Principles of TV News Practice

Author: Chen Congguo
Editor-in-Chief: Chen Youjun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-08-01
Features:
Excerpt: Reflections on the Characteristics of Television Media
Television is dynamic, primarily lens-driven, and capable of storytelling through various media means. This necessitates examining television news from the perspective of its unique characteristics.
1. Two Types of "Headlines"
Print media editors arrange "headlines" based on editorial judgment and their own perspectives, but readers select headlines according to their own interests and needs. In a sense, all news in a newspaper is presented within the same time and space, clearly visible, and readers are active and selective in their reading. For example, an entertainment news item on page eight might be a reader's "headline" if they enjoy entertainment coverage.
Television news, however, has a dynamic format where the order of time determines the spatial order. In other words, the first item to air on television is the "headline." Television news exerts a degree of "compulsion" on viewers, meaning TV audiences have a certain level of passivity in consuming news. With news teasers, especially when viewers seek specific news items based on those teasers, this passivity becomes more pronounced.
Society is complex, and audience needs are diverse. In real life, both types of "headlines" are normal, and a single "headline" situation is also common. What warrants caution is the absence of "headlines" for readers or viewers in both print and television news layouts, where only the editors' headlines are featured.
2. Watching and Remembering
The "paper" in newspapers creates a certain connection among various news items, acting like a needle and thread that ties together related or unrelated reports. Paper is malleable and can be preserved. Readers can revisit, reread, and reflect on the content at any time, facilitating reference, contemplation, and memory. In this sense, the static medium of "paper" and the potential intrinsic links between news items serve as the chain of memory for readers.
For television news viewers, the dynamic, intangible "format" presents challenges for reference, contemplation, and memory. The ever-changing temporal and spatial context, coupled with the inability to rewind or replay, makes it difficult for viewers to grasp the intrinsic connections between reports. Generally, viewers rely on memory and association to understand the implied or explicit connections between news items. If a viewer remembers, there is a connection; if not, there is none.
3. Publishing and Broadcasting
Newspaper news is printed in black and white, as if "set in stone." If readers don’t understand or remember something, they can pause and reread or ponder it. If they can’t finish reading in one sitting, they can "save" it for later. Generally, newspaper news is not republished. Conversely, television news is fleeting, like a "cloud that vanishes in an instant," and is hard to retain. If viewers don’t see, understand, grasp, or remember it, they can only give up.
This characteristic of television news demands that important visuals or news be considered or scheduled for rebroadcast. For television journalists, how to shoot, edit, and present news clearly, understandably, and memorably, as well as how to arrange reasonable rebroadcasts or rolling coverage, becomes crucial.
Postscript: This is a small monograph on professional research, primarily exploring television news from the perspective of journalistic practice. Guangdong is a region with a vibrant media environment. In such a region, especially after 1993, establishing a new station or a small station was fraught with difficulties, yet the significance was extraordinary. This significance was not for society or even for the audience, but for the comrades who had participated in the establishment and operation of Guangdong Economic Television over the past five and a half years.
Responsibility and survival are the dual missions of the "Commercial Television" people (local audiences refer to Guangdong Economic Television as "Commercial Television"). The harsh external environment forced the Commercial Television team to seek survival from within and from practice. Over five and a half years of tireless work, it was both a spirit and a practice.
Commercial Television hosts did not "moonlight" or attend ribbon-cutting ceremonies, and Commercial Television journalists were largely free from bribery. In the dazzling and bizarre world of Guangzhou, this was a "unique" team. A television station is a news organization and should also be a garden of thought. This monograph records the journalistic practices of Guangdong Economic Television and the collective wisdom and labor of the Commercial Television team.
Clearly, reviewing and summarizing these years of reflection and multifaceted practice through this book is insufficient. However, during the station's operation, we noticed that many university graduates were exposed to journalism theories primarily written with print media as the subject. They needed considerable training and practice to become familiar with television news. Therefore, we summarized and compiled our thoughts and practices in television news over the years into writing to meet training and professional discussion needs.
The "Preface" of this book was written by Deputy Director Yu Ruojin; Lu Zhan and Wang Xin (Deputy Supervisor and Supervisor of the News Department) participated in writing the "Lead-in," with Lu Zhan, in particular, providing most of the examples and responsible for compiling the entire book. Gratitude is extended to them all.
Author, November 1999