11 Confession

Confessions as a genre of journalism include publications whose subject is the inner world of the authors of these publications. The main method used in the preparation of such publications is self-analysis. This genre of journalism has its roots in literature, religion, philosophy. Jean-Jacques Rousseau began his Confession. The desire to "confess" in the press occurs in many people. And the very ordinary “personalities” are, and the people are unusual, and sometimes the great ones. You can understand it. The question in this case is different: why do our contemporaries increasingly prefer to publish their revelations in the press? One explanation is that revelation before God brings man the same consequences, and to people - completely different. Religious confession is always repentance, i.e. voluntary confession in committed unseemly deeds. For them it is important to “absolution”, the goals of the treatment of a person with his revelation to the general public (a mass audience) are completely different. And the journalist assumes the role of mediator precisely because they often coincide with the goals of his activity. This, strictly speaking, gave rise to the so-called “confessional journalism”. 1. Explain the unusual act. Show an example of overcoming evils.3. Share successful career experiences. Make self-promotion.

It is also important how the confession is prepared - either the journalist simply writes down everything the hero says, or he interviews him. In the second case, the participation of a journalist may affect the content of the speech to the greatest extent. And then he willingly or unwittingly assumes a certain responsibility for what the hero informs. Therefore, it is very important for the journalist not to lose the sense of proportion in the “orientation” of self-analysis of the “person who professes. Unfortunately, this is often forgotten. And sometimes the "organizer" simply provokes his hero to such statements that he, with sound reasoning, might not have brought to the public at large. Quite often, journalists give confessors complete freedom to present various juicy details of their personal lives, gloomy situations, etc., while they themselves apply, so to speak, a “silence figure” in relation to what is said in confession. This allows, on the one hand, to distance itself from the content of the speeches, and on the other, using something “fried” as bait, hook a certain number of undemanding readers. Sometimes journalists explain their silence with the fact that the press, they say, should give facts, expose the ulcers of society, and not comment on them. Let the readers make their own conclusions. Although the audience of a newspaper or magazine, of course, can not decrease and even grow. But at the expense of the degraded public. That, however, may be absolutely indifferent for publications focused primarily on commercial success.

How does confession differ in genre from other genres of journalism? In the “undeveloped”, “collapsed” form, elements of introspection (the main feature of confession) can be found in a variety of publications - notes, correspondence, reviews, articles, etc., where the journalist's personal “I” is present. However, for the publication of these genres, self-analysis is not the goal. It is contained in the texts insofar as it helps to clarify some thought, to introduce an expressive, figurative beginning into the publication, to show the tension of the situation in which the author of the future speech found itself. When introspection develops from an auxiliary factor into one of the main goals of publication, then a peculiar and completely independent genre - confession arises.

See also

• Reportage
• 15 Review