Faculty of Philology and Journalism
Department of Journalism Theory
METHODOLOGICAL MANUAL ON DISCIPLINE:
JOURNALISM TECHNIQUES
General characteristics
In accordance with the curriculum of the journalism department, the course “Techniques of Journalistic Work” is included in the block of general professional disciplines and is studied in the first semester. 12 hours of lectures and 24 hours of laboratory classes are allocated for its classroom study).
The purpose of the course is to introduce students to the field of journalism, to give an idea of the place and role of reporting work as a special type of journalistic activity, to teach the techniques of reporting work, and to instill reporting skills.
The course “Techniques of Journalistic Work” is a technological basis for studying journalistic genres. It gives students an idea of the ways, methods, and system of work of a journalist in collecting, processing and transmitting information through media channels. Concepts such as “journalistic information, its types,” “methods of collecting and verifying information,” “sources of information and their classification” should be learned by students during a theoretical course and practiced in laboratory classes.
The course ends with a test at the end of the first semester, for which the student is allowed to pass on condition that he completes all types of practical work and assignments provided for in the course plan.
Reporting work is associated with the most important task of the press - to quickly cover all the most significant processes of social life, manifested in facts and events.
Every journalist must have reporting skills. Therefore, in order to successfully master the techniques of reporting, students must acquire knowledge on the following problems: journalistic information and its types, sources of information, forms and methods of cognition of reality by a reporter, principles and stages of cognition of a reporter’s work.
Thesis outline of lectures
The concept of journalistic information
The goal of any information activity is to move from a state of high initial entropy to a state of minimal entropy. Information, eliminating uncertainty, helps a person form his own model of the external world, helps to make the right decisions and navigate the processes and patterns of the surrounding reality.
Information has certain properties.
The first is the ability of information to be valuable and useless. The most important value of information is its novelty. But we must take into account that any new, previously unknown information necessarily has objective value, but is not always valuable for each individual person or group of persons. Therefore, we must always remember about the subjective value of information, which depends on people’s needs. The second property of information is its redundancy. Absolutely new information would require constant tension, a person would quickly get tired. Therefore, journalists often make explanations of terms, so the same news is broadcast with a given frequency.
In information theory, there are two levels of information - potential and real information. All journalistic information functioning in society, that is, social information, is potential information. Real information is the relationship between a message and its consumer: only by connecting with the consumer (listener, reader, viewer, etc.) does information become real.
Requirements for journalistic information.
Originality, not banality of information.
Availability or decodability of a message.
Relevance or appropriateness of the message.
Types of journalistic information:
Event information is facts, events published without comment.
Interpretive information is the analysis, commentary, conclusions and generalizations contained in publications.
Basic information is particularly important documentary, theoretical information of a state, moral, legal, religious and other generally significant nature.
Reporting work in the system of journalistic activity
The modern differentiation of journalistic work is a number of professional specializations: reporter, analyst, publicist. Reporters prioritize the qualities of mobility and efficiency, which ensure success in the harsh rhythm of information gathering.
News journalism is a set of genres focused on reporting current event information.
The subject of news journalism is the moment of change in reality.
News journalism is based on fact.
A fact is a real, non-fictional incident, an event of an isolated nature. This is not what happened, happens, but what happened in a certain case, what happened today, yesterday, in a specific place.
It has an internal dramaturgy - beginning, development, completion, that is, dynamics.
News materials can be divided into three categories: calendar, hot and organized.
Calendar ones are associated with the anniversaries of certain events, with what must certainly happen. This is advanced information. Hot news reports about dramatic events in the country and abroad - major disasters, natural disasters, unpredictable actions of people or an unexpected combination of circumstances. Organized news is an artificial attraction of attention to an event, an artificial sensation.
Can any fact of everyday reality be suitable for publication? What is news and how to determine the value of news?
A fact that significantly changes the situation is news.
The news should be:
Previously unknown
Close to the audience
Unusual
Personalized
Arouse general interest
The reporter’s task is to collect facts about the event and present it according to the classical scheme, answering the main questions WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN and HOW, and further explanation with answers to the question WHY is the task of the commentator.
3. Sources of information
The ability to obtain primary live information and exclusive information is one of the indicators of a journalist’s high professionalism.
The society has developed an extensive network of informing journalists about ongoing planned events, which includes:
briefings
presentations
press conferences
press releases
news agency reports.
The main source of information for obtaining unplanned information is a fragment of reality.
There are three types of information sources - document, person and material environment. Written sources are based on the principle of openness and freedom of information, which allow one to get acquainted with documents classified as publicly accessible (official papers, letters, reports, protocols, acts, orders, etc.). A person can always explain the contents of a document, comment on them, tell the background of an event, give advice, etc. Sometimes the environment that surrounds a person (objects and things) can tell more about him than he himself.
Oral sources of information are people who do not always agree with their names being included in publications. In this regard, they may be
open
anonymous
"off-the-record" sources.
There are several proven ways to check factual information:
ask the source again and, based on the text, double-check numbers, facts, names, and other important details, pronounce important statements clearly.
compare information with video, audio recordings, text documents
ask additional witnesses and eyewitnesses
have the text read by an editorial lawyer.
Observation as a method of collecting information
Observation allows a journalist to obtain information directly from current reality - primary information. What information can a journalist obtain through observation? Firstly, this is data that expresses the essence of what is happening through the external side, on the basis of which one can draw conclusions about the meaning of events, about the relationships of people, about the level of their general culture or traditions, habits - about everything that can be read by the eye. Secondly, data conveying the external characteristics of a particular object. They appear in the text as a description of the signs of a real situation, which create for the reader a “presence effect” - these are details of the appearance of the characters, their speech, gestures, objects of the environment in which the events take place.
The advantages of the method include specificity and singularity. The observation method is the most operational method in journalism, and this explains its importance. It allows you to reflect reality at the moment of its development. But a journalist perceives the world around him on the basis of his past intellectual and emotional experience, on the basis of established logical concepts. The richer this experience, the more complete and reliable the observation results. Consequently, the observation method has a subjective perception and introduces a subjective element into the objective picture of the world.
Observation in journalism has a number of modifications. First of all, observation can be prepared or unprepared.
Prepared observation involves familiarizing the journalist with the necessary literature, archival materials, and other information about the object. The journalist knows what he has to observe, who will participate in the events, what their sequence is, etc.
Unprepared observation is based on the unpredictability, randomness, and suddenness of what is happening. A journalist works with an object without knowing anything about it in advance.
There is one-time and long-term observation.
A one-time observation is sufficient when writing short notes. One-time observation is used in news journalism, as it is associated with a strict professional necessity - efficiency.
Long-term observation in journalism is close to scientific. It is carried out according to a clearly planned program, in accordance with the set goal, the results are recorded and compared. Long-term observation has powerful advantages - it reflects the subject in development, in a highly reliable and analytical way.
Observations can be direct and indirect, open and hidden. Direct observation is carried out when the journalist has direct contact with the object. Indirect observation is needed when the object of observation is remote in time and space and direct observation is impossible.
Open observation is appropriate only when preparing positive material. Open observation forces the characters in the material to adjust their behavior, manner, style of work, etc., that is, some psychological interference arises. Therefore, a journalist needs time to “accustom” those around him to his presence.
Covert observation is a type in which a journalist examines a subject without notifying about the fact of observation, studies the behavior of people in their usual conditions, records existing relationships in a team, etc.
Covert surveillance is used both in situations where the journalist is a third-party witness to the situation, and in those when he is a participant. In the 1st case - non-involved observation, in the 2nd - included.
Participant observation is carried out by a journalist when he comes to any team or social group as a full participant in the process and social relations in this group. A look from the inside allows you to record not only external manifestations, but also the motivating reasons and motives of people’s behavior.
Particularly distinguished from a number of types of observation is experiment. This is a prepared observation that has a certain new quality. The essence of the experiment is that the journalist artificially creates circumstances in which the phenomenon appears more clearly and accurately. This ensures the utmost reliability of the information.
Interview as a method of collecting information.
Preparing and conducting interviews
The most common type of information source is a person. Firstly, a person is often a witness or participant in ongoing events, secondly, he is a carrier of information about himself and his subjective world, and thirdly, he is a transmitter of information received from others.
Using interviews, you can obtain a wide range of data, forming several segments, namely:
Factual data
Explanations
Assumptions and forecasts
Speech signs of the interlocutor that convey the characteristics of his personality.
The success or failure of the job is related to the quality of the interviewer’s preparation: study of the topic, understanding of the goal, thoughtfulness of the action plan, and ingenuity in composing questions.
Questions are divided into basic and additional. The main ones are prepared in advance, as they must bring basic information. But often they do not work, because there are a number of psychological and social barriers that do not allow the establishment of friendly contact between interlocutors. And here additional questions that were not predicted come to the rescue. They are asked at a time when the main one does not work or when a twist in the topic unexpectedly occurs.
Classification of questions by form:
Open. Open questions name a topic or subject, and then the interlocutor is free to structure the answers at his own discretion. Closed ones are often used in sociology for mass surveys. In closed questions, possible answers are contained in the question itself, and the respondent must choose the position that corresponds to his opinion.
Direct and indirect. It is advisable to ask indirect questions when the topic is of a “sensitive” nature, associated with an opinion that runs counter to moral or ethical standards in a particular social group. Therefore, the question must be structured in such a way that it frees the interlocutor from the categorical nature of the statement.
Personal and impersonal. Personal question forms elicit a more individual opinion. The impersonal form gives an answer not about one’s own point of view, but about the opinions of others; it reveals not the personality of the interlocutor, but his idea of what objective reality requires.
There are some rules that must be followed when questioning any sources of information.
The reporter must be well versed in the subject of the conversation.
When preparing for an interview, keep the task in mind. If you need to get facts, specific data, figure out numbers for a note, report, article, etc., each question should be constructed with this in mind.
Each question should consider only one aspect. By asking two questions in one, you allow the interview subject to “evade” one of the answers, giving him the opportunity to answer only the one that seems most understandable, simple or convenient to him.
The question should be asked in interrogative form, not affirmative.
Strive to ask open-ended questions. They will help you avoid monosyllabic answers: “yes” or “no.”
Questions should be neutral.
The questions should be simple.
Listen to the answers.
Documentary method of collecting information
The skill of a journalist is associated with the ability to use reliable sources of information. The provider of such information is a way of studying reality using a document.
A document in journalism is any object created for the purpose of recording information expressed in any sign system. A document can be a letter, audio or video tape, photograph, drawing, resolution, article from a magazine...
Studying documents is a method that allows you to obtain information of a very different nature - from fundamental principles of science to diary confessions that give an idea of their author. Documents are used to verify information obtained during interviews or observations. It becomes an argument and evidence when a journalist needs to prove his case in court. Reliance on documents makes the publication sound and protected. A professional journalist uses every opportunity to provide himself with copies of the documents with which he has to work.
You need to imagine what type of documents came into your hands. In journalism, the following classification of documents is accepted:
According to the method of recording information: handwritten, printed documents, film and photographic films, magnetic and digital records.
By document status: official and unofficial
According to the degree of proximity to empirical material: primary and secondary
According to the method of obtaining the document: according to the established template and targeted.
Depending on the nature of the document and the goal of the journalist, the choice of analysis methods occurs. These can be general methods (comparison, comprehension) or special ones (psychological, sociological, forensic).
There are various ways to verify documents. Traditionally, they are divided into external and internal assessment.
Establishing the authenticity of a document. The external features of the document are considered - its form, language, style, dating. The rules that apply in forensic science are also suitable for journalism:
are there any errors in the document;
whether the institution or person on whose behalf the document was drawn up is competent to certify the information contained in it;
whether such an institution exists, whether it has been reorganized or what it was previously called at the time the document was drawn up;
does the content of the document correspond to its form;
whether the spacing between text and captions is unusual;
if the document is multi-page, are all pages numbered, is the paper the same, its quality and color.
Is the stamp or seal clearly visible?
Establishing the reliability, reliability, truth of the information contained in the document. Here it is appropriate to find out: what information was used by the author of the document, and whether the names of officials were distorted.
It is advisable to establish the date the document appeared and its number.
In addition, it is necessary to distinguish in the document from assessments, since assessments are a subjective thing and the author could be interested in his own interpretation or in silence.
Establishing the truth of information is helped by cross-checking a document using the entire available range of documents on a given issue, and their comparative analysis.
When making extracts from a document, a professional journalist always:
Fixes the exact name of the document, its author, date and place of publication;
Encloses extracted text fragments in quotation marks and indicates pages;
Marks with special signs his own thoughts and assessments that arose during reading;
Upon completion of the work, he specifically checks all quotes, titles, numbers, surnames, first names and other information.
Topics and tasks of laboratory work
journalistic information reporter interview
Methods for recording and accumulating information for future information messages.
Business game “From fact to rumor.”
Techniques and methods for obtaining primary information (work on site) and recording it.
Gathering operational information outside the classroom.
Ethical standards of conduct for a reporter in communicating with people.
Methods of checking and double-checking information, records and facts; collection of additional information when preparing the text of the information message.
The choice of the genre of speech in connection with the nature of the event.
Holding a press conference in the audience on a specific topic.
Organization and organization of reporting services in newspapers of various types.
Solving the creative problems of a reporter.
Description as a way of recording information.
Questions for testing
The concept of journalistic information
Types of journalistic information
Requirements for journalistic information
Specifics of reporting work
Fact and requirements for news
Main types of information sources
Observation as a method of collecting information
Types of surveillance
Interview as a method of collecting information
Interview rules
Classification of questions
Documentary method of collecting information
Classification of documents
Establishing the authenticity and reliability of a document
Experiment as a method of collecting information
Control test
What type of information does the statement of the President of Russia refer to:
event-based
interpretative
basic
All information circulating in society is:
real information
potential information
A message about the upcoming anniversary of something can be categorized as:
hot news
calendar
organized
What are the priority qualities of a reporter:
personal charm
efficiency
Short meetings at which journalists become familiar with the position of the meeting organizers on a particular issue are:
presentations
briefings
What information gathering method will you use when describing the opening of an art exhibition?
interview
observation
Observation as a method of cognitive activity. Features of journalistic observation. Types of observation. Random observation and its role in journalistic creativity. "Grandma's Attic" by a journalist. Targeted observation and its varieties: local; disposable and multiple; open and hidden. Participant observation – method of “change of profession” – method of “mask”. Legal and ethical limits of using the method.
Randall D. Versatile journalist. – M., 1996.
Shumilina T.V. Methods of collecting information in journalism. – M., 1993.
Method observations is based on personal knowledge of reality through its sensory perception. Journalistic observation purposefully, consistently, systematically. Thus, it differs from ordinary observation, which is spontaneous in nature. Unlike document elaboration, observation allows a journalist to obtain information directly from current reality - primary information.
The volume of what is observed is so large that it is extremely difficult to record the data with the necessary completeness, and this gives rise to technical difficulties. Hence the inevitability of additional burden on a journalist when verification observation data. The fact is that, due to various physical and psychological reasons, there is a danger during observation illusions of perception– inadequate reflection of the observed object. It is also possible interpretation errors associated with the selectivity of our perception.
A special variation of this method is introspection. Here the journalist’s attention is focused on his own behavior, on the external and internal factors that determine it, which opens up access to information about non-obvious, hidden processes characteristic of a particular situation. But even in this case, it is impossible to do without verification, without correlating the results of self-observation with information obtained by other methods, from other sources.
Types of observation.
I. Unintentional- proceeds on its own, has no specific purpose. The objects of observation themselves become the reason for this observation.
II. Targeted- undertaken according to a plan drawn up in advance, there is a predetermined goal. This method is used when they know exactly what the material will be dedicated to and to whom it is addressed:
1) local- tied to a specific location (the information that the observer intends to collect in a specific area should be sufficient for convincing conclusions);
2) disposable(a journalist deals with processes occurring in a short period of time; used in reports, sketches, essays) and multiple (gives the greatest efficiency when working on correspondence, articles);
3) open And hidden(the journalist does not introduce himself; it is used when the journalist is sure that reliable information cannot be obtained through open methods);
4) included(the participation of the journalist in the situation) and not included (the journalist is outside the situation and does not come into contact with the participants in the event).
Enabled covert surveillance – mask method or changing profession is a fairly common method. This method was used by M. Koltsov, who is the editor and publisher of Ogonyok; Rubinov, who successfully conducted a postal experiment (labeled atoms).
Legal and ethical limits of using the method.
Article 47 of the Law “On the Mass Media” provides journalists with rights search, request, receive and distribute information, gain access to documents and materials, with the exception of their fragments containing information constituting state, commercial or other secrets protected by law; copy, publish, disclose or otherwise reproduce documents and materials (with respect to copyright); keep records, including using audio-video equipment, filming and photography, except for cases provided for by law; verify the accuracy of the information provided to him; express his personal judgments and assessments in messages and materials intended for distribution under his signature.
But along with rights, a journalist also has responsibilities, they are listed in Article 49 of the Law “On the Mass Media”: 1) information is established that should be classified as a state secret (Articles 5, 6, 7 of the Law “On State Secrets”); 2) according to the Law “On Information, Informatization and Protection of Information” (Article 11), the collection, storage, use and dissemination of confidential information that reveals private life, personal, family secrets, secrets of correspondence, telephone conversations, telegraph and other messages is not allowed an individual without his consent; 3) a number of articles of the Criminal Code, by their very names, reveal the focus on the information security of the individual: violation of privacy; violation of the confidentiality of correspondence, telephone conversations, postal, telegraph or other messages; violation of inventive and patent rights, disclosure of the secret of adoption [Articles 137, 138, 147, 155].
A “change of profession” is possible only in cases where the reporter is confident that his unprofessional or unqualified actions will not cause physical or moral harm to people. Media employees are prohibited from introducing themselves as doctors, lawyers, judges, government officials, etc. Such prohibitions are provided for both by the relevant norms of journalistic ethics and by certain articles of legislation.
Studying documents as a method of collecting information in journalism.
Document concept. Document and source. Classification of documents as the first stage of their analysis. The problem of authenticity, reliability and reliability of documents. Use of a document in journalistic material.
Lazutina G.V. Fundamentals of creative activity of a journalist. – M., 2000.
Lozovsky B.N. Methodology for collecting information // Fundamentals of creative activity of a journalist. – St. Petersburg, 2000.
Tertychny A.A. Analytical journalism: cognitive-psychological approach. – M., 1998.
Shumilina T.V. Methods of collecting information in journalism. – M., 1983.
Concept "document" used today in two senses - broad and narrow. According to the broad definition, a document is a material recording medium (paper, film and photographic film, magnetic recording, punched card, etc.) with information recorded on it for its transmission in time and space. Documents may contain written and printed texts, images, sounds. A document in the narrow sense is a business paper that legally confirms a fact or right to something.
When talking about the meaning of a document for journalism, they often mean the narrow meaning. Meanwhile, both meanings of the word are relevant for her: “business paper” is only one of many types of documentary sources of information that fall into the sphere of journalistic attention in accordance with the purpose of the activity.
Document processing- a method by which a journalist obtains information already available in society, stored in various “information storehouses”. They can be of very different properties: from laws and decisions of power structures, from fundamental principles of science to characteristics and descriptions of places, people, events.
Classification of documents as the first stage of their analysis.
1) By the method of recording information: handwritten, printed, film, magnetic tape.
3) By status: official, unofficial.
4) By method of production: naturally functioning; targeted (created upon request).
5) According to the degree of proximity to the recorded material: primary (direct reflection of reality); secondary (based on existing documents).
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St. Petersburg State Engineering and Economics University
Report on the theory and practice of public relations:
“Methods of collecting information in journalism
And PR -communications"
Female students1st year Faculty of Humanities
Groups 6031
Lavrova Maria
Teacher: Evseev A.Yu.
2004
In general, not only journalism and PR communications deal with obtaining, searching, and collecting information, but also many other professions - scientist, investigator, intelligence officer, psychologist, doctor, etc. In fact, any area of activity where the key factor is whether the information regarding an object, process or phenomenon is accurate, faces the problem of how to obtain and evaluate this information, with a set of methods for implementing this task.
The basis of any journalistic work (text) is information, that is, information about actually occurring processes and phenomena. A judgment not based on information can lead to unpredictable consequences, including complete rejection or the opposite of the expected reaction. Therefore, searching, structuring and correct evaluation of information is a key stage in the construction of any journalistic and PR material. The more confidence in the accuracy of the information received, the more likely the journalist or PR-man will achieve his goal. The selection of facts requires a thorough study of heterogeneous information, their comparison and evaluation, structuring according to the degree of relevance, according to the degree of influence of social or other significance. At the same time, excessively redundant information and its lack should be avoided.
The sciences of the humanities, and journalism and PR are among them, largely proceed from conjectural information, which is difficult, and sometimes impossible, to unambiguously interpret or confirm. Therefore, there are both exact data and hypotheses that are in the nature of the most probable assumption.
In journalism and PR, the methodological basis of the process of collecting and information creatively compiles all the variety of methods from various disciplines. A journalist or PR worker in this context brings together such disparate factors as his own experience, personal qualities inherent in him due to personality characteristics, standard technologies of information activity and generally accepted principles and professional norms.
At the same time, the collection of information for a professional is not formal in nature, but turns into an element of primary creative activity, which largely determines all subsequent stages of his work. The role of intuition, which suggests which fact should be found and recorded, how to find this fact and where its use in the future will bring maximum benefit, is no less important than the complex of professional skills to obtain it.
The more accurately a journalist or PR worker imagines exactly what facts are needed for his material, the more prepared he is for the preliminary collection of information, the more effective this process is.
It is quite obvious that the initial stage of searching for information on a specific task is the initial and most complete preliminary familiarization with the problem under the given conditions. Experienced journalists not only do not neglect the opportunity to understand the essence of the problem, to become familiar with all its aspects before starting practical work - be it writing a short note or preparing serious analytical material, but, on the contrary, they seek out every opportunity for this.
While studying the literature, I discovered that methods of collecting information are so diverse and invariant, depending on the context to such an extent, that even an approximate, cursory description of them would take up a huge amount of text. Journalism and PR have their own specific professional methodological features, but in a general sense, grouping them according to key characteristics - although such a classification is to a certain extent arbitrary - they can be divided into three groups:
Communication methods.
Non-communicative (documentary and physical).
Analytical.
Communication methods
Communicative methods of obtaining information include all types of interpersonal and technical communication that are available in the work of a journalist or PR-mena. Of course, this is, first of all, conversation, interview and survey.
To a certain extent, communication methods include correspondence via postal information channels, and specific computer communications methods, such as teleconferences, electronic correspondence, etc.
Conversation, As a rule, it is a preparatory stage before using other more precise communication methods, necessary in order to understand the emotional background of the situation, understand the characteristics of the opponent’s personality, and understand the situation as a whole.
The main communicative means of obtaining information in practical journalism is interview(full-time or correspondence interview), as a result of which the journalist realizes certain goals to obtain certain information. It in turn is divided into formalized and informal. Formalized interviewing is characterized by a fairly large amount of time or period between the collection of information and its publication. As a result of this, many cataclysms occur: the choice of words or phrases from the context, editing of material, custom-made material. And informal interviewing is characterized by a lack of time between collection and publication. This method is typical for live broadcasting; as a result of this option, we receive publicity, since this process is unpredictable and uncontrollable. As a rule, this method is characteristic of radio and television.
The surveys also highlight focus groups - a method of collecting information that allows you to evaluate the effectiveness of communication at any stage, from the emergence of an idea to a specific PR product. In practice, this method consists of conducting a collective interview in the form of a group discussion during which subjective information is collected from participants on identifying problems.
Non-communicative methods (documentary and physical)
It is extremely important in the work of a journalist to use all available information arrays to obtain information. It should be noted here that familiarity with the printed and other press, primary documents related to the event (books, diaries, letters, notes, business correspondence, orders and instructions, other kinds of documents, etc.) gives the journalist a huge information array, on which he can rely on in his work on the material. Another very effective method is the methods of obtaining information through the use of various surveillance tools. However, observation (monitoring), as a non-communicative method, even without the use of special devices, often provides invaluable information, since in this case the journalist himself can become an eyewitness to the event, observe the situation, etc. For PR, monitoring means conducting media analysis, writing style, and manner of presenting material. It is important to have a sufficient picture of the work of the media, its scope of activity, the point of view of the editor-in-chief, who is behind the newspaper, i.e. its founders. It is also important to identify the media rating; as a result, we determine which target audience the information is intended for.
Technical means are also extremely diverse - their arsenal is constantly updated as technology develops. These include optical instruments, devices for recording audio-video information, various types of recorders, etc.
An experiment that simulates or reproduces certain events can also be of great benefit, but the degree of its applicability is not too high to dwell on it in more detail. Suffice it to say that due to the transience and uniqueness of some events, they can often be made visible only with the help of a reconstruction experiment. It is this principle that underlies the realty genre, which is an extremely popular genre of artistic journalism these days (“Rescue Phone 911”, “First City Clinic”, etc.). In the program “Gorodok”, many newspapers use a practical joke experiment to obtain information about a person’s reaction under certain given conditions. For PR, this method is convenient because it minimizes costs and it is possible to find out about the reaction of the audience or target audience.
Analytical methods
First of all, the analytical methods of obtaining information characteristic of science are extremely effective in those circumstances in which, for various reasons, it is difficult or impossible to obtain comprehensive data using the other methods we have considered. A journalist has to deal with situations when an event does not have eyewitnesses who can reconstruct its circumstances, when an object or subject is of a specific nature and cannot be defined unambiguously, when there are too many conflicting opinions regarding the event. These are the majority of disasters, anomalous phenomena, events in the world of science, crimes, emergencies and historical events that, for one reason or another, become socially significant and relevant. In these cases, obtaining information directly is unlikely, complicated by various circumstances, and sometimes simply impossible. On the contrary, there is too much indirect, unconfirmed data, guesses and conjectures. Analytical methods of science are extremely diverse, and it is quite difficult to list them all. Let's give just a brief classification:
System analysis (that is, building a system with a certain relationship of elements, their hierarchy, determining the main functions, system-forming, system-destroying and system-neutral factors, etc.). Here we are talking mainly about the precise systematization of data according to various criteria (chronology, theme, significance, etc.)
Comparative analysis (comparative methods), in which an event, phenomenon or object is compared with a similar one (just remember how television news “frames” various types of disasters and crises, talking about similar phenomena, drawing voluntary or involuntary parallels).
Deductive and inductive methods, that is, the construction of judgments in the first case from the general picture to the particular details, in the second - on the contrary, from the particular to the more general.
Modeling (computer, logical, mathematical, etc.) in which some properties of the object are transferred to the model being studied.
In PR, one can especially highlight the analysis of documents, including with the help of the media and the Internet. For ease of study, the following forms are used: clipping, monitoring, transcription of electronic media. To determine the quality of text information, the method of content analysis is used - translating mass text information into quantitative indicators with subsequent statistical processing.
In any case, the choice of a specific method(s) for obtaining information largely depends on the individual characteristics of the journalist or PR worker, his experience, intuition and professionalism.
Tags: Methods of collecting information in journalism and PR communications Other Finance, money, credit
1. Observation. Based on personal knowledge of reality through sensory perception. N. is a rather complex action, predetermined both by the characteristics of the observed object and by the personal qualities, professional skills, and experience of the observer. Several types of journalistic observation:
1. Depending on the degree of direct contact of the observer with the observed object - direct (explicit contact) or indirect (mediated contact, using indirect data). 2. By time, by the amount of time spent on short-term and long-term. 3. Based on whether the observer has declared or not declared his role - open and hidden. 4. According to the degree of participation of the observer in the event, into included (the observer penetrates into the organization and sees everything that happens from the inside) and non-involved (study from the outside).
2. Interview and conversation are the most common methods of collecting information. There are 3 types of contacts: written (resume, project), oral (telephone conversation) and audiovisual (personal meeting, direct contact, exchange of business cards).
3. Processing of documents. A document is most often a written certificate of a person. But several types of documents are distinguished for different reasons: 1. By the type of recording of information (handwritten, printed, photo, film, and magnetic films, gramophone records, laser discs, etc.) d.). 2. By type of authorship - official and personal. Z. By proximity to the display object - initial and derivative. 4. By authenticity - originals and copies. 5. By purpose for printing - intentionally and unintentionally created.
Another typology of documents: state-administrative, industrial-administrative, social-political, scientific, normative-technical, reference-information, artistic, everyday documents: personal letters, notes, film and photography, diaries, etc.
When analyzing documents, it is necessary to: 1. Distinguish between descriptions of events and their interpretation (facts and opinions). 2. Determine what sources of information the author of the document used, whether it was primary or secondary. 3. Reveal the intentions that guided the author of the document, giving it life. 4. Compare, if possible, the contents of the documents under investigation with information obtained on the issue under investigation from other sources. 5.Use the chronological principle of considering facts.
Selection of information received. The significance of information is determined by its factual richness, as well as the reliability of its content. Errors: 1. Reckless trust in documents in the publication of which someone was very interested, trust in documents that do not have exact authorship or imprint. 2. Usually such materials contain compromising information against certain institutions or individual figures.
4. Experiment or provocation. The observer creates a situation that did not exist before, but an artificial one, and only then studies it using the method of observation. That is, a method of identifying the state of an object of reality by its reaction to an experimental factor (economic, legal, psychological, laboratory)
5. Criminological investigative methods. Use of technical means.
None of the methods is exhaustive; it is necessary to combine them (the so-called “complementarity principle”)
