FORMS OF AUDIENCE INVOLVEMENT IN THE JOURNALISM PROCESS

In modern journalism there are no universal standards of communication with readers, listeners, viewers. All recommendations are only guidelines in the search for incentives that motivate the audience to express their opinions, and the editorial board to study feedback. Traditionally, the methods of cooperation of the population with the press are expertise (what do you think about us?), Dialogue (what do you think about the proposed topic?) And co-authorship (together we create the text).

An expert assessment of the activities of the editorial staff and a journalist reveals the secrets to the success of a particular media. According to the journalists themselves, factors such as high-quality text, a large subscription, an abundance of advertising, and readers' confidence contribute to the success. The latter circumstance deserves special attention. According to researcher I.D. Fomicheva, “concrete sociological studies of 70–80s showed that the reasons for non-participation of people in various forms of public life are closely related to the behavior of those who are called upon to organize relevant work” [4]. Content-analytical research reveals that editors are poorly using various ways of addressing the audience and raising specific questions, analyzing mail by specialists and the correspondence dialogue of specialists with readers, addressing readers on behalf of the media itself - in particular, to explain the value of information received from them and methods of its use in government, to alert about the work with letters in the editorial and control system.

The opinion of the audience about our journalistic activities can be revealed through letters, verbal or telephone appeals to the editorial office, organized surveys. Genuine judgments of people about the work of the media need to be announced. However, the editors themselves are not always interested in anyone besides them hearing the voice of the people. There are reasons for this. Still remaining ideological filters and commercial competition prevent journalists from impartially satisfying the information needs of the audience. There are even cases of fraud and targeted selection of opinions.

Thus, expert assessments of the Belarusian media usually contain praise for state publications, and at the same time, there is an underestimation of readers' interest in other types of press. There is clearly an ideological filter. Commercial competition is associated with fabrication, embellishment and distortion of information, which also does not allow us to form a correct opinion about what our readers think of us. The main part of local publications is financed from local budgets or exists at the expense of certain advertisers. Hence the fear of offending or angering the powerful.

According to the Press and Media Committee of the St. Petersburg Mayor's Office (see the materials of the scientific and practical conference “Journalism and Culture”. St. Petersburg, April 1993), readers noted positive changes in the content of the St. Petersburg publications: the liberation of journalists from dogmatism and ideology; the emergence of public information on the once forbidden topics; learning the basics of commerce and market economy. Among the shortcomings of the press are noted: scandals, personal attacks, rudeness; hopelessly pessimistic tone of publications; the absence of a population-unifying idea. These observations can be attributed to other regions. However, there is reason to assert that in recent years the filtering of signals about the unsatisfactory work of various publications, as well as the manipulation of facts, have intensified. On the example of Belarus, we can talk first about the transition of society from a totalitarian system to a democratic one, and from 1996 on the contrary - about a return to centralized power, which undoubtedly affected the nature of the media.

One of the forms of expert evaluation of publications that have been thoroughly mastered by the press is the reader’s conference . Its preparation, conduct and publication of the results today completely depend on the editorial initiative. The purpose of the readers' conference is to identify the opinions of the audience on a number of issues: the content of publications, the completeness of life reflection, the form of presentation of materials, the novelty of topics and problems, the effectiveness of speeches, etc. Libraries become the place of such meetings. The composition of the audience is usually shifted towards people of retirement age, while young people rarely attend such events. Direct dialogue of a journalist with consumers of information is useful from the point of view of accumulating a bank of ideas, but it is distinguished by great subjectivity.

The former popular youth newspaper, now the socio-political newspaper of Belarus “The Banner of Youth”, on the occasion of its sixty-year anniversary in 1998, held a number of reader's conferences. On them she constantly listened to remarks from readers of different ages about a sharp shift in the content of the newspaper in the direction of entertainment, a large number of reprints from Russian publications, excessive enthusiasm for the problems of sex education, low culture of communication. Even the youth of the audience reacted to the deterioration in the quality of the newspaper by refusing to subscribe. The sharp decline in circulation from 550 thousand copies in the best years to 20 thousand at the present time is a clear proof of this. Reports on the content of reader conferences were not published in the Banner of Youth, analysis did not happen, and nothing changed in the work of the newspaper. The divergence of editorial goals and readers' expectations means an urgent need for more frequent and constructive dialogue between them.

Management bodies making and implementing socially important decisions should hear the opinions of people expressed in the press and on the air. In order to discuss bills, decrees, resolutions, mass media conduct polls and referendums in the form of a dialogue. Everyone is welcome to participate in the discussion of the raised topic. You can contact the editor with a letter, call, join the conversation on the "hot line".

Journalists record a sharp drop in the number of written complaints, the high cost and difficulty of dialing on the phone, and at the same time the growing popularity of hotlines. Free communication and mobility are especially attractive to the audience in this form of dialogue. In addition, the invitation to the conversation of government officials and specialists allows the reader or listener to immediately solve their problems. After all, the answer to the letter can not wait, a regular phone call will not give comprehensive information. The hotline, especially popular in the Belarusian media, is also good because it generalizes the results of the negotiations. The government newspaper "Sovetskaya Belorussia" regularly invites ministers to reply to the readers' mail and calls to the editor, as well as to participate in live communication. On the eve of the front page, there is a catchy announcement about the establishment of a “hot line” and a portrait of the interlocutor is published.

The NTV television channel opened on Fridays a “hot line” “Ask Livshits”. One of the best experts on the national economy, moreover, who has worked in power structures, clearly and convincingly answers readers' questions on the air. For a specialist of any level, the work is not easy. Here falsehood and insincerity, and also a lack of professionalism are especially noticeable. Finding a suitable candidate for a conversation with readers and listeners is very difficult, especially if the guest of the editorial board does not pursue populist or careerist goals. For these reasons, such a dialogue in television journalism in Belarus today is poorly presented. Daily conversations "Event" after the evening information program of the Belarusian Television are sharp, problematic and polemical. All questions and appeals from viewers are filtered out and skipped through the moderator’s comments.

Of the former, born many years ago, but still popular forms of collective discussion of vital issues, the editorial staff has “round tables”, clubs for business meetings, creative Tuesdays (Wednesdays, Fridays, etc.). This is usually a lively exchange of views, efficient observations, sharp comments on topical issues. Reports on such meetings are required and published immediately.

Since the end of the 1970s, Open Letter Days began to be held on the territory of the former USSR. The first such “day” took place in Estonia, in the large industrial city of Narva. The editorial board of the republican newspaper Sovetskaya Estonia invited the residents of the city to contact her with questions. Mailboxes were posted to the editor. The public reception office of the editorial board worked at the city executive committee. Most of the questions concerned urban issues. From the material in the newspaper made up a list of 500 questions. On the appointed day, leaders of city and republican organizations were invited to answer them.

The questions that were left unanswered, the editors took control, and on the results of the work published a large report. In the future, some organizational issues were refined and changed, as newspaper readers readily respond to this form of mass work.

The method of the Day of the open letter is simple. In general terms, it boils down to choosing the place and topic of discussion, to invite stakeholders and to monitor the results. Journalists of the local press often and now are engaged in such work. In the national and republican publications about her long and unreasonably forgotten.

Equal dialogue with readers, listeners, viewers implies the involvement of the author’s asset to cooperation. The understanding of professional work with authors has changed in recent years. Many publications are filled exclusively with materials of full-time employees or working under the contract. There are less and less authors in electronic media. However, the practice has developed certain forms of work with those who were once called workers and rural correspondents. By the way, today the social status of the writers is not given the former importance.

Individual work with the author relies on direct meetings with him, conversations, correspondence. It ends when the finished material is placed on the editor's desk. And usually begins with the search for the author, who is able to highlight the actual, desired topic at a good level. Search can go in two ways. Sometimes they search for a topic for an author, but more often they still want an author for a planned edition of a topic.

Having found such a person, a journalist must be sure that he does not have to completely redo the manuscript, once again check and recheck the facts and figures. It all depends on the abilities and capabilities of specific performers, their general educational level, moral character, awareness, responsibility. But it is also necessary for the author himself to interest the editorial staff, so that an informal attitude is shown to his problems and concerns. The potential author of a journalist is captivated by the activity and non-standard thinking. He willingly will help such a person, even if he has little control of the pen.

After the author is found, the following operations should be carried out with him: discuss the topic of the future speech, identify problems and pain points, select the basic facts, draw a composition.

The initial outline is largely conditional. Concreteness will arise when the article is written. But aiming, orienting the author is necessary. Naturally, if he is away from the wording, it is more difficult to do it by correspondence. However, in conversations and in correspondence from the editorial staff, pedagogical flair, politeness and efficiency are required. Clarity, concreteness and interest of the editorial staff in the material give rise to confidence and the desire to refine it, even if the first version was not very successful.

Some editors prefer to deal only with well-written authors. Of course, it is more convenient to work with a literary perfect manuscript. But professional duty and official duty of journalists are told to "tinker" even with difficult source material. At the same time, while editing the content and form of the manuscript, it is necessary, if possible, to preserve the individuality of the author. It should be remembered that the unification of texts, informational and stylistic fitting to the standard make them absolutely similar to each other.

When the material is written and edited, it is shown to the author and endorsed with him. A visa is needed to confirm the consent of the author with editorial corrections. If disagreements arise in this case, the superior editorial staff must resolve the dispute. Journalists are responsible for the consequences of publication. It happens that a freelance correspondent is persecuted for fair criticism, his relations at his place of work deteriorate. Debt edition to help him, support, protect.

Valuable editors should not get lost. A registration card is entered into it, in which passport data, education, profession, degree of participation in a newspaper, etc. are recorded. If necessary, the editors quickly find the right person, even if he hasn’t been published for a long time, gives him a task.

In terms of age, those who willingly cooperate with the media are usually represented by elderly people. Young people rarely enter into dialogue with editorial staff. To attract them, journalists use other forms of work, primarily entertainment.