"People's Daily Tells Stories Like This" Takes You - Approaching the "Collision of Ideas" Behind the Scenes of High-quality Reports

What do you think of as a People's Daily reporter?

Suits and shoes, generous at the press conference site? Holding a microphone and talking in front of the live camera? Or a cup of coffee, sitting at the table and tapping on the keyboard, a fountain of thought?

In fact, more often, they visit farmers on snowy nights, eat with poor families, and pick vegetables from each other; they receive revision instructions on the way back from the interview, and they temporarily revise the draft on the freezer of a small supermarket in the high-speed service area; they are not all literary springs, and sometimes a report has to be repeatedly polished and deliberated, and even torn down and restarted...

When you read the book "People's Daily Tells Stories Like This", you will know, "Originally, People's Daily reporters are like this!" - Not so "glamorous", not the imaginary pen "flowing clouds and flowing water", there are "small wretchedness" in response to emergencies, and there are also "small bitterness" that racks their brains to write a good report.

The people's daily publishing house launched the book "Telling Stories Like The People's Daily" in March this year, which includes 12 reports that won the people's daily fine award or the first prize of the good news award of the year, and distributed the creative notes of the reporters who participated in the collection and writing, which truly restored and presented the stories behind these high-quality reports. Take us closer to the different People's Daily reporters, but also let us understand the problems they encountered in the actual battle of reporting and writing, and the thoughts they gave.

For example, can the "old topics" that have been reported many times still shine?

For Luotuowan Village, Longquanguan Town, Fuping County, Hebei Province, various media have interviewed and reported on many occasions, covering industrial poverty alleviation, party building poverty alleviation, employment poverty alleviation, etc. "Poverty Alleviation Must Be Done Well - Revisiting Tang Zongxiu's Family in Luotuowan Village, Longquanguan Town, Fuping County, Hebei Province" (originally published in People's Daily, January 5, 2020) focuses on the poverty alleviation story and changes of the villagers Tang Zongxiu's family, telling how to better alleviate poverty and stimulate the endogenous motivation of the masses. The author wrote in the creative notes: "Poverty alleviation is not lazy, this is a level. What is more important is that after getting rid of poverty, we must do a better job, which 'jumps' out of another level. ”

In the puffin village of Hezhang County, Bijie City, in the mountains of Guizhou, the story about it has long been widely reported, how to explore the deep meaning and new meaning? "Poverty Alleviation and Puffins" (originally published in People's Daily, February 13, 2019) is not limited to depicting the nirvana of Puffin Village, but puts it into the great history of China's poverty alleviation and development to consider and examine: Why can a remote cottage in the depths of Wumeng Mountain alarm Zhongnanhai, establish a Bijie Pilot Zone with the theme of "development poverty alleviation and ecological construction", and open a long-term poverty alleviation and development experiment? Standing at the height of the central government, the report vividly shows that from the beginning of the curtain of large-scale poverty alleviation and development in the 1980s to the current national efforts to promote poverty alleviation, the original intention and mission of the Chinese Communists are in the same vein and consistent, presenting readers with the traces of a big country's path of poverty alleviation.

The old tree spring is more flowery, relying on enhancing the ideological nature of reporting, reflecting the reporter's in-depth study and profound grasp of the spirit of the central authorities, and being able to bear in mind the greatness of the country, to look at problems from the height of the central authorities, and to think about problems from the overall situation and the overall situation.

For another example, we often say that good news is out, and it depends on in-depth research and solid writing, but how to be in-depth?

In the book, an article writes about "China's first village for poverty alleviation" in Chixi Village, Ningde, Fujian Province, which has been moved down from the lofty mountains for more than 20 years, and the old road leading to the old village is full of barren grass, the mountain is steep and slippery, and few people have gone for many years. When writing the reports "Chixi Village on the Road to Poverty Alleviation" and "Poverty Alleviation In China's First Village" (originally published in People's Daily on February 1, 2016), Wang Yibiao, deputy editor-in-chief of People's Daily, who led the team to collect and write the report of this group, insisted on climbing his hands and feet to the scene despite the danger. He says in the book:

It was precisely because he was at the scene that he was able to write the passage that saw the newspaper manuscript: "In order to find out, the reporter, under the guidance and help of local villagers, almost climbed up the XiashanXi Village with his hands and feet and climbed on the cliffs. Standing on the extremely narrow homestead that was once a simple thatched house and now completely abandoned, there is only a silent sigh in my heart. 'Sweet potato bitter vegetables are the staple food, and a bowl of brine makes soup', Wang Shao, who wrote to this newspaper at that time, pointed to the remaining stove and recalled it with great emotion. ”

There are many such details in the book: the reporter stayed overnight on the banks of the Ussuri River in Heilongjiang to visit the Hezhe people, talked with the villagers at an altitude of 2300 meters in Guizhou Puffin Village until 12 o'clock in the evening, went straight to Luotuowan Village in the winter with the wind and snow, and had dinner with the family of the elderly Tang Zongxiu...

It is often said that news reports should be hot and have a temperature. Where does the temperature come from? The reporter's thinking in the book enlightens us: To conduct interviews and investigations at the grass-roots level, we must not only enter the threshold of the masses, but also enter the hearts of the masses; we must not only "enter the body", but also "enter the heart" and "enter the feelings".

For another example, can the theme report of the grand narrative be meaningful and at the same time be written interesting and better?

As a major theme report celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the article "Seventy Years of Inner Mongolia Horse Galloping" (originally published in People's Daily, July 13, 2017) leads the whole article with a set of imposing rankings - "This horse, chasing electricity with the wind", "This horse, a horse taking the lead", "This horse, hooves are moving steadily", "This horse, bravely moving forward", "This horse, loyal to the liver and courage", respectively, describes the achievements of Inner Mongolia in the past 70 years in terms of politics, economy, ecology, and ethnic unity. "Deep intentions, expressing newness" made many readers remember that "the headline of the People's Daily wrote such a horse." ”

How did such an article structure come about after many discussions and revisions? For the first time, the author reveals his heart in his handwriting, detailing the source of inspiration.

"The article is natural, and the clever hand is even obtained." Such questionable discussions of the editorial business in the book abound, and they all point to the answer to the same question - what is a work with thought, temperature, and quality? How to write more thoughtful, warm and quality works?

The 12 (group) reports included in the whole book are the testimonies of the People's Daily reporters' answers and quests on this issue. The 12 creative notes show the process of thinking and the collision of ideas from different angles and perspectives.

Such a "thinking process" is rich in detail and fascinating. For example, if a reporter arrives in Daqing, Heilongjiang at 2 a.m., why does he have to rush to meet an interviewee at 7 a.m.? Can't I change someone? What is the focus on the screening and determination of interviewees? For example, why do as many as 18 characters "appear" in a long report of more than 7,000 words, and how to organize the writing so that the report is clearly layered and deep? For example, why are some interviewees who "have stories" reluctant to tell more? How should we help them untie the knots in the interview and dig out the tension story? For another example, why does the People's Daily dare to put forward the term "model autonomous region" in a major theme report celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, which has not been used in major occasions for many years? Where does the journalist's confidence come from?

Such "collision of ideas" includes case analysis around specific works and abstract summaries that jump out of news reports, and People's Daily reporters appear to speak and refine their valuable experience after being beaten and tempered by actual combat: "Write a sense of depth, write out the wind and clouds", "News is to talk about 'problems'", "News must be able to see 'people'", "Collective interviews must also have exclusive news, exclusive angles, exclusive details"...

With these "thinking processes" and "collisions of ideas", it will naturally be imprinted with moss and waiting for you to decompose in the book. (Sun Zhen)