, thanks to their reporting and constant recording of information of various kinds.

2. News agencies are information services that provide journalistic activities with "raw", factual material that relates to hard news. These agencies provide material and do not contact the audience on their own.

3. The global Internet is a fairly cheap and powerful mechanism that allows meeting the needs of journalists in information resources of various kinds. It contains a lot of interesting and useful information for a journalist, strengthens the connection and consistency between workers involved in journalism. It also allows you to quickly and reliably get in touch with other journalists and their information sources that are located at various distances.

4. A person is the main link in the system for obtaining reliable and most accurate information. He is an excellent and reliable carrier of information that is in demand among journalists. A person is also a translator of information that he observed and studied. In order to obtain information from a person, journalists conduct interviews and questionnaires or surveys.

5. Communication of journalists with "colleagues in the shop." - an inexhaustible source of business information that allows you to prompt an idea, discover facts and clarify the concept.

6. Observation and experiment - sources that allow you to study the phenomenon as a whole as accurately as possible, and not its individual aspects.

Also, there is a broader classification.

(All sources can be both animate and inanimate).

Open sources:

· Mass media (separately - publications of budgets and reports on their execution).

Internet (websites, chats, forums).

· Press services (press conferences, briefings, press releases).

· Colleagues.

· Open meetings of executive authorities (problems of accreditation).

· Sessions of representative bodies of power; meetings of sectoral commissions of representative bodies of power; courts.

Partially open sources.

Various documents that are not publicly available, but are not published either (the question is: to what extent can “official” information be included here; who and on what grounds has the right to “classify” it?).

Internal databases: state property, housing and communal services, etc.

confidential sources.

Service documents of varying degrees of encryption Special databases (GUVD, RUBOP, FSB).

Motives for cooperation of confidential information sources (AI).

Ideological AI.

“Companions” (goals coincide, but disinformation in the name of “lofty goals” is not ruled out).

"Sneakers" (they get satisfaction in "dumping" information, their advantage is that they are often the first, the disadvantage is the superficiality of information).

Selfish AI.

“Payers” (they often supply very reliable information, but due to material motivation they will always strive to increase its volume in various ways, including through misinformation; the period of work with each of them should not be more than six months).

"Competitors" (they use journalists as a "drain tank" to fight competitors; these can be both officials and businessmen).

"Political rivals" (the same for political purposes).

"Barters" (needing your information in exchange for their own; can be reliable as long as they are satisfied with such an exchange).

Mixed type of AI: wandering from one category to another.

Classification of information resources.

Information types:

· Legal.

· Scientific and technical.

· Political.

· Financial and economic.

· Statistical.

· About standards and regulations, metrological.

· Social.

· About healthcare.

· About emergencies.

· Personal (personal data).

· Cadastres.

Information resources on access mode.

Open information (without limitation) restricted information state secret confidential information commercial secret professional secret official secret personal (personal) secret.

Information resources by type of media.

A hard copy (book, newspaper, manuscript, etc.) on machine-readable media (c / film, audio and video recording, data on a computer hard drive, floppy disk, CD, etc.) on a communication channel (TV, R).

Information resources according to the method of organizing storage and use.

Traditional forms (books, newspapers, magazines) array of documents fund documents.

Archive automated forms.

Information resources by form of ownership.

All-Russian national property state property property of subjects of the Russian Federation municipal property private (personal, corporate) property.

Classification of resources when working on material.

By chronology.

By the method of fixing information by sources of information by status (official, unofficial) by the method of obtaining a document (confidential or from open sources).

Ethical standards in work with sources of information. [Lozovsky 2000]

There are several rules that are not generally accepted (due to the different attitude of journalists to ethics), but quite justified by the requirements of professionalism. In particular, you should not:

· “pretend”, that is, pretend to be an employee of another profession, for example, a plumber, a postman, a passer-by, etc. (except for the use of included observation);

Intimidate the interlocutor (although some instructions to Western reporters allow light blackmail of the interviewee: “Sometimes pretend that you know more than you really do ... - writes D. Randall. - But only experienced reporters burn out this number”) ;

· Promise to “find it out” and take action (this is not within the competence of journalists);

· To allow actions that can cause moral condemnation of others;

· to go for rapprochement with neither "positive" nor "negative" characters;

· accept gifts and favors, as a relationship of dependence of the journalist on the source of information may arise;

· To record the conversation on a dictaphone without the knowledge of the interlocutor (on the contrary, it is necessary to convince him that the dictaphone will not allow him to distort his thoughts and judgments); at the same time, it will not be superfluous to duplicate the dictaphone with notes in a notebook of fundamentally important statements and judgments, since technology sometimes fails;

· In any case, with the person whom the journalist intends to criticize, one last conversation is needed, where the author sets out the conclusions and assessments that he came to while collecting information.

Particular attention should be paid to interviewees when they say: "This is not for publication."

Also, it is always necessary to remember that when communicating with people as a journalist, you are the face of all journalism, and what impression a person will have after communicating with you will depend on his opinion about all representatives of this profession.

Legal regulations

Chapters: IV - “Relations of mass media with citizens and organizations”, V - “Rights and obligations of a journalist” and VI - “Responsibility for violation of legislation on mass media” - should have been given in full, because each article here is of fundamental importance for the daily work of any journalist. Let's pay attention to the most important thing.

“Citizens have the right to promptly receive reliable information about the activities of state bodies and organizations, public associations, their officials through the media,” Article 38 reads. - State bodies and organizations, public associations, their officials, - it says further, - provide information about their activities to the media at the request of the editors, as well as through press conferences, distribution of reference and statistical materials and in other forms.

At the same time, journalists themselves do not know their rights well and do not know how to defend them. There are many complaints that journalists are not given the information they need to prepare materials, but so far not a single official has been held accountable for refusing to provide information.

The Law on Mass Media stipulates acceptable reasons for refusal or delay in providing information, speaks of the right of citizens and organizations to publicly refute information that does not correspond to reality or discredits their honor and dignity, as well as the right to respond (comment, remark).

According to the law, a journalist has the right to:

Seek, request, receive and disseminate information;

Visit state bodies and organizations, enterprises and institutions or their press services;

Be received by officials in connection with the request for information;

Get access to documents and materials, with the exception of their fragments, containing state, commercial or other secrets specially protected by law;

Make recordings, including using audio and video equipment, film and photography, except as otherwise provided by law;

Visit specially protected places of natural disasters, accidents and catastrophes, riots and mass gatherings of citizens, as well as areas where a state of emergency has been declared, attend rallies and demonstrations;

Check the accuracy of the information provided;

Express your personal judgments and assessments in messages and materials signed by him;

Refuse to prepare materials under his signature that contradict his convictions, or remove his signature if his opinion was distorted in the process of editorial preparation.

Finally, the law reminds you that you can make your works public by signing them with your own name, or with a pseudonym, or without a signature at all.

1.1 Practical task

After reading this note, it becomes clear that, most likely, in pursuit of relevance and a kind of “freshness” of information, the author neglected a stage that is mandatory for any journalist in the process of preparing the material. The information, which was in such a hurry to be published, was not verified, as a result of which the author misinformed the readers and thereby violated the professional code of the journalist.

This situation could be avoided by checking the information before publication and finding out what actually caused the page to be blocked in a well-known blogging service.

2. Describe the methods of collecting information in journalism: observation method, interview method, document analysis method, experiment method

The traditional methods are primarily observation method. At its core, writes G.V. Lazutin, lies "a person's ability to perceive the object-sensory concreteness of the world in the process of audiovisual contacts with it." Journalistic observation always has a purposeful and clearly defined character. “It is the deliberateness of perception and the awareness of tasks that allows you to look - and see.” In sociology, observation refers to the direct recording of events by an eyewitness. This kind of "registration of events" involves not only the direct perception of objective reality, but often the participation of a journalist in it for a deeper study of the events taking place before his eyes. [Kim 2001]

In practice, the observation method is divided on several grounds:

a) degree of formalization (structured and unstructured),

b) venue (field and laboratory),

c) the regularity of the conduct (systematic and non-systematic),

d) the position of the observer in the study (included and not included).

The impressions and information received by the journalist must be double-checked in order to once again be convinced not only of their reliability, but also of objectivity. Here, journalists can benefit from the advice of sociologist V.A. Yadov, who proposes the following rules to increase the degree of reliability (validity and stability) of data:

a) classify the elements of events to be observed as detailed as possible, using clear indicators;

b) if the main observation is carried out by several persons, they compare their impressions and agree on assessments, interpretation of events using a single recording technique, thereby increasing the stability of the observation data;

c) the same object should be observed in different situations (normal and stressful, standard and conflict), which allows you to see it from different angles;

d) it is necessary to clearly distinguish and record the content, forms of manifestation of observed events and their quantitative characteristics (intensity, regularity, periodicity, frequency);

e) it is important to ensure that the description of events is not confused with their interpretation, therefore, the protocol should have special columns for recording factual data and for their interpretation;

f) In the case of participant or non-participation observation performed by one of the researchers, it is especially important to monitor the validity of the interpretation of the data, striving to cross-check your impressions with the help of various possible interpretations.

Experiment Method in journalism is often identified with the method of participant observation. There are reasons for this. First, as in participant observation, the experimental journalist maintains a direct relationship with the object of study. Secondly, the experiment, like observation, can be carried out covertly. Finally, thirdly, the experiment refers to the visual means of studying social reality. However, despite the commonality of the main features, the experiment has its own special features and characteristics. "An experiment is understood as a research method based on controlling the behavior of an object with the help of a number of factors affecting it, the control over the action of which is in the hands of the researcher."

In the experiment, the object is a means for creating an artificial situation. This is done so that the journalist can test his hypotheses in practice, "lose" some everyday circumstances that would allow him to better know the object under study. In addition, any experiment contains not only the cognitive interest of a research journalist, but also managerial. If in the included observation the correspondent is rather a registrar of events, then, participating in the experiment, he has the right to intervene in the situation, influencing its participants, managing them and making some decisions. “The impact on the observed objects in the course of it is not only permissible, but just expected,” says V.P. Talov. - Correspondents resorting to experimentation do not wait for people, certain officials, entire services to reveal themselves spontaneously, i.e. random, natural. This disclosure is deliberately caused, purposefully “organized” by them themselves ... An experiment is an observation accompanied by the observer’s interference in the processes and phenomena being studied, under certain conditions - an artificial challenge, a conscious “provocation” of these latter.

Term "interview" comes from English, interview, i.e. conversation. With all the seemingly familiarity of this method, it is necessary to follow certain technological methods in order to optimally build interpersonal communication. These or other procedural operations are determined both by the general generic features of the method, and by specific differences “within” it. According to the content, the interviews are divided into the so-called documentary interviews - the study of past events, clarification of facts and interviews of opinions, the purpose of which is to identify assessments, views, judgments, etc.

There are differences in the technique of conducting a conversation. There is a formalized interview, which is understood as standardized and structured communication. Here, as in the questionnaires, there are open, closed and semi-closed questions. The interview has a clear structure, in which each question follows logically from the other, and all together they are subject to the general idea of ​​the conversation. In an informal interview, questions are arranged according to a different principle. Due to the fact that this type of survey is focused on in-depth knowledge of the object, it has a smaller content specification. Questions are determined by the topic of the conversation, the atmosphere of the conversation, the scope of the problems discussed, etc. S.A. Belanovsky writes about the appointment of these two types of interviews: “A standardized interview is designed to obtain the same type of information from each respondent. The answers of all respondents should be comparable and categorizable... The non-standardized interview includes a wide range of survey types that do not meet the requirement for comparability of questions and answers. When using a non-standardized interview, no attempt is made to obtain the same types of information from each respondent, and the individual is not a statistical unit in them.

Interviews are also distinguished by the degree of intensity: short (from 10 to 30 minutes), medium (sometimes lasting for hours), sometimes they are called “clinical”, and focused, conducted according to a certain methodology, since they are mostly focused on studying the processes of perception and its duration can be limited only by the objectives and goals of the study. For example, a journalist needs to identify certain socio-psychological aspects of readers' perception of certain texts on the election campaign. To achieve this goal, a focus group is created, a moderator (leader of the focus group) is elected, a program and a research procedure are drawn up, and finally, work with a focus group is launched according to the established program.

Preparing for an interview, a journalist, as a rule, solves not only various organizational issues (agrees on the time and place of the meeting, determines what technical means of recording will be used, etc.), but also thinks over the topic of a future conversation, gets acquainted with special literature , draws up an approximate questionnaire, and finally mentally “runs in” the scenario of a future conversation. All these moments, of course, can affect the effectiveness of the meeting.

Among the methods of collecting primary information in journalism are journalistic forecasting method, which contributes to "the creation of a holistic view of time, where the past, present and future are present." A journalist, referring to this method, first of all seeks to foresee the dynamics of the development of certain events. At the same time, “social forecasting is not limited to attempts to predict the details of the future. The forecaster proceeds from the principles of dialectical determinism of the phenomena of the future, from the fact that necessity makes its way through chances, that a probabilistic approach is needed to the social phenomena of the future, taking into account a wide range of possible options. Forecasting is designed for a probabilistic description of the possible and desirable. But in any forecast there is advanced information about a particular social phenomenon.

The main types of forecasts include:

1. Search (they are also called exploration, genetic, research, trend, exploratory). In this case, the development of phenomena is predicted by conditionally continuing into the future the tendencies of this development in the past and present. Such forecasts answer the questions: in what direction is development going? What is most likely to happen if current trends continue?

2.Regulatory. This refers to predicting how to achieve the desired on the basis of predetermined norms, ideals, goals. Along with the main types of social forecasting, theorists distinguish the following subtypes: project, organizational, program, planning, etc.

biographical method, used in journalism, is borrowed from related fields of knowledge: literary criticism, ethnography, history, sociology, psychology. This method was first used by American scientists in the 1920s. It was then that the beginning of large-scale research on Polish peasants in Europe and America was initiated in the USA, carried out by the Chicago sociologist V.I. Thomas and his Polish colleague F. Znaniecki. interview journalistic conversation text

From the very beginning, the attitude of journalists towards the biographical method was ambivalent. And this is understandable. The researcher could only rely on the subjective opinion of an eyewitness to the events, so such information could be trusted or not trusted. The factor of subjectivity is manifested in everything: in the life experience of a person, and in behavior, and in actions, and in value judgments, and in worldview positions. Nevertheless, the “life story” of one person can be of great value to the researcher, given that thanks to these stories, one can “reconstruct” the internal dynamics of the development of certain processes. “The appeal to biographies as a method of collecting socially significant information is a reflection of certain historical changes in social life,” writes E.Yu. Meshcherkin. “Biography is becoming a central social dimension... At the center of biographical research is the study of the course of a person’s entire life, its internal dynamics, its “embeddedness” in society, subjective control and acquired experience.” When using the biographical method, various rules are followed to facilitate the collection of more extensive and panoramic information. First, the "life history" of one person is compared with the history of the society in which the individual lives. Secondly, when referring to the biography of a particular person, journalists try to cover it as a whole, i.e. strive to show a certain dynamics of both external and internal life of a person. Thirdly, they try to comprehend a person's behavior in certain situations, revealing the motivation of his behavior and analyzing his worldview positions, etc. This is how the story of one person's life is reconstructed.

2.1 Practical task

Vladimir Bagnenko, a well-known blogger "in narrow circles", presented a series of articles on his blog devoted to the most popular genre of publications in modern journalism - the interview genre. Regardless of whether you have a professional attitude to journalism or not, these articles will definitely be of interest to you and will help you discover many new and interesting facts about this genre.

As is customary, the author begins the story with a brief digression into history. He tells us about the emergence of the genre of conversation, and its development up to the present day. Vladimir answers such questions as: “When did the first interviews appear?”, “Who made a special contribution to the history of the genre?” and “How can an interview be useful for a blogger or writer?”

In the next publication of this series of articles, the author delves into the theory of the genre and provides a step-by-step guide for professional figures who are interested in this topic.

In the third article, the blogger invites the reader to familiarize himself with the list of rules for compiling interview questions, as well as with the most famous publications of world publications in this genre. The author cites a rating published in The Guardian magazine, which includes 14 interviews from around the world, attracting the attention of both key figures, including musicians, politicians, actors and writers, and authors of publications. There is only one minus of this rating - all interview texts are given in the original language, which can become an obstacle for many readers who are unfamiliar with English.

The latest material by Vladimir Bagnenko turned out to be so extensive that the author decided to divide it into two parts. The division was not accidental, since the author decided to analyze two selected materials, respectively, in the first part - this is an interview with Larry King with Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield and in the second - Sergey Makovetsky visiting Dmitry Gordon. The materials were not chosen by chance, in the first one the blogger tries to note the advantages of the author's dialogue, and in the second, on the contrary, he analyzes the mistakes and shortcomings of the interviewer.

Summing up, we can say that a series of articles on Vladimir Bagnenko's blog is an unambiguous "mastrida" for any novice journalist, blogger, or just a person interested in journalism. Articles can be read both in search of specific advice, and “for general development”, which is facilitated by the simple style of the author, the absence of scientific terms and the language of narration accessible to a person without specialized training.

3. Journalistic work as a whole: factors of topic selection, stages of concept formation, genre selection, text structure (specificity of headings, leads, composition features), language of the work

The creation of a journalistic work is always conditioned by a number of interdependent processes, which include the search and birth of the topic of a future publication, the formation and development of the concept of a particular work, and finally, the definition of its ideological side. At these stages, issues related to the choice of the object of the future display, and the accumulation of life impressions, and the planning of future material, and its ideological orientation, are resolved, which ultimately affects all subsequent work of the journalist to implement the idea of ​​a particular work.

When contemplating a certain publication, the journalist must first of all determine topic. According to V.M. Gorokhov, a journalistic theme always has a “pronounced functional assignment. The theme of a journalistic work in a newspaper, compared with, say, an artistic theme, normatively, directly responds to the social order. The topic of a publicist's speech in the press is born as a direct response to urgent social needs. The social order may be determined by the editorial task, and the needs of the mass audience, and the interests of certain social groups. It is in the theme that the author “synthesizes the features of the object, which are reflected both by abstract, theoretical knowledge and common sense. The purpose of such grounding is to reveal a generally significant meaning in a seemingly social, abstract problem, to evoke an emotional response from readers, to combine ideological and socio-psychological means of influencing the audience.

The birth of a journalistic theme is always associated with the search for an interesting object or subject of future description. Each journalist puts his own meaning into this concept. For some, the topic may be an event or a person that no one has written about, for others - an unknown problem, for others - an interesting life event or situation, etc.

It is also interesting how journalists go about their topics. Here's what the pros say. “One of the sources of information is all kinds of briefings, press conferences in the press centers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, etc.,” says A. Nadzharov, editor of the news, chronicle and extreme situations department of the Rabochaya Tribuna newspaper. - Thank God, now in each department there are people responsible for relations with the press. You get a lot of interesting information by visiting there. And any fact can become a reason for journalistic research - take it, dig it, write it. But ... I find myself afraid to take on faith information from the most seemingly reliable sources.

Another source of topics is the work of colleagues. For example, from a brilliant article by the Vyborg newspaperman V. Medvedev, I learned about the currency pranks of the local leadership. The new data made it possible to understand that it is these unfortunate figures that prevent the opening of a free enterprise zone in Vyborg. A small note in Pravda brought up the subject of special medical care. This, I repeat, is only a fact, an occasion, an impetus for further work. How it will be possible to develop the topic, comprehend the criminal fact, depends on the professionalism of the journalist dealing with this issue.

Having decided on the topic of the future work, the journalist proceeds to form it. intent. S.I. Ozhegov defines intent as "a conceived plan of action or activity, intention". “The idea,” the literary dictionary notes, “is the first stage of the creative process, the initial outline of the future work. The idea has two sides: plot (the author outlines the course of events in advance) and ideological (the intended resolution of the problems and conflicts that agitated the author. ”In journalistic work, the main role of the original idea is to become a kind of “non-artistic task, figuratively shaped in the process of artistic creativity". Some ideas, for example, a response to a specific event, require prompt implementation. The journalist, having determined the relevance of the event, immediately collects the relevant facts, and if they already exist, having clarified some details, he sits down to write a note. Other ideas require the accumulation of certain life material, its preliminary reflection, the selection of the most remarkable situations to solve the problem, the systematization of the available facts in order to form the final theme, a comprehensive study of the issue, etc. In this case, the idea can be adjusted, refined and eventually acquire a clear outline . As a rule, the result of such a plan is a larger work than a note.

Thus, the idea, anticipating all subsequent work of the journalist on the future work, already at the initial stages of creativity represents a micromodel of this work. This stage has a heuristic character, because it is directly related to the search for original ideas, thoughts, images, details, life facts, etc. It is from these heterogeneous components of the idea that the future work arises. The idea is saturated with vital material so that a concrete work can grow out of it.

Intent structure. “The idea of ​​the work,” writes E.P. Prokhorov, - in terms of its structure, it should resemble a drawing of a future work as an integrity in the unity of its theme, problem. The idea, in the deep sense of the word, is born, as it were, at the point of intersection of the publicist's social need, his civic aspiration, the phenomena of life that excite him, and the accumulated social experience. And further: "The journalist's own experience, his knowledge, erudition, awareness and, in addition, the facts he found - these are the sources of the idea."

The problematic side of the idea. In his book E.P. Prokhorov also raised the issue of the problematic side of the idea: “The problematic side of the idea is such knowledge of the object, in which there are “voids”, contradictory statements are acceptable, it is possible and even necessary to think about unknown connections and interactions that will illuminate the knowledge already obtained in a new way. And when the thematic and problematic side begins to stand out in the idea, and their collision gives rise to a hint at the ideological side of the future work, then the question arises for the publicist about the “sufficiency” of his weapons.

Next choice genre. So: each genre works with a certain type of vital material. The vital material that came into the field of view of a journalist is a topic. The moment of choosing a topic is a step towards choosing a genre.
Is it possible to choose a genre in advance? (There is a task - "A report is needed on the front page"). It is possible, but then you will have to choose the "reportage" topic - the appropriate one.

So it is precisely the theme as the subject that corresponds to a certain genre. In our example, a reportage is connected with the cutting of the ribbon - the course of the event, an interview with the architect's story about solving a complex construction problem - an interview, with a sad experience of long-term construction - a critical note or correspondence, depending on the scale of the fact.

A clarification is required here: the subject orientation of the genre - but not for each individual life material, but for its specific type. A reportage, for example, may be about a sports match, about a flight into space, about a fire - but it must be about an event, more precisely, about the course of an event.

The article "works" only with problems. Interview - with opinions.

The review does not deal with reality itself, but with its reflection in a film, in a book, in a play...

And so for each genre - its own material. Violation of this order leads either to complete absurdity, or to the need to forge an external form, to imitate the genre. Try, for example, to write a review on the shortage of mineral fertilizers! Or to make an interview with an interlocutor who does not have his own opinion about anything: breaking a bunch of platitudes into questions is not difficult, but there will be no novelty in the publication. And the reader will receive only the appearance of an interview, but in reality - zero information.

Genre is the optimal form of solving a creative problem facing a publicist. Therefore, unlike the text, it is always rigidly determined: the goal underlying the solution of any creative task determines the choice of genre. The determinism (conditionality) of the genre is connected: a) with the objective properties of the analyzed or described fact; b) with specific tasks solved by this publication and this author; c) with the ideological and individual psychological characteristics of the personality of a journalist. The work of a publicist is selective. Developing a topic, analyzing the facts that fell into his field of vision, the correspondent, even at the preliminary stage of his work, makes a certain choice of genre, finally stopping at the one that seems to him the most suitable. The belief among practicing journalists that he does not think about the genre of the upcoming text and that it develops by itself, intuitively, contradicts the essence of the creative process. Intuition as an integral part of creativity contributes to the birth of a holistic text: the text absorbs the necessary genre elements, obeying the logic of the development of the author's thought.

Genre classification of journalistic texts.

The former classification is outdated - and what is in return? Modern theorists of journalism prefer to use the terms "news journalism", "author's journalism", "analytical journalism". Sometimes texts are grouped according to the methods of collecting and processing information: “reporting journalism”, “figurative journalism”, “commenting journalism”. Meanwhile, no matter what classification is proposed, a journalistic text certainly includes three major components: a) a message about news or a problem that has arisen; b) fragmentary or detailed understanding of the situation; c) methods of emotional impact on the audience (at the logical-conceptual or conceptual-figurative level).

In this regard, the texts appearing in the press can be divided into five groups:

1) operational news - a note in all its varieties;

2) operational research - interviews, reports, reports;

3) research and news - correspondence, commentary (column), review;

4) research - article, letter, review;

5) research and figurative (artistic and journalistic) - essay, essay, feuilleton, pamphlet.

The structure of journalistic text

Headline (headline) - playing up the situation, punning, etc. short and capacious (3-5 words). Sometimes these are bright quotes. Attracts to the material. The main thing is accuracy, brevity, a clear choice of words, not banal, and sometimes close to sensational, presentation of the text. The headline can be one or more sentences. Types: Heading-chronicle "Meeting of barbarians and lumberjacks" - a report on a football tournament between two teams - "Barbarians" and "Lumberjacks". The easiest way The title is a paraphrase of the quote "Say a word about poor dogs" - "Say a word about a poor hussar."

Quote title

heading

"Let's do good deeds!" - a note about the children's ecological club.

Subtitle - when the title is not clear. Usually 1 sentence.

Lead - inset. From English - leader. First paragraph. Very brief. As an overview. Don't tighten it.

Lead types:

Narrative (backstory, what it is about)

Interrogative (rhetorical question. It should apply to the entire text)

Quote (carries the main idea)

Anecdote (joke, legend, tale, well-known story)

Immediate identification (everyone is talking at once)

Long jump (we all initially get tired)

Nothing foreshadowed trouble (example: everything was fine and suddenly! ..)

Dramatic (remarks) (people sit, burn money: cold, inflation)

Text composition

It is conditionally possible to single out several compositional principles for building a corpus:

1. Spiral composition, in which the plot from a particular aspect of the problem along an ever-expanding spiral, built relative to the central storyline (idea), develops from a general vision of the problem to a particular, most significant aspect of it.

2. An elliptical composition showing phenomena and events not entirely, but only in the most essential elements. That is, an integral action or phenomenon is truncated to the most essential manifestations that characterize it.

3. A circular, cyclic, closed composition is extremely common. This composition, starting with a certain thought or idea, makes an arbitrarily wide circle around the problem under consideration (excursion), but at the end it returns at a new level to the idea touched upon at the beginning.

3. 1 Practical task

1. Seminar for "consumers of financial services"

In Volgograd, everyone was offered to increase the level of financial literacy.

On December 2, 2016, in the city of Volgograd, a seminar on "Protection of the rights of consumers of financial services" was held. It was with this name that an event was held to improve the financial literacy of the population and the development of financial education.

The seminar program discussed such topics as: the financial services market, the law on bankruptcy of individuals, personal financial planning and others. The seminar was organized within the framework of the project of the Ministry of Finance of Russia "To increase the level of financial literacy of the population." In addition to useful and up-to-date information, the guests of the seminar were offered a buffet to create a more comfortable atmosphere and refreshment for those who were especially hungry physically while eating food for the mind.

This article could be supplemented with facts that this is not the first such event held in the city. It was also possible to say whether this was a paid event or whether “anyone” could really attend it.

2. Why professionjournalist is comparable to pharmaceuticals?

Within the framework of the All-Russian educational project "Mediasmysly", a forum on the ethics of a journalist was held, with the participation of current professionals of the pen.

A master class for young journalists was held on November 1 as part of the all-Russian educational project "Media Senses". The conference was held by acting journalists: General Director of Blagomedia LLC, editor and author of the journal Being a Human, Antonina Dontsova, and press secretary, head of the VolGAU media center and Head. Marina Reshetnikova, Information Support Sector in the Center of Youth Policy of the Volgograd Region.

The start of the forum was given by the following words of Antonina Alekseevna Dontsova: “What is the ethics of a journalist after all? Is everyone ready to talk about this topic? On such an optimistic note, the forum began. First, all participants were shown the presentation “Ethics of a journalist. Keep the Reader Alive”, where everyone could learn something new for themselves, and make many important “discoveries” in the field of influence of information on a person. The forum participants also learned the answers to the following questions: “Why is the profession of a journalist comparable to pharmaceuticals?” and “What are its current trends?”. But most of all, the participants were interested in the issue of the loss of responsibility of a journalist to the audience.

All those present had a unique opportunity to ask their question. Particularly acute and topical of the questions asked were singled out and actively discussed. Such special questions were the question of the struggle of a journalist for the attention of the reader and the consistency of information with the original source. but the most important for everyone was the question of the ethics of the journalist and the social significance of the mark “not for publication”.

Marina Reshetnikova also spoke about the pursuit of a sensation, the problems of the interview genre, and whether a blogger is a journalist. Her colleague, in turn, shared the secrets of an ideal interview and told the public that, oddly enough, it consists in finding points of contact with the personality and inspiration of a person.

The meeting ended with a deep thought by Antonina Dontsova: “We are all people, and a journalist must first of all remain a person. The main mistake of our profession is to underestimate the power of the word. Your conscience is your editor-in-chief."

Conclusion

The professionalism of any type of human activity is primarily due to its theoretical knowledge and the ability to apply them in practice. Also in the activities of a journalist, for the accuracy and success of the created material, it is necessary to know all the subtleties and nuances in the process of its creation. It is necessary to be able to analyze and present relevant material in an accessible language for the audience.

Based on this, in this course work, we examined the main methods of collecting information in journalism, gave a classification of their sources, and identified the features of these methods. The review also included legal and ethical standards for working with sources of information and analyzed the situation that determines the main mistakes of journalists.

In conclusion, the main stages of creating a work and their main stages were considered. Information related to the development of the topic of future material, the role and structure of the idea in the text was also discussed. The specifics of choosing a natural genre for a particular work were considered.

In the course of this work, we were able to get acquainted with the most important concepts from the theory, and apply the knowledge gained in the performance of practical tasks.

List of lettersatcheers

1. Goncharova, N.A. News texts of a political nature as a special type of discourse [Text] / N.A. Goncharova // Bulletin of the Adyghe State University. Ser. Philology and art history. - 2013. -Issue. 1. - S. 100-106.

2. Kim, M.N. Technology of creating a journalistic work [Text] / M.N. Kim. - St. Petersburg: Publishing house Mikhailov V.A., 2001. - 132 p.

3. Kroichik, L.E. The system of journalistic genres [Text] / S.G. Korkonosenko // Fundamentals of the creative activity of a journalist. - St. Petersburg: Aspect Press. - 2000. - S.125-160.

4. Tertychny, A.A. Genres of periodicals [Text] / A.A. Tertychny. - M.: Aspect Press, 2017. - 320 p.

5. Kolesnichenko A.V. Practical journalism. Textbook // M.: Izd-vo Mosk. un-ta, 2008.

6. Korkonosenko S.G. Fundamentals of the creative activity of a journalist // Ed. - comp. S. G. Korkonosenko. - St. Petersburg: Knowledge, SPbIVESEP, 2000. - 272 p.

7. Lazutina G.V. Technology and methods of journalistic creativity. M., 1988. S. 42.

8. Shostak M.I. Journalist and his work. M., 1998

9. Prokhorov E.P. The art of journalism. M., 1984. S. 243-245, 256.

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The concept and structure of modern journalism, its genres and varieties, typology and subject of research. The role and importance of journalism in society, the main functions and purpose. Methodology and principles of conducting interviews, analysis of the results.

At the stage of developing the concept of a future work, a journalist needs to decide on the object of study. In this capacity, a specific everyday situation, and a problem that requires careful consideration, and certain social phenomena, and people's activities, etc. can act. In all cases, the journalist is involved in the cognitive activity of collecting and analyzing factual data. For the successful implementation of this stage of work, a journalist needs to master various methods of collecting information to perfection, since the content richness of the future work depends on the quality of the collected material. Therefore, in journalistic practice, a whole arsenal of methods for collecting information is used.

The journalist, before undertaking an investigation, accurately determines the relationship between the chosen topic and the problem, classifying them. And the more complex the object of knowledge, the more adequate methods of studying it will be required. In the most general sense method- a way or a way to achieve a goal, a certain way ordered activity.

All methods can be conditionally divided into two large groups: the first of them are used in the collection of empirical data: observation, experiment, interview, etc., and the second - in the analysis of the information received. Here you can name the classification, grouping, typology, etc.

One of the productive methods of A.A. Tertychny calls "a change of profession." We believe that this type of work can be attributed to the method of participant observation or experiment.

The analysis of the considered literature allows us to say that there is no clear distinction between the methods of obtaining information and its sources. So, M.V. Grigoryan, in our opinion, there is a confusion of concepts: “... the sources with which the journalist works. This is:

• * Surveillance.
• * Reading and studying documents, as well as books, magazines and newspapers.
• * Press conferences.
• * An experiment that journalists resort to quite rarely, as it requires a lot of time and energy.
• * Interviewing (individual and mass - then this is already a survey conducted most often through a questionnaire). All these sources, as a rule, are involved in journalistic investigation” [Grigoryan, URL: http://www.twirpx.com/file/123859 (Date of access: 15.04.13)].

All of the above is mentioned in the theoretical literature both under the guise of sources and as methods of investigation. In practice, analyzing the methods and sources of obtaining information in investigative films by A.V. Mamontov, we are convinced that it is quite difficult to draw a line between them. For example, an interview as a process is rather a method of obtaining information, and the content of the interview is a source of information. However, it would still be more logical to consider the person giving the interview as the source of information.

Among the traditional methods, the method of observation is distinguished . At its core, writes G.V. Lazutina, lies "a person's ability to perceive the subject-sensory concreteness of the world in the process of audiovisual contacts with it" [Lazutina, URL: http://evartist.narod.ru/text10/09.htm (Date of access: 26.04.13)]. Journalistic observation always has a purposeful and clearly defined character. “It is the deliberateness of perception and awareness of tasks that allows you to look - and see” [Lazutina, URL: http://evartist.narod.ru/text10/09.htm (Date of access: 26.04.13)]. The authors of the collection “A Journalist in Search of Information” note that “when engaging in observation, a journalist should also remember about possible objective and subjective difficulties.<…>People can change the tactics of their behavior if they find out that they are being watched” [Journalist in search of information, 2000, p. nine].

Based on these features of observation, theorists in the field of sociojournalism expressed the opinion that “as an independent method, observation is best used in such studies that do not require representative data, and also in cases where information cannot be obtained by any other methods” [ Journalist in search of information, 2000, p. ten].

Systematic observation presupposes the journalist's focus on a particular situation in certain periods, while non-systematic observation presupposes spontaneity in choosing the observed phenomenon.

The position of the observer in non-participant observation is as follows: a journalist, as a rule, is outside the observed situation and does not enter into contacts with the participants in the event [Journalism and sociology, 1995, p. 111]. He quite consciously takes a neutral position, trying not to interfere in the course of what is happening. This type of observation is most often used to describe the social atmosphere, for example, around elections, various public actions, socio-economic reforms, etc.

Participant observation involves the participation of a journalist in the situation itself. He goes for it consciously, changing, for example, his profession or “infiltrating” a certain social group in order to recognize the object from the inside. "Change of profession" is possible in cases where the journalist is sure that by his unprofessional or unskilled actions he will not cause either physical or moral damage to people. For example, it is contraindicated for media employees to introduce themselves as doctors, lawyers, judges, public service employees, etc. Such prohibitions are stipulated both by the relevant norms of journalistic ethics and by certain articles of the criminal code. Here are the thoughts of the journalist N. Nikitin on this subject: “The rules of the game with active observation become too important to allow oneself not to know them or not to remember them. From the old days ... one rule: a journalist cannot pretend to be a professional whose activity is closely connected with life, physical and moral health, and the material well-being of people. The main rule: forget that you are a journalist. Here, truly and above all in front of yourself, become who you say you are. Information cannot be obtained by any other methods” [Nikitin, 1997, p. 25].

The method of experiment in journalism is often identified with the method of participant observation: “An experiment is understood as a method of research based on controlling the behavior of an object with the help of a number of factors influencing it, the control over the action of which is in the hands of the researcher” [Journalist in search of information, 2000, p. 12].

In the experiment, the object, according to B.Ya. Misonzhikova and A.A. Yurkov, is a means for creating an artificial situation. This is done so that the journalist can test his hypotheses in practice, "lose" some everyday circumstances that would allow him to better know the object under study. By participating in an experiment, a journalist has the right to intervene in the situation, influencing its participants, managing them and making some decisions [Misonzhikov, 2003, p. 116].

The researchers pay attention to the fact that “during the experiment, the journalist does not wait for people, certain officials, entire services to reveal themselves spontaneously, i.e. random, natural. This disclosure is deliberately caused, purposefully "organized" by them themselves... An experiment is an observation accompanied by the observer's intervention in the processes and phenomena being studied, under certain conditions - an artificial challenge, a conscious "provocation" of these latter" [Misonzhikov, 2003, p. 117].

Thus, the experiment is connected with the creation of an artificial impulse, designed to reveal certain aspects of the object under study. A journalist can conduct an experiment on himself by infiltrating the social group he needs, become a "dummy figure", etc. At the same time, he not only influences the situation, but also seeks to involve all persons of interest to him in the experiment.

It is advisable to conduct an experiment in journalistic practice only in those cases when the correspondent is faced with the task of deeper penetration into life, when he needs to identify the true behavioral reactions of people with the help of various influencing factors, and finally, when it is necessary to test hypotheses about a particular object of social reality. .

The term "interview" comes from the English. "interview", i.e. conversation. Note that this is both an independent journalistic genre and a method within another genre. This emphasizes the complex nature of the investigative journalism genre.

In an informal interview, questions are arranged according to a different principle. Due to the fact that this method is focused on the deep knowledge of the object, it has a smaller content specification. Questions are determined by the topic of the conversation, the atmosphere of the conversation, the scope of the problems discussed, etc. Scientist S.A. Belanovsky writes about the appointment of these two types of interviews: “A standardized interview is designed to obtain the same type of information from each respondent. The answers of all respondents should be comparable and categorizable... The non-standardized interview includes a wide range of survey types that do not meet the requirement for comparability of questions and answers. When using a non-standardized interview, no attempt is made to obtain the same types of information from each respondent, and the individual is not an accounting statistical unit in them” [Belanovsky, 1993, p. 86].

Scientist M.N. Kim also distinguishes between interviews according to the degree of intensity: short (from 10 to 30 minutes), medium (sometimes lasting for hours), sometimes they are called “clinical”, and focused, conducted according to a certain methodology, since they are mostly focused on studying the processes of perception and in their duration can be limited only by the objectives and goals of the study [Kim, 2001, p. 75]. For example, a journalist needs to identify certain socio-psychological aspects of readers' perception of certain texts on the election campaign. To achieve this goal, a focus group is created, a moderator (leader of the focus group) is elected, a program and a research procedure are drawn up, and finally, work with a focus group is launched according to the established program.

biographical method , used in journalism, borrowed from related fields of knowledge: literary criticism, ethnography, history, sociology, psychology. This method was first used by American scientists in the 1920s. It was then that the beginning of large-scale research on Polish peasants in Europe and America was initiated in the USA, carried out by the Chicago sociologist V.I. Thomas and his Polish colleague F. Znaniecki [Biographical method, 1994, p. 5].

In journalism, the biographical method is used in a form adapted to professional needs. With its help, various life-historical testimonies, observations and memories of eyewitnesses of certain events, family-historical documents (letters, diaries, family records, descriptions, etc.) are collected. Due to the fact that many social processes are sometimes inaccessible for direct study, journalists turn to the testimonies and stories of members of various social groups. The witness is speaking incognito. In journalistic material, he may be presented under a fictitious name, or he may appear as a kind of well-wisher who provided the editorial office with relevant information. Thanks to these testimonies, the journalist recreates processes that are difficult to observe.

Thus, we have considered the various methods used in the collection and analysis of information. Each method has its own rules, and special working tools are being developed, with the help of which the goal is achieved. The features of their use depend, firstly, on the tasks facing the journalist, secondly, on the object and subject of study and description, and thirdly, on the scale of organizational measures related to the practical application of a particular method. It should be noted that today there is a tendency towards complementarity and interpenetration of methods, which increases the level of culture of journalistic work. This interpenetration is especially noticeable in the field of television journalism with its integrated approach and visualization of all processes.

The history of the existence of journalism as a social institution and industry for the production of socially significant information is marked by unique works of reporters, feature writers, feuilletonists who revealed to the world vivid facts, events and phenomena. And these works were born after a conversation with janitors (as with Vladimir Gilyarovsky), with cosmonauts (as with Yaroslav Golovanov), as a result of an experiment (as with Anatoly Rubinov). It would seem that the most random situations and details became sources of information. But the secret of the success of journalism remained unchanged: the authors of unique works knew "how to find a needle in a haystack", i.e. mastered the art of working with information.

Modern society provides inexhaustible arsenals of information in the most diverse ways and forms. Does a modern journalist need to run out into the street at dawn for information, if the Internet gives out gigabytes of information every second? There are no unambiguous answers to this question. You need to know where the "golden key" to information wealth lies, and you need to know how to use it.

You can search for news everywhere. However, there are a few proven recommendations.

• 1. Start by filing a local newspaper. It contains an abyss of interesting topics, since almost every material can have a sequel, even a crime report from the scene of a unique event. Ask the question "What happens there after a year (month, week)?" Finding the answer to this question can save your desperate situation. In addition, you will please your editor, who, like all editors, probably loves when his newspaper or media company follows the development of the topic.
• 2. Do this experiment with the filing of a competitor of your publication, company, holding.
• 3. Read advertisements and private announcements - you will certainly not be left without prey.
• 4. Look at the calendar. Since in Russia it is rare that a day goes by without a memorable date or a holiday, you can find something that will surely interest a potential audience. Maybe an inconspicuous date - the 100th anniversary of the battle of Ulan-Ude - is a chance to write (shoot) a colorful report or interview an expert?
• 5. Use your diary often to plan ahead for your work. Imagine how happy a May flood record can be in October

in a certain area of ​​a city or region. How are things there today?

• 6. Do not pass by fences with graffiti and posters posted on them.
• 7. Listen to "kitchen" radio: sometimes there will be something that will be the basis for the topic of your material.
• 8. Pay attention to store signs - they change often. It is possible that something interesting is prepared for buyers there, i.e. readers, listeners and viewers.
• 9. Watch the traffic. Perhaps, in the most familiar place, a new road sign or traffic light suddenly appeared, a pleasant or, conversely, an emergency happened.
• 10. Remember about the existence of special categories of people who, by fate itself, are placed in those places where news is concentrated or exchanged. These are taxi drivers, controllers in public transport, traders in street kiosks and frequenters of the markets, hawkers selling newspapers, sellers of ice cream, beer and cigarettes. As a rule, these people do not occupy high places in the social hierarchy, but turning to them is useful for knowing the fullness of life, for studying its extreme manifestations. This source allows you to improve the quality of the reporter's work by changing the usual outlook on life - the transition from "high" ideas to understanding life as it really is.
• 11. There are "seasonal" and routine topics: the opening of the summer or hunting season, flu epidemics, university sessions, calendar holidays - the list can be continued indefinitely... People are always interested in them! So, forward but to the old addresses, but from a new angle. And to make it really new, it is better to prepare in advance for writing seasonal materials.
• 12. Analyze how a global event may affect the residents of your city or region. Infrequently, but such a connection is found. For example, when the supply of consumables for the international space station Mir was transferred from American shuttles to our spacecraft, the environmental situation in some regions of Russia threatened to worsen, because the number of launches of spacecraft, whose accelerating track passes just over these regions, increased. There was a reason to ask questions to experts.
• 13. It is recommended to regularly - according to the once and for all adopted schedule - ring up your informants from various spheres of life.
• 14. Read official documents - laws, regulations, decisions, instructions, etc. Your goal is to find facts and points of view that answer the most important questions. It is necessary to refer to official sources. Get acquainted with office work in those institutions whose work you cover. To begin with, in order not to let down your confidant, and then the editors, find out which documents are open and which are closed to outsiders. Find out how to access draft documents, and who can give permission to read an interesting document. From time to time, ask for copies of documents to set a precedent: giving you copies should become a habit among representatives of institutions and departments.
• 15. Attend press conferences regularly. Do not throw away, without reading, press releases, reference materials prepared by press services and marketing departments.
• 16. Don't feel sorry for business cards, hand them out right and left. Someone can call and suggest a brilliant topic or break the news.
• 17. Listen to conversations on the bus, tram, taxi, subway.
• 18. Listen to what your friends, neighbors, family members are talking about.
• 19. End any conversation with the question: "What else is new going on?"
• 20. Turn to the Internet for broadening your horizons, self-education, and fact-checking.

Of course, this list of recommendations is not exhaustive. An experienced professional can give other, but no less useful advice. It is possible that the student himself reading our textbook already has his own "addresses" for requesting news. It is important to set for yourself and solve one of the initial professional tasks - to learn how to search and find facts.

It is equally important to have the knowledge, skills and abilities to work with sources of information. The professional competence of a journalist presupposes broad erudition in the geography and hierarchy of information sources, knowledge of the legal basis for their functioning and use.

Sources of information are usually distinguished by their origin, form of existence, degree of reliability and reliability.

By origin sources of information can be classified into open and confidential (often personal). Open sources include arrays of information about the activities of state bodies and institutions, political and public organizations, enterprises, educational, health, sports, and cultural bodies - those organizations that, in accordance with the law, are required to provide information about their activities without restriction (with the exception of information of limited access or containing legally protected secrets). Open information is freely available on official websites, in mandatory reporting documentation, in publications of state or departmental publications. For details and comments, as prescribed by law, requests should be made on behalf of the media, preferably in writing, so that it is easier to record and, if necessary, prove the fact of the appeal.

Access to information from confidential sources is limited because it is protected by special laws (for example, laws on banking secrecy, commercial secrecy, privacy, etc.). Access to it is open depending on the degree of openness of the organization itself, department or owner of personal data. Therefore, it is possible to use such information without fear about its reliability and reliability, as a rule, with the sanction of its owners. In particular, commercial information may be contained in press releases and reference materials prepared by press services and marketing departments of companies.

By form of existence sources of information are divided into official, naturally existing and investigative. Official sources, as a rule, are of an open nature, and due to their availability to citizens, information from them is of interest to a journalist as an argument in the process of studying the situation. In other words, it can and should be referred to, as if offering the reader to verify for himself the validity of the author's assertions. The source of naturally existing information is life itself, that element of human relationships, which now and then creates situations: sometimes conflict, sometimes extraordinary, sometimes heroic. Such information is obtained with difficulty, requires professional skills and knowledge, but it is precisely this information that is the field of attraction for true chroniclers of our time.

Investigative information is unique information obtained by a journalist in the course of complex work: long-term observations, experiments, conversations with confidential information carriers, and analysis of diverse information. It is especially highly valued, as it represents a new disclosure of the situation and often becomes a factor in changes in the social, economic, cultural life of society. Once published, it begins to circulate in society and be used for a variety of purposes. Suffice it to recall the "Tagged Atoms" experiment to reveal the mechanism of the postal service in Russia in the investigation of Anatoly Rubinov, the investigation of the German journalist Günther Wallraf on the situation of emigrants in Europe, the famous Watergate case of American journalists Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, which led to the resignation of US President Richard Nixon .

By credibility and reliability sources of information are regarded as unambiguously reliable and reliable, when the information is documented in accordance with all the rules, there are real and responsible witnesses, etc.; reliable, but unreliable, if there is no documentary or witness evidence, and therefore additional verification is required; reliable, but unreliable, as a rule, containing information from eyewitnesses or participants in the events, but without documentary evidence. Information from the last two sources needs further analysis and is suitable mainly for rough work or is used as a pretext for an investigation. Initially reliable but unreliable information (or reliable but unreliable) as a result of painstaking work in many cases is confirmed and leads to the appearance of journalistic sensations or sharply polemical speeches.

The most common methods for collecting information are empirical methods those. experienced, requiring direct study of the situation (observation, interview / conversation, experiment) and empirical-theoretical- work with documents, questionnaires, surveys, work with databases on the Internet.

Observation- a favorite method of collecting information from journalists of all times, including those armed with modern gadgets and digital technology. In terms of time, observation can be short-term (if it is a one-time event, such as, for example, an ice jam on a spring river is blown up) and long-term (if a versatile and long-term study of the situation is required). According to the degree of activity of a journalist, observation is divided into non-included (simple) and included. In the first case, the journalist observes what is happening from the outside without interfering with the situation, while in the second he becomes an actor and one of the participants in the observed process. When open observation is not included, the participants in the events know about the purpose of the presence of the correspondent, sometimes they help him, often they simply do not get distracted from their main activities and give the journalist the opportunity to sort out the situation. In some cases, open surveillance opportunities are not enough. Then a more productive, albeit more complex, included covert observation is used, which in journalistic practice is called "a journalist changes his profession", or "the mask method". It requires compliance with both ethical and legal norms of interference in the activities of certain organizations or individuals. For example, health care institutions, law enforcement agencies, secure enterprises, and a person’s personal life are closed to the use of the “mask method”. One of the main conditions for a journalist to use the "mask method" is to master at least the basics of the profession to which he temporarily changed his reporter. Here we can recall classic examples from the history of Russian journalism, when reporters watched city life while driving a taxi, or talked about the school, trying on the role of a teacher. With good reason, it is believed that covert surveillance requires versatile skills and abilities from professionals.

Interview / conversation - hardly the most popular method of collecting information, especially these days, due to the mass availability of digital voice recorders. But often journalists rely only on flawlessly working technique, forgetting that an interested, sympathetic attitude to the topic of an interview or conversation, to the personality of the interviewee requires erudition and preparation. Questions - open and closed - should be thoughtful and balanced, and the topic of conversation has been studied in advance with the maximum depth that circumstances allow. There are a variety of interviewing techniques and techniques that you need to master throughout your professional career. Many manuals have been written and published about the methodology and technique of the interview, including in recent years.

Experiment in journalism refers to a kind of social experiment. It involves the use of special methods of studying the situation. In contrast to observation, here the journalist himself creates the circumstances in which he "places" the actors. In other words, he puts experience. The "perturbing" (experimental) factor is chosen most carefully. It can be a simulated situation (changed working conditions, an incentive system), a form of control, the involvement of specialists or experts, the creation of artificial obstacles, etc. An important condition is the observance of the legal and ethical framework of the experiment that does not violate the nature of its specific participants. Experiments are field experiments, taking place in natural conditions (for example, on a city street) or labor processes, or laboratory experiments, when an artificial environment is created to monitor the development of the situation. The "experiment on oneself" is especially popular with journalists, when the author experiences living conditions, entering into a difficult situation (for example, how to live only on a student scholarship), fixing personal observations and the results of the experiment.

Empirical-theoretical methods of collecting information require organizational training and intellectual effort. They are associated with the analysis of the information received, the grouping of sources and the construction of preliminary research hypotheses.

Work with documents- the most common, but also laborious method. It is necessary to rank documents by classes, types, level of information presentation. They are:

• – official, public and private;
• – primary (in originals) and secondary (in copies, photocopies and "scans");
• - naturally functioning (newspaper issues, official orders, historical monuments) and "provoked" - created specifically for any occasion (for example, an extract from an employment order, a response to a media editor's request, a certificate from a person's place of residence);
• – by tangible medium – in printed form, visual (video material, photograph), electronic form.

Each of the types of documentary sources of information requires special and careful study in order not to lead the journalist to false conclusions and assessments. For example, a photocopy of an official document that is not certified in form may turn out to be a fake, and a document with an illegible signature of an official and a blurred seal of an institution may contain false information. And when analyzing a “provoked” document specially prepared for one purpose or another, it is important to establish for whom and for what need it was born.

Questionnaire and survey- a kind of sociological methods of collecting information. Journalists turn to them in order to identify the interests of the audience, its educational level or political, value preferences. The questionnaire form is also used to clarify the positions of specialists, politicians, and observers when a complex and topical conflict is being investigated. The central correctness condition, i.e. the correctness of using the method is compliance with the standard requirements for the representativeness of the study, i.e. representativeness of materials: how many participants in an oral survey or questionnaire in a particular area - by sociological standards - can provide a result that corresponds to the real opinion of the public or experts. It is not easy to comply with these requirements, therefore, in many cases, editorial offices prefer to order research from professional sociological services.

Working with databases and resources on the Internet for all its seeming accessibility, it is an intellectually capacious method of collecting information. It requires not only computer literacy, but also knowledge of the specifics of network resources, compliance with legal norms and ethics (netiquette) of using various information.

With the penetration of the Internet into almost all aspects of society, the understanding of the creative processes in journalism is also changing. The specifics of the products produced by modern multimedia editors are such that a publication can acquire additional meanings on a radio carrier, acquire new shades on a television channel, acquire analytical depth, being transformed to the specifics of a paper carrier. An important element of this life is the activity of the consumer in the content of the media. Consumers independently form information platforms, whether it is a forum or a special section - Internet comments. Nevertheless, the vectors of this activity are often set by professional journalists using either crowdsourcing technologies, when the task is literally thrown into the crowd, into the network, when the audience joins the collection of information, or methods of moderating user content, or even programming the emotional intensity of the discussion due to entering into discussions on Internet platforms.

In the digital age, it is increasingly difficult for journalists to remain competitive by relying solely on the high quality of their content. At the same time, the digitization process offers new opportunities for media to interact with the public. Attention is required to such aspects of communication as the use of personalized services, two-way communication with the audience, emotional attachment to the brand, reader loyalty. Under these conditions, journalists have to build the digital component of their work according to new rules and compete with new communicators who are more adapted to functioning in the digital environment.

A key factor in overcoming the current decline in the media industry today is the ability of journalism to move away from its traditional strategies and adopt innovative approaches.

The need to innovate traditional creative models is dictated, among other things, by the unprecedented speed of digitalization, which is causing significant changes in the preferences and behavior of the media audience. That is, the development of new media is important not in itself, but by its effect - the transformation of communications between the media and the audience. American media researcher W. Crosby in his work "What is new media?" distinguishes three types of communications in media: interpersonal media is the "one-to-one" type, mass media is "one-to-many" and, finally, "new media" is the "many-to-many" type, which fully reflects the concept of a new information field . True, it should be noted here that the designation "new media" can hardly claim the status of a scientific and professional term, it is rather an everyday name, since novelty is a quality that is transient with time, and it does not contain the originality of the modern media revolution. It seems that in this respect the name "network media" will be sufficient and accurate.

At the center of the new information space is, of course, the consumer of information, who is now not just a contemplator, but also a participant in the process of news formation (i.e., strictly speaking, he can no longer be called a consumer). Therefore, the essence of the new information environment is not only multimedia, but also interactivity, which makes it necessary to radically revise the outdated media model and create a new one that is consistent with the goals and objectives of the network society, which is also constantly changing. A modern person chooses how it is more convenient for him to receive information: for example, he can simultaneously watch TV and surf the Internet, listen to radio on the network, receive news mailings on his mobile phone.

This approach led some researchers to say that the media is being replaced by SII - a means of individual information. In such personalized media, according to M. Castells, "individual communication" is added to traditional mass communications. In other words, with the help of mobile technologies and the Internet, which provide multiple entry points into the communicative space, any personal topic can be disseminated in the mass communication network. The consumer plunges into the information ocean, but at the same time takes the position of an active user. The materials prepared by the editors are increasingly coexisting with messages produced by the users themselves.

An example of such media is a friend tape. facebook, where the user does not even have to be a writer. Participation in the information exchange is provided using the "like" button and the like. The existential formula of the modern user can be defined as "I like - it means I exist." Thanks to the "share" and "like" buttons, the process of forming a new audience begins. It is much more active than the audience of past eras: it is interactive.

Journalists turned this process to their advantage and began to use social networks to promote their products. However, it turned out that they are not able to control the process: in the new information space, any message is distributed non-linearly, since it does not have a single coordination center. The role of journalists here is quite special - they become community managers, "communicators", realizing their unique abilities in a completely different way. An example is how the media in the search and production of information moved from insourcing technology (editorial focus on the full life cycle of the product) to crowdsourcing - a new partnership model between the information platform, which has some purpose, and the general public, which can act as a resource. helping to achieve this goal. In the context of journalism, crowdsourcing has specific applications, namely: the audience is attached to the collection of information.

The results of using crowdsourcing in a number of editorial offices exceeded all expectations. A good example of this is the American Internet media. Huffington Post, which employs 186 full-time employees and an army of 6,000 unpaid bloggers. fast paced huffpo forced the traditional media New York Times and Washington Post before News Corp and Forbes, rethink the established rules of journalism regarding the creation and distribution of stories. Crowdsourcing has given journalists a range of new opportunities. The main thing is that the new toolkit made it possible to take a different look at the process of obtaining information, journalists began to actively use multimedia methods of obtaining and presenting information in their work.

The methods under consideration are based on the process of content production by the audience. The concept was named UGC (user-generated content- user-generated content); according to it, a large number of users are able to self-organize and form the content of a particular information platform. Production processes go beyond the "geographical" scope of the editorial office itself and potentially cover the entire mass of users / readers of this media, which are transformed from a consumer audience into an audience of co-workers and collaborators of information.

In editorial practice, a whole set of information collection tools has been tested and disseminated, which are characterized as multimedia(i.e. using modern technical and software tools that combine text, sound, graphics, photos, videos in one digital representation):

• - viewing resources that concentrate information important to the audience (for example, analysis of public procurement sites);
• - subscription to RSS-channels, which allows you to automatically identify new blocks of information according to specified criteria in a timely manner. This tool can also be used to record the activity of consumers in relation to the media produced by the editorial office or the author;
• – viewing the content of Internet forums to determine in which direction the agenda is changing. You can also directly contact the forum participants with a request to answer the questions of interest to the journalist;
• - viewing blogs, the authors of which gather thousands of audiences in order to obtain opinions, information and determine trends in the movement of thematic preferences;
• - view messages in Twitter is an effective tool for accessing ultra-fast news;
• – analysis of information in social networks is a very promising tool for interaction between the media and the audience. In addition to the fact that users create and distribute messages for the purpose of their self-realization, networks have the function of organizing a communication space. The social network contains information about its members - their age, zero, range of interests, and this opens up the possibility for targeted appeal to readers and viewers;
• - Internet comments of readers on the publications of professional journalists provide feedback and allow during the discussion to identify both the weaknesses and strengths of this particular publication, and in general to receive an unflattering assessment of the entire work of the journalist. That is, comments, being, from the point of view of the consumer, an integral part of the journalistic text, enrich it with new - sometimes fantastic - angles and meanings. This aspect requires the editorial staff to be able to appreciate what is written, as a rule, by anonymous creators, as well as to build a defense against psychological attacks.

The question arises about the effectiveness of the use of multimedia methods for collecting information. The answer to it depends on the competent organization of this process in the editorial office. Here is how, for example, the work of journalists with the content of blogs is built.

Blog(abbreviated from English. weblog) - an online journal (a journal not in the meaning of "periodical", but in the meaning of "ship's journal", "diary", etc.). In form, this is a page with short entries in the following format: a link to a place on the web and a small, often underlined subjective comment. Bloggers in their diaries discuss the most significant topics, often the same ones that are raised in the media. Blogs and social networks distribute all existing types of information in large volumes. Unlike the media, which broadcast only mass information, they also disseminate special information, including professional and individual personal information (including information and feelings that are often hidden from others and have arisen on the basis of personal experience). This information is not necessarily up-to-date, new and aimed at a wide audience, although it may be so, reflecting the interests of social actors, and reporting unknown facts.

The presence of content collected by users is one of the main specific features of the Internet. Blogs are a platform where such content is collected as conveniently as possible. It is not uncommon for the media to base their stories on blogs. As a rule, this happens when journalists do not have the opportunity to obtain information from other sources, but the event is so significant that it is impossible not to write about it. In such cases, one has to rely on the opinions of eyewitnesses, to compare the facts. But bloggers do not support their reasoning with the opinion of experts, they do not use the statements of experts. On the one hand, their opinion is absolutely subjective, but, on the other hand, an idea of ​​society's attitude to the problem is formed from a multitude of subjective opinions. However, in general, the productivity of the blogosphere as a high-quality information environment raises serious doubts. It can be especially difficult to measure the validity and reliability of information provided in the blogosphere, and therefore it is dangerous to completely trust this source.

Unlike communication via phones and letters, which is limited to people's personal space, blogs are a public repository of personal information, perhaps the first in history. Journalists are starting to use blogs when looking for unique data. Manually selecting news from the general flow of information that passes through the blogosphere every day is difficult. There are automatic methods for analyzing the content of the blogosphere, developed by Yandex companies and, to a lesser extent - Liveintemet.ru. However, they allow you to track mainly only massive information flows. Search engines do not have a specific algorithm for indexing exclusive information, and these engines often run idle. Exclusive information is found in the blogs of famous people and corporations. Their active use can lead to the fact that mass notification of their target audience through blogs will crowd out mailing lists, press releases and other forms of organized informing journalists.

"Rossiyskaya Gazeta": rg.ru/2012/05/12/jet-blog-site.html - material about the reaction in the domestic and foreign blogosphere to the disaster superjet, where all quotes are presented with hyperlinks to cited blogs (05/12/2012).

"Rossiyskaya Gazeta": rg.ru/2012/02/01/foto-site-anons.html - material about photographs of the new "superphone" blackberry(05/01/2012): "Technoblog cracberry, specializing in the publication of insider information about the company's products Research In Motion, published photos of a smartphone that the Canadian manufacturer intends to bring to market in the second half of this year. "The text also contains a hyperlink to the blog from which the information is taken.

"Rossiyskaya Gazeta": rg.ni/2012/01/27/google-site-anons.ht ml - a message about an innovation in Google Plus(01/27/2012): "The innovation was announced on his personal page by Bradley Horowitz, Vice President Google". A hyperlink to the blog is also provided.

"Gazeta.RU": gazeta.ru/social/2012/05/10/4577993.shtml - material about the plane crash Supetjet(05/10/2012): "One call to a crew member goes through, does not pick up the phone. But I do not exclude that he left the phone at the hotel," photographer Marina Lystseva wrote in a microblog in Twitter. Photographer-blogger Sergey Dolya added that he sent several SMS messages to the phones of the Russians on board. But there was no answer. There are no hyperlinks to blogs in the text.

The head of the group of internal services of the Internet company "Yandex" K. Kolomeets highlights five functions of multimedia methods :

• 1) effective collection of information necessary for the preparation of high-quality journalistic material;
• 2) organizational function - effective tools can reduce the cost of producing media products, organize the work of the editorial office and increase the speed of information exchange within the editorial team;
• 3) with the help of multimedia tools, it is possible to pack media products in a high-quality and interesting way, taking into account the interests of the user;
• 4) a variety of ways to deliver media products to consumers;
• 5) providing authors and editors with high-quality and stable feedback.

• Kodola N.V. Interview: Teaching methodology. Practical advice: textbook. allowance. M., 2008; Lukin M. M. Interview technology: textbook. allowance. 2nd ed. M., 2012 and others.
• Crosbie V. What is New Media? URL: sociology.org.uk/as4mm3a.doc.
• Spears E. Own opinion // Forbes. 2010. No. 12.
• Kolomeets K. Practicum: creating your own media on the Internet // Journalism and convergence: why and how traditional media are turning into multimedia / ed. A. Kachkaeva. M., 2010. S. 56.

Observation as a method of collecting information and its types: open and hidden, included and not included. External study and vision from the inside with the method of observation. The study of documents and sources as a method of collecting information. Letters from readers as a source of information and work with them in newspaper editorial offices. Interview as a method of collecting information. Types of interview. Interview. Interview Rules

(Because it has already been established that journalism is, first of all, the collection of information. Only on the basis of the collected external information is it possible to produce internal information, that is, to create your own concept of events. In the vast majority of cases, journalism is engaged in searching for news in information sources and publishing ( i.e. reporting to the public) messages about them.This section is devoted to methods of collecting external information.

All his life, especially at the beginning of his career, a journalist has to play the role of a reporter - an honorable role in the field of mass information activities. "Journalist's feet feed" - not without reason there is such a professional saying. Of course, in this case we are talking about the collection of external information, the accumulation of facts, and not about the development of internal information, the content of which is to generalize and explain the facts.

It is hardly fair, however, to assert. That a journalist, having reached the status of an essayist, columnist or feuilletonist, is freed from the difficult profession of collecting information and proceeds only to generalizing it, receiving it in finished form from other sources. The experience of leading journalists, for example, the same A. Agranovsky, and also K. Simonov, S. Aleksievich and many others, indicates that a journalist never stops collecting information; only his individual approaches can change depending on personal tasks, genre, nature of the material.

The work of a journalist can be compared to an iceberg. Only 1/9 of it looks out above the surface of the ocean. This is a part of the mass information activity that is visible to the recipients - a written or oral text. But 8/9 of the mass of the ice mountain is hidden under water. This is a huge preparatory work of a journalist to collect information, and forms the basis of the material. As a rule, weak journalistic works are obtained not as a result of a poor ability to work with a word, to verbally process already collected material, but as a result of a superficial understanding of the problem itself, which is chosen as the subject of an article or essay, insufficient activity in collecting information, the formation of a situation of information insufficiency , immediately affects the quality of the final result of journalistic work - the test.

A professional journalist is in no hurry to complete the process of collecting information, realizing that this is a crucial part of his work. For example, Anatoly Agranovsky, in a letter to his colleague V.K. Chetkar'ov dated July 1, 1980, said: "I have been preparing some articles for half a year, and I have been collecting one (about the ophthalmologist Fedorov)" for five years. But this does not mean at all that the journalist in this time is not busy. Other articles are being written, but the "cherished" one is hatching.

The need to accumulate a large amount of information, various kinds of data and points of view on the problem as the basis of mass information activity concerns the strategic genres of journalism, in particular, the basis of artistic and journalistic creativity - an essay. “Good things,” testifies the outstanding publicist Yuri Chernichenko, “unfortunately, they are done slowly, especially if it is done by a recognized master who is responsible for everything in which his name stands. Essay by F. Abramov and A. Chistyakov in the eighth number" Moscow" for 1978 - called "Niva alive and dead" - was made for nine years. So, in any case, it follows from the very essay ". It is clear that the author's term "made" should be understood not at the time of writing the text, but at the time of collecting material for the essay.

Taking into account efficiency as a weighty principle of information journalism, it is worth considering the principle proclaimed by Y. Chernichenko's essay: "It is done slowly - it lives long." As an example, he was ruled by the work of the outstanding prose writer, the master of "village prose" Fyodor Abramov (1920-1983). “For me, for example,” Yu. Chernichenko wrote, “Abramovsky’s essay“ Around and around “is still alive. Pryaslinykh". Here we are talking about the artistic and journalistic story "Around the bush" (1963), which was devoted to the problems of the Russian northern village, and the following novelistic work by F. Abramov: the Pryaslina trilogy, which consisted of the novels "Brothers and Sisters" (1958), "Two Winters and Three Summers" (1968), "Crossroads" (1971) and was awarded the State Prize of the USSR in 1975, and the novel "House" (1978) was attached to it. In this case, Yu. Chernichenko drew attention to the fact that the writer first mastered the topic as an essayist, publicist, and only then as an artist.

A classic example in Ukrainian culture: Afanasy Mirny first wrote the travel essay "From Poltava to Gadyach" (1872, published in 1874 in the journal "Pravda"), and then the creation of the novel "Do oxen roar when a manger full?" (1872-1875, co-authored with Ivan Bilyk, published 1880).

The given historical examples testify to the close connection between journalism and fiction, between which creative energy constantly flows. Literature and journalism are like communicating vessels: the level of one type of creativity immediately affects the second. And therefore, not only for journalism, but even for fiction, the problem of collecting information, the study of life, is being updated. Recall that the overall success of a journalistic and literary work depends on this stage.

There are only three methods for collecting external information:

observation,

Study of documents and sources,

Interview.

I. Observation- a passive method of collecting information. Its essence lies in the fact that, looking, notice someone or something, pay attention to someone.

Every journalist should be a vigilant, detail-oriented observer. In many cases of observation, the initial stage of preparing the material is the impetus, then gives rise to an extensive idea of ​​an article or essay, leads to a journalistic investigation. But, as a rule, there are always elements in significant journalistic material, the source of which is the method of observation. This is all that the journalist saw with his own eyes: portraits, interiors, landscapes and the like. Consequently, observation, playing a seemingly secondary role in the collection of information, occupies a significant place in journalistic creativity, available in every extensive material.

A journalist is a daily, eternal Observer. He will never pass by an interesting event, which he witnessed involuntarily, by chance. He never misses an opportunity to meet an interesting person. He observes on the way to work and on the way home, on weekdays, on holidays and on days off. He collects everything he observes into the treasury of his journalistic experience, if not for immediate, then for future use.

Journalism knows such types of observations as open and hidden, included and not included. Their essence lies in the fact that a journalist (and often writers also resort to this) becomes for a while a member of a team, organization, institution, institution in order to perfectly, closely, at close range to study their activities, people's moods, working conditions. , mechanisms for the implementation of financial or barter transactions. Open observation assumes that others are aware of what they are being studied, while covert observation implies the absence of such awareness. Covert surveillance gives the author of the future journalistic work more opportunities to get acquainted with the actual state of affairs, guarantees an impartial attitude towards him from the members of the team. Participant observation provides for the admission of a journalist to a full-time position and the fulfillment by him of certain official duties. What is not included makes it possible to study the situation from the outside, but provides a wider acquaintance of the journalist with the object of study, the opportunity to visit different structural divisions of a large company or institution.

Each type of observation has its own advantages in certain conditions. To study the work of a large enterprise or educational institution, non-participant observation will be more convenient, which will enable the journalist to draw up a stereoscopic picture of the institution's activities. If we are talking about studying the hidden mechanisms of the movement of goods or capital, finding out what is secret and hidden by the institution, it is best to use the method of covert, participant observation.

The participant observation method (other names: "mask method", "dressing method", "professional change method") was widely used by Soviet journalism. The author of the future essay in the direction of the editors or the Union of Writers (Journalists) went on a creative business trip to the enterprise to study the working class and write essays about the Heroes of the Socialist

Labor. Often the initiative for such actions came from regional committees. In the late 1970s, a collective collection of essays "Morning Meetings" (1976), documentary novels by Boris Silaev "Circle of Light" (1976) and Radiy Polonsky's "Wings of My City" (1977) appeared only in Kharkov. The frank ideological assignment of the work of writers in the role of journalists in this and in many other cases compromised the method of participant observation. It seemed to some authors that the method of playing and "masking" was almost artificially invented to serve the dubious ideological premises of power. But this is far from true.

The mask method arose spontaneously, in the depths of the journalistic craft. As the journalist and scientist Lyudmila Vasilyeva, who devoted many interesting sides of her book “Making News!” to this method, points out, the pioneer of the mask method in Russian journalism was the legendary Vladimir Gilyarovsky. This method was revived by Mikhail Koltsov in the 1930s, and in the 1960s by Anatoly Gudimov, a reporter for Economic Newspaper, who wrote a whole book of essays The Secret of a Foreign Profession. Seven Days in a Taxi. Face to Face (1965). Ludmila Vasilyeva herself included her essays from the 1990s and early 2000s in the appendices to the book, originally published in the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda (Far Eastern Representative Office). Information for them was collected by the method of mask, participant observation.

Most recently, Galina Sapozhnikova recalled (notably, also with the aim of covering a journalistic investigation) that the German journalist Günther Wallraf used the participant observation method in the mid-1970s, pretended to be a Turkish guest worker, and in a series of essays spoke about all the "beauties" of emigrant life, poking the nose of the Germans in their own xenophobia.

Therefore, it is impossible to associate this method with totalitarian manipulative journalism, it is immanent for journalistic creativity in general, it serves to search for the truth, to reveal the truth.

A young journalist should still keep in mind the following: today, when journalism is guided not by party, but by universal morality, and mass media organizations, enterprises, institutions belong to various private owners, and "covert surveillance" turned out to be outside the ethical norms of journalism. In a textbook on journalistic ethics (and this is a mandatory course, without knowledge of which it is impossible to enter the profession today), the future specialist will read that the ethical norm today is "to report one's belonging to a certain mass media." According to the codes of ethics of the leading information corporations, journalists are prohibited from "hiding their names when they introduce themselves", "recording conversations on a dictaphone without the permission of the interlocutor", "intentionally misleading the interlocutor". Unconditional preference is given to honest methods of collecting information. "Covert surveillance", of course, does not apply to those, it provides for deliberate deception, and is not compatible with the ethical standards of modern journalism.

Our universities teach an academic discipline called "Journalistic Investigation". There are already a number of textbooks under this title. But this is a discipline, so to speak, "for growth", for the future, to ensure the comprehensiveness of the academic training of a journalist. In fact, no teacher will send a student to practice to do a real journalistic investigation. This is an unjustified risk. To become a journalistic investigation, the author must grow up, make an independent decision about working in this genre. You should not start your way to journalism from it, just as in a heavyweight competition you should not start lifting more weight without a warm-up, preliminary preparation.

If you still had to do a journalistic investigation, consider some safety rules:

1) try to learn a new profession as quickly and better as possible and perform your duties flawlessly;

2) do not put a lot of questions, everything you need to be able to see, not hear;

3) take your time: often what you try to find out with risk today is quite easy to find tomorrow,

4) do not try to learn more than you should; your awareness in any case has its limits, which you cannot step over without changing your position in the institution;

5) do not strive to be especially "interesting": try to reduce friendly conversations to current problems, plans, incidents from life, etc. of your interlocutors, and not your own;

6) does not think at leisure about a future publication until the end of the collection of information: there will still be enough time to look at the big picture through the eyes of a journalist.

In addition to security rules for collecting information, there are such rules for creating text. So, how to tell about what you saw in order to avoid suspicion? Follow these guidelines:

1) avoid describing those details, strokes and trifles that have a pronounced individual character, as well as exact numbers, replacing them with approximate ones;

2) change, if possible, those details that, without being of fundamental importance, can point specifically to you

3) avoid even the approximate similarity of the construction of a phrase in your oral speech and on paper, not to mention the use of expressions, turns, phrases, etc., which are often used by you in daily conversations;

4) your pseudonym should not contain any biographical indications, which are understood as the place or month of birth, mother's maiden name, etc., all the more so not to overlap in any way with the real name;

5) and, of course, the circle of people who know about your task should be reduced to a minimum, regardless of the degree of trust and kinship (the latter is especially important - do not create unnecessary anxiety for your relatives and friends).

It is quite obvious that it is almost impossible to build a journalistic work only on observation. Most often, it is adjacent to other ways of collecting information, among which the second place is occupied by the study of documents and sources.

2nd century Study of documents and sources- an important stage in the work of a journalist on difficult, reporter, but analytical materials. As you know, one of the most important features of journalism as a mass information activity is documentary. If observations (as well as interviews) provide the journalist with subjective knowledge, then documents, on the contrary, provide accurate, objective information. Except, of course, for those cases when it is pseudo-documentation, that is, specially, at the organizational level, created for disinformation.

A document today is understood as any material carrier created by a person to fix social information in any way in order to transmit it in space and time.

Material carriers of information today are paper, tape, film, photography, electronic storage media and the like. From this point of view, sources are varieties of documents, namely: written texts, handwritten or printed, audio and video recordings of conversations and events, photographs, diskettes with digital, textual materials, on the basis of which journalistic (as well as scientific) works are created. S. G. Korkonosenko in his textbook "Fundamentals of Journalism" referred to the statements of the former staff correspondent of "Komsomolskaya Pravda", who, dwelling on the collection of information, wrote: "Books of account and other documents are interesting ... up to the telephone log."

First of all, it should be said that, working within a certain topic, a journalist must study it all the time, deepen his knowledge in a certain area of ​​life, get acquainted with the latest literature and periodicals, visit libraries, know the rules of bibliographic search, refer to the necessary sources in case need. Without working with a book, a magazine, a newspaper, a modern journalist is inconceivable. Books, newspapers, magazines are the most important sources of operational and fundamental information. First of all, a media employee should work with them.

The main basis for a journalist's work with documents and sources is impartiality. He should not look for confirmation of a previously invented concept in them, but, on the contrary, build a concept on documented facts. There are cases when, after the completion of the formation of a concept, a new fact is discovered that destroys this concept; then the new inconvenient fact is not subject to rejection, but the concept itself is already ready for review and clarification.

In a special study, the following rules for working with documents are formulated:

Make sure that

the document was created by a competent (by official position) or a person specially authorized for this purpose;

the environment in which the document was created did not affect its content;

it does not distort the names of officials; the content of the document corresponds to the prints of the seal and the corner stamp;

the document is signed by a person authorized for this purpose.

The skill of a journalist is measured, among other factors, by how deeply he can comprehend the spring base of the future work, use it, give the necessary references to documents in the text itself, which will become a weighty argument and convince the reader of the correct position of the author.

Finally, there are areas of journalism where knowledge of documents and sources is mandatory and dominates the material. Such are, for example, speeches on historical topics, crime chronicles, etc.

When starting work on any material for OMI, a journalist must ask if there are any documents and sources on this topic. In many cases, acquaintance with them is the initial stage of understanding the topic. This happens when it comes to the study of a certain industrial facility, construction, consideration of a complaint.

An important source of topics and problems for a journalist is letters from readers. The traditional opinion is that in the modern world there has been a tangible impoverishment of epistolary creativity in general. This form of individual, interpersonal communication, which for a long time of history remained the only means of communication between people in space, they say, today has been supplanted by the telephone, electronic means of communication. In the "good old days" Nikolai Gogol wrote to Alexander Pushkin at the other end of St. Petersburg: "If you knew how sorry I was that I found your note on my desk instead of you. If only I had returned a minute earlier, and I would have seen you back into yourself." Now such a letter is simply impossible - all this person will say to another on the phone, and a friend will not pay a visit without making sure with the help of the same phone, the owner of the house. Once Pavel Zagrebelny said: "The nineteenth century - in letters, like the twentieth - in telephones." So, there are objective reasons for reducing the number of letters in the editorial office.

Despite this, periodicals continue to receive letters. The editor-in-chief of Komsomolskaya Pravda, V. N. Sungorkin, noted in a special interview: "We have a large mail. We have 30,000 letters every week, up to a hundred thousand monthly, and this is not counting the reviews on publications on our website on the Internet." Lyudmila Vasilyeva herself, from the preface to the book of which the above statement is taken, also notes the great importance of the editorial epistolary: "But letters," she exclaims, "are a fascinating informational Klondike!" . Further, however, she reduces all the variety of letters to a friend of their genre: "a cry for help." And he even offers a summary: "If a letter was written to the editor, it means that the author has been 'gotten'."

It is unlikely that the situation with letters in modern journalism can be so simply explained. Thirty thousand letters every week cannot be so monotonous. It seems that the source of the sheets, with good reasons for their removal from the information field, is elsewhere. In the modern world, there is an alienation of man from his essence. Modern man is lonely and often confused in front of the world of the absurd. She is looking for warmth and complicity, often just like-minded people, those who think and feel the way she does, and who is just as lonely as she is. This is the main reason why editorial mail never runs out. In the youth newspaper "Artmozaika" (Kharkiv), with a weekly circulation of 334,000 copies, the heading "eternal pen" has persisted for many years. Each issue of the newspaper contains two pages of letters. Their problems are diverse, such that they cannot be generalized. But here are the motives - to express oneself, to talk about one's life experience and its lessons, to entrust paper things that you cannot tell publicly orally - this is clearly monitored. Therefore, it is logical to assume that psychological reasons underlie epistolary creativity, and editorial mail will always exist. So, you should be able to work with it.

Through letters, the editor receives important information about social contradictions, the brewing of conflict situations, the movement of public opinion in one direction or another. People turn to the newspaper, as a rule, in difficult cases of their lives, looking for support, social justice, protection from the arbitrariness of officials. In Soviet times, the editorial offices of almost all (including regional) newspapers had letter departments, whose duties were only to work with mail, systematize and summarize epistolary information, check complaints, prepare letters or excerpts from them for publication. Newspapers had headings "Although the letter was not published," where the editors informed readers about the measures taken on citizens' appeals and about the actions of government bodies in resolving the problems posed in the letters.

A young journalist should be aware that letters from readers can only serve as a source of preliminary information that still requires careful verification. Work with letters is based on the following principles:

1. Careful accounting of all letters, giving each one his own number or code, grouping letters by topic or problem.

2. When determining the decision to publish, the authorship of the letter needs to be verified. The editorial staff must contact the author of the letter and personally obtain confirmation of his authorship from him. If such confirmation cannot be achieved, the letter is considered anonymous and is not considered. Such a check is especially necessary in cases when it comes to compromising facts, the disclosure of which can somehow affect the fate of people.

3. If you want to publish a letter, you need to check the facts given in it. This is also the responsibility of the editorial staff. To do this, in letters one should ask about the sources of his information and the journalist himself should go this way, compare different points of view on an event or phenomenon, etc.

In many editorial offices of older newspapers, there is a tradition that all mail arriving at the general address of the publication is first read by the editor-in-chief, he also imposes the necessary resolutions and passes letters to departments for further use or action.

Letters serve as a channel for feedback between the editorial board and readers, give journalists a feel for the pulse of public opinion, and at the same time the effectiveness of their own work.

Due to the impoverishment of a significant part of the population of Ukraine, which was the result of the economic crisis throughout the post-Soviet space, the flow of letters to newspaper editorial offices has significantly decreased. But those editions did the right thing, they did not want to lose ties with the audience. They invited readers to call the editorial office, published a phone number and assigned a special employee to receive such messages.

As a result, the connection "newspaper - reader - newspaper" was not completely destroyed, the publication retained an important opportunity to conduct a dialogue with readers, to know about their assessment of their own work. There was an even more important consequence from this communication channel: nothing increases the prestige of the publication and its circulation , as the effectiveness of publications, effective assistance to specific citizens in solving their specific problems related to various areas of life: everyday life, utilities, payment of wage arrears and pensions, and the like.

Many years of journalistic experience suggests that the work of establishing a dialogue with readers (in writing, by telephone) should be included in the circle of daily concerns of each editorial office, and its activity is a measure of the authority of the publication, its popularity.

III. Interview. This is the main method of collecting information in journalism, the essence of which is to receive news and messages through oral communication of the subject (journalist) with the subject newsmaker (politician, scientist, artist or just an interesting interlocutor). It is believed that this method provides 80 to 90 percent of the information a journalist needs. It is clear that the interview method should be distinguished from the journalistic genre of the same name, the essence of which lies in the dramatic (dialogical) construction of the material in the form: question - answer. The interview genre does not play such a significant role in journalism as the method, although its share in the pages of modern newspapers is growing.

With a certain metaphor, we can say that the work of a journalist is an eternal interview, and the journalist himself must be a good communicator. His activity consists of talking to people and describing what he hears. Moreover, the problems of creativity and skill of a journalist include not only the direct creation of a text, but (and above all) the art of collecting material for it. Journalism is the art of communication, and with the development of audiovisual media, also the art of public communication in front of a microphone or television camera.

Modern journalism by type of communication knows the following types of interviews:

Job interview. It is considered such that it provides especially fruitful opportunities for a journalist. Having met the object at his workplace, he can not only set the interviews scheduled for interview, but also connect other methods of collecting information: observation and study of documents and sources, and in the future material describe the atmosphere of the workplace, the atmosphere of the institution, give some eloquent details that characterize interlocutor, in addition, during the conversation, the journalist may require the object to document certain facts about which oral information was heard. A journalist should always seek to conduct an interview in conditions convenient for himself, and such are conversations at the workplaces of objects.

Interview at the object's home. Especially advantageous when a journalist meets with a private person. Then not the working environment in the position, but the life, home environment can play a leading role and give the same benefits as meeting with an employee at his workplace, and guarantee the use of additional methods of observation and study of documents and sources.

A hallmark of a democratic society is the holding of open house days at the homes of significant politicians. Several such days were held in 2005 immediately after the Orange Revolution to demonstrate to journalists the openness and transparency of the new government.

Editorial interview. It should be agreed as a last resort, when the object refuses everything else. You receive an interlocutor at your workplace, and it is no longer you who are watching him, but he is watching you. You are deprived of the opportunity to observe, to demand documentary confirmation of his words, you can only ask and write down the answers.

Telephone interview. It should be resorted to in order to achieve special efficiency, to check individual details in the information already existing in the editorial office. A full-fledged telephone interview is impossible, but for reference, clarification of certain facts, consultation on certain issues, it can be productively used. A journalist achieves a greater effect when he calls a familiar official or figure whom he has already met before. Then it is easier, having reminded about yourself and explaining the difficult circumstances that cause you to use the phone, and not ask for a personal meeting, to achieve the desired result - to obtain the necessary information.

However, in modern life, among the new generation of journalists, the telephone, including the mobile one, is becoming the subject of ever-increasing consumption. Full-fledged telephone interviews have been appearing in the press for a long time, as well as on the radio or in TV programs, in order to achieve maximum efficiency, correspondents' messages broadcast from phones connected to the studio, news makers' testimonies, comments of independent experts and the like are heard.

Interviews in inter-situations. Let's explain the proposed time frame. The word "Inter" (inter) in Latin means "between, between" and is used as a prefix in compound words to denote an intermediate situation, being between something. In today's stressful world, where the daily schedule of famous people is scheduled not by hours, but by minutes, a journalist is often denied an interview, not because they initially do not want to meet with a press representative, but because they actually do not have free time for this. Then the journalist offers to meet in some inter-situation: at lunch or dinner in a restaurant, at a hairdresser, right on the street and take the person home on foot, combining a walk with a conversation.

It is difficult to imagine a Ukrainian journalist doing an interview in a restaurant, but in the West this is a common method of verbal collection of information, which means that we would like our future journalists to know about it too. In the major newspapers of the West, interviews in restaurants are paid for by the editors, as fresh, competitive information is so highly valued there, and it raises the prestige of the publication.

Moreover, interviews in inter-situations are increasingly becoming part of the practice of a modern Ukrainian journalist. So, on June 16, 2000, the newspaper "Young Ukraine" published an interview of journalist Maya Orel with the famous TV presenter Olga Gerasimyuk under the title "A woman who wins in a man's world." This piece of journalism is a typical example of an interview in an inter-situation. “Olga Gerasimyuk suggested that I meet in a hairdressing salon,” Maya Orel begins to acquaint readers with the situation of the conversation. “Kuafer will conjure over her hair, and I will interview her.”

The conversation conducted in such an environment turned out to be full-fledged in terms of information, even deep in its own way, in no way inferior in content to highly effective types of interviews, such as, for example, interviews at the workplace. And the very exoticism of the situation, which Maya Orel emphasized from time to time, the presence of a silent, but with a mysterious smile, kuafer, representing the male world in the problem conceived for the conversation (“gender features of achieving success”), adds a special freshness and charm to the interview, works to embody the main idea of ​​a journalistic work.

The interview is off the record. Often used when a journalist is dealing with criminogenic circles. Subject doesn't mind being told by a journalist, but is afraid that the recorded material could be used against him in some way. Therefore, he agrees to an interview, but without recording. Such an interview should be recorded immediately after the meeting, while the impressions are fresh, or immediately create material in another genre that you are planning. The main thing is that the information obtained from the off-record interview can still be used in future material.

The interview is not for recording or use. You should agree to it as a last resort, since you cannot use the information obtained in this way in your journalistic work. But you can use it for an inner purpose. There are two aspects of its possible use:

a) to understand the issue yourself, what worries you, to understand the operation of hidden mechanisms;

b) go to other sources of information that you can use legally, publicly, with links to them.

This type of interview should be agreed when, in the process of journalistic investigation, open, legitimate ways of searching for information have been exhausted. The main rule of a journalist's behavior in the conditions of this interview is strict compliance with all the requirements of the object. It should be clearly understood that they agreed to give him dangerous information, on the publication of which the fate of people depends.

Interview includes the following components:

General preparation. The entire professional life of a journalist continues and consists in creating one's own personality, acquiring the general erudition necessary for communicating with people of a high intellectual level, mastering the basic rules of the art of communication and the technology of "solving languages"

specific training. It consists in studying the question of a complex of problems that you want to find out through an interview. It provides for the study of special literature, new approaches and views on the problem, familiarization with possible documents and sources, the face of the object; in short - in the acquisition of special knowledge, which will then be used by you directly in this interview.

Knowledge of the subject of the upcoming conversation and a preliminary orientation in the problem is not only a prerequisite, but also a guarantee of the successful work of a journalist. In modern conditions on the labor market and the skill of journalists, the leader is captured by the one who shows the greatest competence in his field, a deep understanding of the phenomena in a conversation with the object of the interview. In this case, the journalist himself becomes an interesting interlocutor for the object, it is interesting for him to communicate with him, he begins to treat him as his colleague who works in journalism and can bring a lot of benefit to the common cause with his publications.

Let's do a mental experiment. A new head has been appointed to the regional department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It is understandable that even after the press conference (it can be considered a type of collective interview) there are many media workers who want to publish exclusive materials about the new boss.

The general is a Democrat in outlook, respects the press. He received the first journalist... But he was disappointed by the conversation with him, she did not go beyond the circle of general topics and boiled down to questions: "What would you like to tell our readers? What would you wish to the readers of our newspaper?" Having spent 2 hours of working time, the next day the general agreed with less willingness to meet with another correspondent. He also turned out to be incompetent in the problems of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the region, and for him the story had to be started from scratch, for a long time to bring him up to date. The boss concluded that journalists only interfere with his work and fulfill his immediate official duties.

Quite by accident, the editor of the most authoritative publication in the city managed to persuade the general to accept another correspondent for his newspaper. It was a completely different meeting. The journalist immediately showed competence in the affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, rejected a whole layer of the least important issues, asked questions only about the most important: about the work of the Department for Combating Organized Crime, corruption within the police apparatus, which, in fact, led to a change in the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the region. The journalist asked how the investigation of the "high-profile" cases, which the newspapers wrote about earlier, was progressing; how human rights are protected during the investigation.

The general immediately felt the high professional level of this journalist, singled him out among others, willingly talked with him for 3:00, ordered the adjutant to always connect this correspondent with him in case of telephone calls, and when he needed to give exclusive information to the press personally, he invited this particular author as the most competent and knowledgeable in the field.

Undoubtedly, the purpose of the interview is to "unwind", to talk the interlocutor, and not to talk too much. But the successful fulfillment of this task is possible only if the interlocutors are adequate. It is difficult and difficult to enter the circle of new problems every time, but the professional activity of a journalist is impossible without this stage of his work. Today, officials are increasingly asking journalists what they want to talk about, and, having heard the general answer: "Well, there ... about novelties in your industry," they categorically refuse to meet with such authors.

Therefore, specific training is becoming increasingly important when applying the interview method in mass information activities.

Psychological preparation. It consists in your internal disposition for a conversation, the convenient time and place intended for it, the choice of clothes and the creation of a certain image of a journalist, should provide the object with the best conditions for self-disclosure. A journalist must be a professional communicator, have the necessary knowledge and skills in this area.

It should be understood from the very beginning that basically people are internally arranged extremely chaotically. To successfully obtain the information you need from them, you must mobilize all your external and internal resources. There are no trifles here, starting from the details of clothing and ending with the timbre of your voice chosen by you, the varieties of which, of course, should also be possessed.

When going to the factory to talk to the workers, you should dress like a worker. When going for an interview with the director of a bank, you must also have an appropriate appearance so that you are not put out without a conversation from the doorway, without looking at your journalistic ID.

A journalist should always be attuned to flexibility and behavior, as well as to have sensory experience in order to understand for himself which behavior model gives the most tangible result in communication. When preparing for an interview, you should decide on a behavior model, choose one as the main one, but be sure to have two or three more fallback options in case the first model does not work. When conducting an interview, you should quickly tune in to the subject's communication wave and respond flexibly to his behavior, looking for the greatest openness.

A journalist is both an actor and director, and each of his interviews is a small one-act performance that he plays alone with the object.

In the most general form, the interview rules can be formulated as follows:

First of all, you should know what you want to know about; highlight for yourself the main thing or a group of main issues, implement a clear set of goals and steadily move towards it in the process of conversation.

The journalist must proceed from the idea of ​​the self-sufficient value of his profession. He is an information hunter. He is after her. She, like a game, hides from him. A journalist should be aware that information may be hidden from him intentionally, or they may simply not understand the content of the questions posed; finally, some objects may simply not be sufficiently informed themselves to fully explain the situation or problem. Therefore, a deep awareness of one's tasks, finding out for oneself what he should learn about, is a prerequisite for mass information activity.

Be meticulous in your use of language. Know that only it will provide you with the result that you want to achieve. Remember the rule: if you are accurate in the wording of questions, then you will receive accurate information.

The brothers comment on the issue of your future material should only be the first on the competence of a person in the industry. Imagine a conference attended by 200 scientists. A journalist who writes an article or even gives an informational message about it should apply for an interview not to the young graduate students present at it, not to associate professors or professors, but to Academician Kh., acted as the organizer of the conference, said at the plenary session at its opening program report. Only such a commentary by the first person at this event will be the most productive from the information side, it will deeply reveal the event, and arouse the interest of readers.

Make it a rule to use the slogan that has come down to us from the ancient Romans: "Audiator et altera pars!" ("Listen to the other side too!"). Its use is mandatory in situations of journalistic investigation, the study of a conflict situation in which the parties will accuse each other before the journalist and try to win him over to their side. No matter how convincing the position of the first side may seem to you at first glance, make it a rule to study the arguments of your opponents. Only such a comprehensive study can be considered sufficient for drawing up one's own concept of events.

Don't be ashamed of your ignorance. It is better to be a layman in a conversation and sincerely admit to the object that you do not understand certain problems than to be a layman in a public speech, to make unfortunate inaccuracies, for which both the journalist and the publication itself will be ashamed later.

Having prepared for an interview in the library, having read the sources available on a given problem, having exhausted Internet resources, the journalist must, however, make the object understand his level of competence. It should be understood that the higher the level of competence of a media worker, the more confidence he inspires in the interviewed subject, gives rise to a desire to cover the problem deeply and comprehensively. It is completely forbidden to go to an interview without prior preparation, without having studied the problems in detail. It is forbidden during the interview to use verbal formulas like: "Of course, I don't understand anything about this, but you tell me..."

However, having met with little-known or incomprehensible material, one should not be ashamed of one's ignorance or misunderstanding of it, but consistently and persistently seek clarifications and comments.

Argue with the object, be an actor, make him lay out more and more arguments in your favor.

If the object avoids answering a question that seems significant to you, repeat them several times in a different formulation and it will definitely open up somewhere. If sensational data is given, be sure to ask: "How do you know this?" So you will go to new sources of information and be able to check the testimony of the object.

Put only one question at a time, following the rules: one question - one answer. When you pose several questions at once, the subject begins to answer the last one and, finishing the answer, no longer remembers other questions, experiences psychological discomfort from the need to spend energy on recalling them. All questions, except for the last one, still have to be repeated again. So take your time.

Use the same words, expressions and intonation as your subject of the interview. By this you will gain his confidence and testify to him that you understand him well. On the other hand, it will be easier for him to talk to you. Do not use obscure terms, try to minimize the use of foreign words. Speak simply, in short sentences. The implementation of this rule consists in observing the important psychological basis of joining the interlocutor during a conversation, entering into his model of the world.

If you are collecting material for an article or essay, try to use other methods of collecting information, combine an interview with a reportage, take an interview at the scene, walk along it with the object, asking to show the location of the objects and characters of the event. This will make it possible to get not just a sum of facts, but to build a plot.

Listen silently, do not interrupt the interlocutor. Remember: you met to listen, not to talk too much. People, as a rule, do not even know how much they know, you have to lead them along the path of their memory. Approach the interlocutor like a jug full of information and try to empty it.

Don't be afraid to ask tough questions. There are no questions that confuse, there are only answers that confuse. Re-read your notes, quickly navigate the gaps that remain, and seek re-interviews if necessary.

At the end of the interview, be sure to ask what interesting things the interlocutor could tell readers outside the topic outlined by your questions. Often people have a lot of stories worthy of newspaper publication. So you will find more than one topic for future creativity.

Treat with dignity, feel like an official representative of your OMI. Make it a rule not only to thank for the interview, but also to bring the object a newspaper with material that appeared with his participation or help. People appreciate a good attitude towards them, will remember you and will continue to willingly agree to conversations in the future.

The text written as a result of the interview should be shown to the object before publication, asked to read it carefully, correct possible errors in numbers, names, facts, if any. Ask the object to approve your material. In modern editions, the calls are made by signing the object on the back of each sheet of the text of the interview.

However, there are differences in the views on this rule between domestic and foreign sources. A. S. Moskalenko referred the following situation to “acts restricting the right of citizens to freedom of expression”: “if a journalist, contrary to the request of the author of the material or the person in which he took the interview, does not agree with it the final text prepared for publication, or significant changes in the text without consent and publishes it "Consequently, even in domestic journalism, this rule does not apply categorically, but allows selectivity in application. It is applied at the request of the object.

Western methods generally do not require the journalist to agree with the object of the text of his material. "The task of the interview is to get more information than the interlocutor wants to provide," says the guide "Journalist's Guide", compiled according to the French method of training workers for the media. - It is better to avoid agreeing on the text of the interview with the one who gave it. agreement with its main message and feed key".

How to understand this contradiction? Its origins are in the different status of journalism at home and in the democratic countries of the West. Our legislation in the information sphere is so imperfect that a journalist always faces the threat of legal action even in the case of an innocent mistake, not to mention sharp critical material directed against a government or institution. In this case, of course, it is better to coordinate the publication with the source of information in advance. Needless to say, in this case, all critical assessments will be practically eliminated and there will not even be room for constructive proposals. After all, the authority of a newspaper directly depends on how consistently it is in opposition to the government, how much it criticizes the inaction or wrong actions of officials or state structures. Western journalism has already gone through a difficult path of struggle for freedom of speech, has won the right under the conditions of responsibility to recklessly criticize the authorities and officials, up to and including presidents. Therefore, in Western methods there are requirements that in our conditions seem unconstructive. In fact, they are not without meaning, and our journalism will eventually come closer to their introduction into practice.

Modern technology puts the journalist before the choice of recording the interview in a notebook or recording it on a dictaphone. Here it is impossible to give any unambiguous recommendations, all the more so to keep a Ukrainian journalist from the temptation to use a technical tool. But the following should be kept in mind:

First of all, transcribing an interview recorded on a dictaphone takes much more time than one recorded in a notebook. The voice recorder provides only a consistent playback of the conversation, while the notes in the notebook are covered by vision at the same time, this creates good opportunities for compositional rearrangements, grouping material into headings;

Secondly, The recorder provides for repeated use of a tape recorder. As a rule, recorded interviews are erased shortly after the publication of a journalistic work. This makes it impossible to return to previously published material, reuse it. But every experienced journalist knows that not all of the information obtained from an interview is then used in a journalistic work. Looking through old recordings, you can find more than one topic for a new performance. Working with a voice recorder, every time a journalist starts from scratch and does not leave anything in his archive from his work.

In favor of the tape-recorded interview, it will be impossible for the subject to retract his words, even if he wants to do so afterwards; film edit for document in case of complaint of inaccurate publication.

The best option for the technical support of the interview is a combination of notes in a notebook of the main theses and provisions with a recording of the full text of the conversation on a voice recorder. This will combine the advantages of each method and eliminate some of their disadvantages.

Let these considerations be taken into account by young journalists in their future professional activities.