Journalism steps into a new world
As a journalist of more than six years, I’ve become accustomed to looking back at my best story from the previous year and looking forward to what I can report in the coming months.
This year is no exception, but something has changed. In the past, my work was posted with that of other journalists in China Daily’s last issue of the year in print and online, but this time there was a video broadcast.
The five-minute video covers four journalists’ stories in 2016, including mine, in which I reported on the exoneration of Nie Shubin, a man who was wrongly convicted and executed more than 20 years ago.
The video has been viewed millions of times after it was put on our website, micro blog and WeChat account.
Lots of my friends and interviewees showed great interest in the video, saying it helped them to not only understand the news reports, but also how journalists conduct their reporting duties.
Guo Jingxia, a judicial official at a Beijing court, gave me a thumbs-up after watching the video on WeChat, and the story quickly spread among legal workers.
With the rapid development of technology and the internet, combining the newspaper with new media has accelerated, which forces journalists to increase their reporting skills and improve their multimedia skills.
For example, Xinhua News Agency has taken advantage of the notion of a “central kitchen” in their reports, improving reporting efficiency, while China Central Television recently created China Global Television Network to tell Chinese stories overseas.
In November, six reporters, including myself, went to provinces and autonomous regions such as Hunan and Tibet to cover the government’s poverty relief efforts. We made six videos, helping readers to understand more about China and its people.
Liao Yanfei, a villager I interviewed in Hunan, said he prefers to watch videos rather read an article, “as I want to see myself on my phone, and it is convenient for letting others watch and enjoy”.
Sometimes I ask myself whether I should cater to public tastes in using social media to cover more stories. The answer is clear now: Yes.
A journalist’s job is to provide readers with reports on subjects they need and want to know about, and the best vehicle, I think, is the one that’s easiest for readers to use.
Right now, that means mobile devices.
Of course, there is still a long way to go as we learn new reporting skills and combine traditional media with new technology — especially as virtual reality and live broadcasting expand to the public sphere.
A series of questions, such as what news should be presented via multimedia and how to improve the quality of reports in new media, are natural in this new landscape, and it’s healthy to think twice and explore options.
News reporters have begun to walk the path of communications using a combination of channels. We must now develop each type of communication to the highest level possible.