Liu Wanyong: Good reports are like high-speed railways, short speeds and fast | preach

On November 4th, Liu Wanyong, deputy director of the Special Reporting Department of China Youth Daily, was invited to give a lecture at the "In-depth Reporting" class of the School of Journalism and Communication of Tsinghua University, sharing with everyone the skills of in-depth report collection and editing. He used three metaphors to describe good in-depth reporting or editorial journalists: chopping stuffing, high-speed rail, and judges. In the story and paragraph, hedgehog commune takes you closer to in-depth reporting~

(Image from the Internet)

By Zhao Huixin finishing

Before the lecture, Liu Wanyong shared a small story of the night shift: after the night shift editor "painstakingly" arranged the layout, he faced the end of a full page of the manuscript being killed. According to the procedure, the editorial work is settled before 1:40 a.m., when in fact, the manuscript may not be sent to the editor until 2 a.m. Brewing a cup of tea before 12 o'clock in the evening and waiting leisurely, and starting to work intensely after receiving the manuscript at 12 o'clock, this is the norm for night shift editors.

Liu Wanyong encouraged students who are interested in news and text work to experience the night shift department: "In the process of night shift work, you can see what the reporter's original manuscript looks like, compare the version before and after the manuscript edit, you can know where it is good and what is bad, and apply it to the judgment of your own manuscript." ”

1The focus is different for different types of reports

When mentioning the term "in-depth reporting", Liu Wanyong added the word "self-proclaimed" in front of it, and in his opinion, it is difficult to determine whether the "depth" and "breadth" of the report are deep and whether the "breadth" is wide.

Liu Wanyong introduced that in-depth reports are divided into on-site reports, interpretive reports, investigative reports, etc. A good editor and journalist always has a sensitive tentacle and can quickly discover problems and flaws in the story. How to write a manuscript and how to edit the organization depends on both intelligence and experience.

(1) Good reporting must have a beginning and a story

Liu Wanyong believes that reports on hot issues can be divided into events and static clues, and different types of reports require different points of attention.

For the reporting of events, the main focus should be on whether there is a story behind this event, and it is worth digging deeper.

For example, he said, if there is a major traffic accident on the highway, if it is just a simple emergency, the topic will be abandoned in many cases. However, if there are many major traffic accidents on a road, the reasons behind it are worth investigating: how the road is quality, whether there are problems in the design, etc. "If the surface of the event is 1, can you find the 5, 6, 7 behind it?" If there is a story behind the event, it will be a good reporting thread. ”

As for static lead reporting, the main concern is whether there are new changes in the event. Non-contingencies need to have an appropriate lead. Sometimes, you need to wait for the beginning, and after there are some new developments in the event, the content that has been written before is more valuable.

For example, Liu Wanyong said that after the bursting of the economic bubble in Ordos, a large number of new cities have become "ghost cities", and for this well-known event, whether it has changed after three years of the financial crisis is what everyone is concerned about. How people face illegal fund-raising and how to continue to live through "barter" is what people want to understand.

(2) Find a good second foothold when the information blows out

In Liu Wanyong's view, news is different from old news, and "new" is the foundation on which news is based.

However, it is not easy to be "new". In the Internet era, it is difficult for print media to grab the first foothold. Many things were first exploded on the Internet. And when the report is implemented in the newspaper and seen by the reader, it is already the second foothold or further.

In the face of the second foothold, "how should we do it" is a realistic and important question. In the Asiana Airlines crash, most of the media noticed a girl in the Zhejiang study tour group who was killed when she was crushed by a fire truck. There are many air crashes, and plane crashes often take a year or more to find the cause, so the stories behind the victims are more excavated.

In a period of time, a large amount of information may appear in a spurt, and what kind of topic to choose is an important test for journalists.

(3) Knowledge reserves and rear resources cannot be ignored

He also stressed that in the process of reporting, knowledge reserves and rear resources cannot be ignored. Editors tend to have prejudgments when assigning tasks, and will assign different tasks according to the characteristics and knowledge reserves of journalists. The strong knowledge reserve can help reporters cope with various unexpected situations and complete interviews more smoothly.

As for the rear resources, when the reporter is constantly running around the scene, the rear editor needs to inform the front reporter of the relevant background information in a timely manner. Liu Wanyong took the report "Song Jiangming's Blood Test for Job Hunting" as an example, saying that due to the interviewee's own tossing and turning, the interview location is also between Chengdu, Changzhi, Taiyuan and other places, for reporters from different journalist stations, the sharing of rear resources can well avoid the repetition of interview content, and can maintain the continuity of the series of reports.

At the same time, Liu Wanyong also mentioned the issue of journalistic ethics during the interview in the Report of Malaysia Airlines, the reporter will be angrily scolded for the "long gun and short cannon" type of questioning of the impatient family, and how to make people who are unwilling to speak has become a problem in many reporters' interviews. In Liu Wanyong's view, it is a good way to integrate into the parties involved, experience and mingle with them.

2 Good reports have to jump in and out

A good manuscript needs to have details, conflicts, breadth, and depth, and it is not an easy task. Liu Wanyong believes that when writing and editing, you must know how to jump in and know how to jump out.

Jumping in is to check whether there are problems with the grammar, whether the details are clear, etc.; jumping out is to examine the whole text from a higher perspective, to see whether there are logical contradictions between sentences, paragraphs and the whole article. This is an important indicator to test the ability of editors.

He reminded that when reviewing reports, it is necessary to guard against various pitfalls: 1. whether the plot and the details of the expression deviate; 2. whether the background is too long; 3. whether the same details continue to appear; 4. whether the premise that does not need to be supported continues to appear.

Liu Wanyong uses three metaphors to describe excellent in-depth reporting or editorial reporters: chopping stuffing, high-speed rail, and judges.

(1) Writing is like chopping dumpling filling, to squeeze out the water

Different interviewees often provide the same level of information, and it is important not only to pay attention to the parts when writing, but to remove moisture and detail them properly.

Blank space is an important technique in the report, which can give readers space to think. Generalizations are also important, such as "that is..." at the end of a paragraph.

Liu Wanyong said: "Don't treat readers as fools, you don't have to point at words, the content you point to must be focused, long, and not easy to understand." ”

When elaborating on important people, it is necessary to refine the similar content provided. The reports are often a part of the text compressed, and re-summarized and adjusted in order.

Liu Wanyong used the example of the manuscript in the "Expert Attitude" column of his department, saying that the views expressed by different experts on the same incident are inevitably repeated, and at this time, it is necessary for reporters to adjust when asking questions, and guide experts to answer questions individually from the perspective of their respective identity knowledge structures.

"Remove moisture and leave insights behind."

(2) Good reports such as high-speed rail, short body and fast speed

For a report, if there is no sense of progress between paragraphs and subheadings, the depth of excavation will always stay at one level, and the reader will taste the same as chewing wax when reading. In Liu Wanyong's view, there are two reasons for this phenomenon: one is that the news is not generalized and there are many repetitions; the other is that the pace is too slow and the text does not jump.

Liu Wanyong likens excellent reports to high-speed rail, where each section of carriage is short but travels fast. With the change of communication means, readers' patience gradually declines, and an in-depth report is often broken into several parts to meet reading habits, and journalists should also pay attention to the use of phrases, short sentences, and short paragraphs when writing.

Liu Wanyong took the southern weekend report on the disappearance of Guo Yiping, vice mayor of Luoyang City, Henan Province, as an example, saying that the report began with "For a prefecture-level city like Luoyang, the vice mayor is missing, unprecedented" as the opening theme, followed by Guo Yiping's office door locked, there are still people seriously transmitting the plot of the document, and at the same time clarified the rumors about Guo Yiping's wife and children fleeing, without overemphasizing the statement that he himself was missing.

At this time, it has been ten days since Guo Yiping's disappearance first broke out, and readers already know the relevant information about the missing incident, and they need to see "news" rather than the repetition of useless information.

Liu Wanyong said that in the process of time advancement, the focus of the report will continue to change. Only by tapping into a unique perspective can we carry out three-dimensional writing.

(3) Journalists, such as judges, should grasp the core focus

Chaotic content, chaotic logic, chaotic language - this is Liu Wanyong's evaluation of the substandard report. He believes that when the report itself is more complicated, the reporter should make a simple and clear statement of the complex event.

In his view, the reporters who report in depth should be like judges, who have listened to the opinions of the plaintiff, the defendant and the defenders on both sides, and after reviewing various evidentiary materials and litigation materials, they also need to confirm the focus of the court debate with the original defendant. Journalists also need to analyze the core information to determine the next step of the interview or collation goals.

"You need to know how to sort out the core problems, the main problems, and the secondary problems, retain the core problems, eliminate the secondary problems according to the situation, and cut off the branches that affect the reading theme." Liu Wanyong said that although different people have different writing habits, clear logic and clear generalization are still the basic requirements that all journalists need to follow.

Liu Wanyong proposed that when the logic is not clear when writing the manuscript, you can try to repeat the story to others, as long as you can tell it clearly to others, you can show the story well.

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Liu Wanyong, one of the winners of the 12th Yangtze River Taofen Award (2012), is the deputy director of the Special Reporting Department of China Youth Daily. Representative works such as "The Business Of a Retired High-ranking Official", "Wang Jiajun Impersonated the Roadmap for University Study" and so on.