Joke

This is the most common form of wit (a short joke story, often containing unexpected twists and an equally unusual ending), without which it is difficult to imagine modern interpersonal communication, especially in a narrow circle of close people. Being mainly outside the sphere of mass information, during the years of perestroika, eliminating censorship restrictions in the media, the anecdote as a genre loved by the people made an active “aggression” on the pages of newspapers and magazines, became an indispensable attribute of many radio and television programs. Moreover, special programs, issues, and pages devoted to the anecdote began to appear. An example of this kind can serve as the well-known television program "White Parrot", one of the founders of which was Yuri Nikulin. The word "joke" comes from the Greek "anekdotos", which means - "unpublished". In Russian, there is also its own, although now partially forgotten, name of this form of wit. It is defined in the explanatory dictionary of V. Dahl as “bike”, “bautka”, “jitter”. In order for the “bike” (or “bautka”, “jest”) to be well executed and impressed the audience, you need a “eloquent”, “bautchik”. The figure of the artist determines the success of the anecdote. But, as you know, telling a joke (and even more gesticulating, which is very often necessary to enhance the effect of the story) can only be fully realized on TV. As for the periodical press, it is largely inferior to radio and television in this respect.

Speaking of an anecdote on a newspaper or magazine page, it is not always possible to say that we are dealing with the journalistic genre, since journalists rarely make up the jokes published in the publication themselves. Most often, jokes that appear on a newspaper or magazine page are reprinted from anecdotes collections or are sent by readers. Another thing, relatively speaking, is a “secondary” anecdote, i.e. a work created on the basis of the original anecdote, which became its literary basis. Such a work, which appeared as a result of the creative processing of the "fundamental principle", its fictionalization, and not losing most of the genre features of the anecdote, can already, with a certain degree of conventionality, be called the journalistic genre proper, leaving behind it the "root" name - the anecdote.

The use of “initial” anecdotes as a plot basis for radio and television programs, newspaper and magazine speeches is widespread at present (recall the popular “TV program Gorodok” by many TV viewers on Russia TV). Similar can be observed in areas related to journalism, for example, in advertising work, in "PR" works.

The anecdote on the pages of periodicals should undergo a certain author's self-censorship. It is unacceptable that quite often occurs in anecdotes, which are intended for a narrow circle of people who are in oral interpersonal communication. And above all - vulgarity and obscene expressions. In addition, the anecdote, of course, should be relatively new for most of the readership, because the jokes "with a beard" only discredit the publication in which they are printed.

The game The main reason for the emergence of the game genre on the pages of periodicals is the need of the audience for entertainment information. "Relatives" of this genre are well-known "crosswords", "chainvords", etc., which do not require any special intellectual effort, any special preparation for their development, but still enthrall the reader with some mystery hidden in them and requiring a clue. . The game as a type of publications belongs to the artistic and journalistic genres. This is explained by the fact that the game is fully the fruit of the artistic imagination of its originator.

The author of the game usually completely invents its plot, rules, develops various situations, problems that it is proposed to allow the readers of such works. This genre is most actively used on the pages of mass publications. This is explained by the fact that the audience of such mass media is inclined to spend their time solving crossword puzzles, riddles, puzzles. So, let's say, very often publications representing this genre appear on the pages of the large circulation “Arguments and Facts”. Here, for example, the column “The Investigation Conducts Onozhansky” has become well-established, under which riddles for readers and answers to them are systematically printed.

Publications in the “game” genre may, of course, have other meaningful content. This could be, for example, a game of war with extraterrestrial civilizations, or "swimming" over the seas and oceans, or "time travel." The plot of it can be intrigue, enclosed in a novel, poem, etc. What exactly the creator of the game will choose as its subject depends on his imagination, knowledge, abilities, as well as on how much what he is going to offer the audience, will be, according to his predictions, interesting for her. Let us turn to journalistic practice.

Joke What is a joke? If you give an explanation to this word, then we can say that this is an objective action or message that misleads someone in order to create a ridiculous situation. In journalism, as in ordinary interpersonal communication, the joke is quite common. Usually jokes are included in the text as its fragment, if necessary. But there are cases when a joke is present on a newspaper or magazine page as an independent genre. Why does the joke relate specifically to artistic and journalistic, and not to some other genres? The main reason for this is that the text, which can be called a "joke", arises as a product of the author's fantasy, speculation.

The fiction is used in some other genres of journalism, for example, for the reconstruction of events in which the author did not participate and about which he knows only something by hearsay. In this case, only minor details are reconstructed that do not distort the essence of the matter. If the author aims to entertain the reader and for the sake of it creates a hoax (joke), then the material can be invented from beginning to end. And if so, then it can be attributed to an independent journalistic genre. Jokes in newspapers or magazines often have two main objectives. The first task is to entertain the reader. The second task of preparing and publishing a joke can be defined as a reader’s joke. A successful joke designed for all readers of a particular publication is relatively rare in modern journalism. The fact is that journalists, trying to ensure that the reader does not immediately understand that they are playing out, are trying to write the text as much as possible. To do this, they provide him with references to authoritative opinion, give all sorts of figures, references, extracts from files, etc. This increases audience confidence in the texts.

In addition, we must bear in mind the fact that the modern reader, radio listener, TV viewer lives in such a country and at a time when the most incredible things are possible, the most unpredictable events, so they are ready to believe everything and no longer expect journalists to supplement the already “fantastic” reality with their own inventions. And it is hardly surprising that there are quite a few readers who will believe not only publications about some previously unknown race of people “Guaomen”, but also other, much more incredible reports.

Of course, journalists understand that not every joke, expressed in the spirit of serious publication, the audience can "figure it out." In order to help her do this, “beacons” are left in the jocular texts, allowing the astute reader to orient in the tone of the material, to realize its purpose. These can be logical and statistical absurdities, plots, known from old anecdotes, puns, etc.

See also

• Reportage
• 15 Review
• Joke
• 2.3.5. Humor and joke in teaching
• How jokes work