JOURNALIST: PROFESSIONAL PECULIARITIES OF PERSONALITY

Much of the work of a journalist depends on the unique pattern that forms the elements of his personality - a special person’s quality that is being formed in the sociocultural environment. To understand a person is to establish how its components interact, conditioned biologically, psychologically, and socially.

Among biologically programmed personality traits, age plays an important role. It is hardly possible to forget the range of sensations that occurs after the appearance of the first article in the newspaper or the first broadcast. The Izvestia essay, T. Tess, recalled: “The magic line on the last page of the magazine turned the amateur into a professional writer. The door swung open, I entered a new huge world. ” Tess took this publication as a huge advance payment: “It was not a check in the accounting department, not a visa for the manuscript, which led to the cherished window of the publishing house. It was a spiritual advance, much more valuable and important. ” The euphoria of youth often gives way to disappointment, and sometimes only time brings the wisdom of mastery.

Growing up of a person reflects his movement in time, the search for himself. A specialist with an engineering degree, a guide, a journalist, an employee of the Leningrad Telekuriera, 600 seconds, RTR and NTV - this is the track record of S. Sorokina. At first glance, a simple "hunt for changing places." In fact, here is a complex path, drawn through crisis overcoming, that leads to mastery, which is essentially infinite. The creative searches of TV presenter N. Fomenko, a musician, an actor who is able to express himself in high art, in farce, and in a shocking show, are ambiguous and contradictory. Life does not allow to stop and those who, it would seem, have already achieved success. V. Voroshilov, who gained special popularity in the intellectual TV casino “What? Where? When? ”, He admitted in an interview:“ in his old age ”he understood his complete ignorance of television and decided once again to try his hand at a new program.

In journalism, it is necessary to take into account gender characteristics of a person (gender is a term used in psychology when analyzing differences between the sexes). Today, hardly anyone will doubt that women make a special and invaluable contribution to socio-cultural development. At the same time, there is controversy about whether women's poetry and women's prose, female and male professions exist. Finally, it is impossible to state unequivocally that we have a complete understanding of the phenomenon of “female journalism”. Nevertheless, an analysis of the workforce of the media indicates an increase in women's participation in the mass media. Will this situation change the face of the press?

Some psychologists believe that the hemispheres of the brain are better coordinated in women than in men. Therefore, decisions made by women are more adequate to the emotional and rational diversity of the world. Journalists with extensive experience say: “You can not discount the science statement that women’s area in the right hemisphere, which is responsible for emotions, is eight times more than men. As a result, a specific “component” in different proportions with a “left-hemispheric” (logical) perception somehow makes itself felt in our craft ”[14].

Genetically determined factors (emotional stability, extraversion - orientation of the person to the outside world, altruism - disinterested care for the welfare of others, shyness, timidity, estrangement, aggressiveness, desire for leadership) help or hinder the entry into the profession. Wherever a journalist works, he will need physical endurance in order to cope with overloads, stresses and with honor to pass tests in extreme situations. Extremely high psychological burden on the editorial staff. An experienced newspapermaker A. Konstantinov writes that his colleagues very often encounter problems of professional deformation, when their psyche is ruthlessly disfigured, since physical danger “threatens journalists only from time to time,“ psychological ”acts constantly like penetrating radiation - it happens the same imperceptible, sometimes the same lethal. "

For media employees, temperament acquires special significance (the ratio of individual personality traits associated with the dynamics of mental activity). Critic and editor B. Pankin, arguing about the specifics of the work of the writer A. Sakhnin, tried to answer the difficult question: why did a man who dreamed of creating novels and novels devote his whole life to small documentary genres - mostly essays and short stories? Because for Sakhnin, the temperament of a citizen and a fighter was the most important constant. It was he who forced the writer to actively and quickly intervene in life.

Scientists investigated the problem of a typical journalist temperament. Among journalists there are choleric people - active, strong, but not balanced people, melancholic people - vulnerable, deeply worried, but dullly perceiving the surrounding, phlegmatic - calm, balanced, possessing enviable consistency. It is preferable, in the opinion of specialists, sanguine. They have a good reaction, they easily respond to what is happening around them, they quickly deal with the troubles that the intense reporter profession abounds in.

The psychophysiological properties of the author are manifested in different ways in newspaper material, television and radio programs. On a newspaper or magazine page, temperament is reflected in the system of language figurative and expressive means, giving the text an emotionally expressive tint. In turn, on the radio timbre of voice, intonation, rate of speech give us additional information about the speaker. Finally, on television, our perception of the announcer, commentator, presenter depends on the person’s first impression, appearance, aesthetic appeal, and expression. Here a nonverbal information is applied to a message expressed by a word, which is transmitted in the language of facial expressions, gestures, and movements. The importance of all these aspects, as well as the manner of behavior, increases during the direct communication of the journalist with the future heroes of his works, with those from whom he receives information, with colleagues.

In the mass media, there are various types of personality: introverts turned into "themselves" and extroverts flung open to meet the surrounding reality. But here, too, noticeably, to the "middle ground", to the harmonization of extremes: statistics show that ambaverts, which combine openness and concentration, become journalists more often.

Multicolor classification of characters of journalists. Despite the fact that scientists have long sought to identify the constituent elements of character, a unified approach to this problem has not been worked out. In addition, socio-historical conditions can change the characterological portrait of a person. This is especially noticeable at crucial moments of social development. Russian researchers believe that a transition state is inherent in our compatriot and contemporary. It is unstable, the old and the new are noticeable, but there is no clear predominant aspiration. This can not affect the dynamics of character formation. Today in Russia, the classic typology of E.From's social characters (USA), which distinguishes a fruitful orientation — activity, loving, rational and non-fruitful — receptive, acquisitive, market-based, based on “preserving demand for oneself” is acquiring a new sound.

Undoubtedly, in the conditions of post-perestroika Russia, the conversation about the market character in journalism is relevant. When the media is monopolized, the accumulation of “informational” capital, the living standard of the media staff is sharply reduced. Unemployment is growing, the social stratification is deepening, self-identification is lost. The problem of survival comes to the fore, which is equivalent to adapting to market conditions and acquiring a market character.

As world experience shows, the market character is a common phenomenon in the press. It served as the starting point for the formation of the stereotype of the corrupt, unprincipled hacks who trade in their own conscience (this image is also enshrined in fiction; it suffices to recall Georges Duroy in Guy de Moupassant's “Sweet Friend”). But no less important historical trend has always been social service, the realization of which is connected with the fruitful orientation of character: it gives a person the advantage to see the world as it is and at the same time enrich it with the creation of material and spiritual values. Fruitfulness is also the upbringing of the self, the expansion of one’s own capabilities under the guidance of the mind.

One can find many examples of “overcoming” the market character of domestic and foreign journalists. So, in the 70s - 80s. of our century, the world journalistic community has been widely recognized by the phenomenon of Günter Walraf. This German reporter considered his status quo to be his main professional goal. He sought to achieve goals through social criticism. Fame came to Valraf as a natural result of an in-depth insight into life, the creation of his own, a special method of comprehending it - in particular, by changing the name and appearance. Wallraf considered his creative credo to "live" other people's destinies, passions, sufferings. He was not guided by a thirst for adventure — he was moved by a love for people whose life turned out to be imperfect, and at times even crippled. American authors of investigative journalism, laureates of many journalistic awards D. Barlett and D. Steele state that their work is based on “old-fashioned idealism”: “They believe that all people should be treated equally, that everyone should be equal conditions that the government should not give preference to one or another group, and that the state structures need the same supervision as the structures of the private sector ”[15]. The adherence to the principles of humanism allowed the American reporter Seymour M. Hersh to write incriminating material about the cruelty of the American military in Vietnam. According to the journalist, he hated the Vietnam War and sought to tell about it all the truth known at that time. In general, the “critical school” in the study and training of journalism has long been recognized in Western countries. The opinion that the market character there prevailed completely and irrevocably is superficial and erroneous.

Success in any work, including journalistic, depends on the abilities - the individual psychological characteristics of the person, which determine the quality level of products. They determine the ease and speed of learning new ways and methods of activity and are not limited only to knowledge, skills and abilities.

Literary abilities have long been considered main for a journalist . Recent opinion polls have confirmed that they are still included in the list of main criteria for journalistic excellence. Indeed, the attitude of the audience to the text, and therefore to the newspaper and the magazine on whose pages it appears, or to the radio and television program that broadcast it, is largely due to the reporter's speech culture. The language and style of the author, the ability to state his thought and reveal the position of another, the ability to accurately and vividly tell about the event, convey a fact, evaluate and explain it are the most important components of professionalism. Perfect possession of the word for a journalist is required. Especially today, when the flow of foreign language vocabulary invades our speech, when it becomes clogged with slang and invective elements, forcing linguists to talk about the phenomenon of "anti-literacy."

It is logical to assume that a modern and rhetorical optimum and minimum may become compulsory for a modern journalist, in other words, a program of mastering the skills of speech culture. Experts suggest introducing a strict testing procedure for journalists in order to assess their level of language readiness. It is also important for media workers to study the basics of neoritory, expanding the possibilities of “horizontal”, dialogical communication. All this, on the one hand, testifies to continuity in information and communication processes, on the other, emphasizes the "openness" of the system of abilities, their inseparability from learning, from the focus of the individual on reaching heights in his chosen field of activity.

Despite the fact that in the eyes of journalists, the gift of the word remains one of the most necessary for a professional, neither the theorists nor the practitioners have a common opinion about what is the most important thing in the system of abilities. The basic characteristics (intellect, emotionality, will), social (ability to work, creativity, personal development), professional (cognitive, projective and communicative) stand out in all their diverse complex. In addition to the modern media employee inherent research, acting, directing, communicative, organizational and commercial makings.

The basis of abilities is the intellect , which determines the mastery of knowledge and experience by a journalist, their preservation, use in practice. In crisis situations, when the collision of economic and political forces is intensifying in society, special hope is placed on the activity of intellectual capabilities, since they are not internally limited. Intellect includes attention - a kind of setting a person to perceive priority information and performing tasks, imagination - the ability to create new images in the course of reflection of reality, memory - a type of mental reflection of reality, involving consolidation, preservation and subsequent reproduction of experience by a person, thinking - the highest form of creative manifestation of personality.

Let's see how the leading components of intelligence are revealed in journalism.

In the memoirs of war correspondents, we often find the lines that they had to work under bombardment and shelling, in short intervals of halts, when the others tried to forget for a minute to sleep. Work in extreme conditions, of course, requires an exceptional concentration of attention. But even in ordinary, everyday life, the success or failure of a journalist depends on the volume, distributability and switchability of his attention. Contemporaries said that the special professionalism of the outstanding publicist A. Agranovskiy was that he easily entered into any new topic (literally, like a fish in water), got used to an uncharted story and thoroughly understood it. “I paid attention” - this phrase is often found in the memoirs of those who talk about their journalistic work. Sometimes inattention to insignificant details can undermine the credibility of both the correspondent’s speech and himself.

Despite the fact that modern technology increasingly frees us from having to memorize, memory remains for the journalist a unique mechanism that records facts, events, and phenomena. The writer K. Paustovsky believed that the memory not only stores the material, but also sifts it, delaying and selecting the most valuable in it. Each of us has primarily developed some kind of separate memory - visual, auditory, logical, or figurative. This differentiation is essential when considering the issue of the specialization of media employees - newspaper workers, television and radio studio workers, photo masters, designers, reporters, analysts, and publicists. So, in the reports of V. Peskov, who combined in himself the talent of a writer and photographer, visual images are often woven into the narrative, which are not just reproducing what the journalist once saw, but also creating an atmosphere of authenticity and confidence. And in the works of M. Shaginyan we become witnesses of the resurrection of the logic of search, research of a problem or situation. Thus, memory is the most important part of creative individuality.

It is obvious that a journalist cannot completely break away from the facts of real life, having gone into the world of abstract formulas or artistic images. Imagination and intuition are as necessary for him as, say, a writer or a mathematician. Imagination, which makes it possible to see the result of an action, its ideal goal, not only helps to include “mental mechanisms”, but also to create an image that reflects the real features of reality. For example, the semantic core of one of A. Agranovsky’s essays was the image of a growing forest - the force that changes life for the better, despite all the turmoil, petty squabbles, squabbles, strife and envy. Imagination is able to finish what is hidden from the superficial glance. V. Peskov in his publications on nature is not just trying to penetrate into the world of sensations of winged and four-legged heroes of his essays, reports and sketches. He wants to make a man look at himself through the eyes of other living beings and, perhaps, learn from them nobility.

Для журналиста характерен такой феномен, как социологическое воображение, состоящее «в умении переключать внимание с одной перспективы на другую, строить адекватный подход к пониманию общества в целом и его компонентов»[16]. Его сущность заключается в комбинации идей, о которых вряд ли кто-то может подумать, что их можно соединить. Кроме того, социологическое воображение не позволит авторской фантазии перейти ту черту, где от трагического до смешного один шаг и правду уже нельзя отличить от откровенной лжи.

Тесно связана с информационными процессами интуиция (этимологически это слово восходит к латинскому глаголу intueri, означающему «пристально, внимательно смотреть»), которая помогает решить задачу, максимально сократив (или вообще минуя) необходимые логические операции. У интуиции есть очень интересное свойство: она обостряется, когда мы сталкиваемся с чем-то непонятным, и дает возможность компенсировать недостающую информацию. Петербургская журналистка Н.Корконосенко рассказывала, как ей довелось готовить материал о научном коллективе. Она встретилась со многими сотрудниками института, и ее чисто интуитивно покоробила вроде бы ничего не значащая фраза одного из них. За случайно брошенными словами журналистка почувствовала самоуверенность и наглую развязность. И она оказалась права. После публикации статьи ученые благодарили автора за точность диагноза, поставленного их слишком самонадеянному коллеге.

Но даже очень сильной интуиции недостаточно, чтобы журналист ощутил себя профессионалом. Он должен обладать знаниями, расширять и обогащать их. Это становится возможным, если его мышление будет направленно на разрешение противоречий, объективно присущих действительности.

Исследователь СМИ И.М. Дзялошинский считает, что с помощью такого критерия, как отношение к противоречию, можно рассмотреть несколько стилей журналистского мышления: мифологическое (игнорирующее противоречия), формально логическое (стремящееся к уничтожению или примирению противоречий) и диалектическое (ориентированное на выявление реальных противоречий как движущей силы любых явлений)[17].

The myth became in ancient times the expression of the first attempt of a person to realize the causal relationship of phenomena. It turned out to be extremely tenacious, and it was not possible to “banish” it from our thinking. Today, the myth is reborn largely due to the media. There are over 500 definitions of myth. Some scientists interpret it as a state of consciousness in which the boundaries between all the so-called "binary oppositions" dissolve. This is how the universal, in the opinion of cultural scientists, means of understanding the world. It reflects the duality of reality and underlies any picture of reality: the good is bad, the past is the future, etc. This does not mean that binary oppositions make the world black and white. There are many shades and intermediate structures (unknown - supposed - known). Thinking is not dogmatized,and acquires greater clarity; the environment is perceived by a person more clearly and does not seem to him a chaotic and hazy cluster of incomprehensible. When the difference between binary oppositions ceases to be felt, consciousness regresses into a mythological one.

Журналист способен осознанно включиться в мифотворчество (если понимать миф как сказку, вымысел, иллюзорное представление о явлениях и событиях), но он может превратиться в его жертву (например, когда оппозиция добро – зло вытесняется другой: свой – чужой, вождь – враг вождя и т.п.), репродуцируя мифы неосознанно. Исключительно стабильные способы «прочтения мифа» – ритуал, магическое действие. Их участниками и создателями часто становятся журналисты, «священнодействуя» в телешоу, воспроизводя в своей деятельности модель мифологического сознания, символизирующую замкнутость, повторяемость, цикличность жизни.

Mankind has not yet found a panacea for myth. Even scientific knowledge as an antithesis to him is also capable of mythologizing. The journal’s “myth resistance” depends on many elements of the personality. Obviously, without certain qualities of thinking, this resilience cannot be worked out.

Thought, consciousness, reason were considered by many generations of journalists as the greatest value. In “Letters from Kazan University,” which were released in the late 1960s, A. Agranovsky spoke about an instructive episode. Scientists came to the university rector to ask for money for laboratory equipment. The manager replied: “Give me a thought. Under the thought I will give the laboratory. " The search for thought became the leitmotif of Agranovsky's creativity. Critics wrote that he seemed to return their true meaning to concepts. He forced the reader to think, involved him in the process of doubt. Good writes the one who thinks well. These words of Agranovsky could belong to many newsmen - both living today and long gone from us.

But in activity, especially creative, a person is represented holistically, in the unity of his intellectual, emotional and volitional qualities. A complex range of emotions and a no less complex set of feelings not only accompany all stages of journalistic work, but are also preserved in the fabric of his works and are thus transmitted to readers, listeners, and viewers.

Of course, the emotional spectrum of a journalist is individual, however, here you can also identify the features of certain professional groups. Sociological studies conducted in the first half of the 1990s revealed that among the interviewed media workers there were more people with a joyful sense of life, then people who were emotionally balanced followed. In third place were their annoyingly disturbing colleagues.

According to psychologists, cognitive processes do not have a significant impact on a person’s biological properties, but emotions are just the mechanism that contributes to changing the internal environment of the body under the influence of external influences. Therefore, one of the necessary traits of a journalist’s personality is the maturity of his emotional world. Emotional stability and self-control are fundamentally significant for those who constantly deal with the events of a rapidly changing reality.

Moods that define the boundaries of positive and negative experiences, strongly, violently flowing affects, passions, subordinating the thoughts and actions of a journalist, can have a significant impact on how he performs his professional duties and on the psycho-physiological state of his audience. Both emotional poverty and emotional overlap are equally unsuitable for journalism. Once the audience saw upset S. Sorokin on their television screens (then she worked in the program “600 seconds”). Before going on the air they insulted her. Emotional openness, female insecurity, combined with the obvious firmness of character, aroused the sympathy of the audience. But the excessive expression and strong emotional pressure of the music commentator - a journalist who was popular several decades ago - received a very different assessment. Contemporaries, not without irony, noticed: during the performance of this undoubtedly talented presenter, I want to move away from the TV.

Extremely significant in the journalistic profession feelings - the highest product of the development of emotional processes. In the feelings connecting the cognitive processes, experiences, emotional reactions, the social essence of a person is expressed.

The richness of the emotional palette has always distinguished the best Russian journalists. The ability of VG to this day remains unsurpassed. Belinsky penetrate into the world of feelings heroes of literary works. In his famous article “A Look at Russian Literature of 1847,” we read about people who are characterized by a sense of delicacy and decency, nervous sensitivity, painful irritability, gloomy despair, cold despondency. They have respect, surprise, awe, love, friends, suffer. And with what pain the words of Belinsky are addressed to Gogol, who, in his opinion, has changed the ideals of the struggle for justice.

The highest rise of civil sentiments was preserved by V. Peskov's reports on space exploration. When our rocket reached the moon, he wrote: “Today is such a night! Today you can not sleep. It is necessary to write down everything that I hear and feel, so that this night will not be worn out in memory. I would be lucky to read this leaf in twenty years to feel again the excitement of how the Earth lived on this wonderful night. ”[18] On Y. Gagarin’s flight, he will say this: “We remember the day of our first love,” expressing the mood of thousands of people who then poured out onto the streets covered by a single burst of joy.

For a journalist, ethical feelings are fundamentally significant. They program his behavior, reflect his harmony or disharmony with society. It is they who determine the choice of a loved one person. Conscience bears a large regulatory burden (psychologists relate the etymology of this word to the requirement to behave in accordance with certain norms - “common knowledge”). Cognitive feelings are also relevant for the journalistic profession - curiosity, love of truth, thirst for knowledge, the joy of discovery. From the strength of intellectual feelings depends on human performance.

Aesthetic feelings, taste (susceptibility to aesthetic phenomena), aesthetic experiences as a complex system that unites various emotions in the course of the figurative perception of reality help to distinguish between the beautiful and the ugly. Aesthetic feelings are particularly pronounced when creating artistic and publicist works, radio and television programs. So, the feeling of measure, restrained dignity is inherent in A. Belinsky’s television programs about masters of the arts. Without a developed sense of beauty, the work of photo-report masters is impossible. The lack of taste painfully affects the content and form of journalistic texts, the entire appearance of newspaper and magazine products, the manner of speech of radio correspondents and the style of behavior of broadcasters. Apparently, taste, along with aesthetic feelings, immunizes a person from vulgarity.

As already noted, one of the components of basic abilities is the will - the mechanism by which a person achieves a goal, even if he has to overcome internal obstacles. According to opinion polls, in the last decade such strong-willed qualities of a journalist as organization, diligence, accuracy, having somewhat pressed down endurance and perseverance, have come to the fore. At the same time, experience shows that perseverance, consistency, and reliability continue to remain perpetual professional qualities, without which it is difficult to succeed in the media.

The professional consciousness of a journalist is beautifully characterized by the concept of emotional brain , which reflects the inseparability of artistic and mental types of higher nervous activity. Perhaps the emotional brain will become not the exception, but the rule for the era of screen, post-writing culture, in which humanity has already entered. This new stage in the development of civilization will lead both to sociocultural changes and to the transformation of thinking: it will be characterized by a “merging” of the logical and the figurative, conceptual and visual. Thought processes will begin to include “intellectual imagery” and “sensual modeling”, opening up the unexplored horizons of creative potential of Homo sapiens. If these predictions come true, then the journalist will not be the herald of the emergence of a new type of personality? While this question is difficult to answer.

There can not be any one model of abilities for all professional specializations. For reporters, priority is given to qualities that are correlated with mobility and efficiency, ensuring success in conditions of a tight rhythm of information gathering. Analysts are dominated by research skills, logic, depth and non-standard thinking, by publicists - figurative perception, ideology, among television and radio broadcasters - sociability, personal charm, artistry.

The intra-editorial division of labor is evaluated differently by practitioners and media theorists belonging to different schools. For example, there is no consensus on what constitutes the main thing for a reporter. Sometimes they emphasize that he is certainly a participant or an eyewitness to an event, distinguished by a special “photographic” vision of the world. At the same time, the experience of the domestic and foreign press shows that the reporter in the search for facts should have a well-organized system of information sources, an extensive database, creating the basis for both efficiency and professional integrity and accuracy. American standards provide for the separation of reporters into two groups - general purpose and special. Some have wide erudition to prepare material on any topic. Others limit themselves to covering a rather narrow problematic, which they are well versed in. It is curious that according to American authors, these correspondents do not need to have a special education. The main thing for them is the ability to collect material and write.

As for the analyst , for him it is important not only to fix the fact, but also the gift of “seeing the invisible — the connections that exist between various phenomena, determine their causes, evaluate their significance, and predict their development. In addition to “general thinking” abilities, the journalist-analyst should also have special knowledge in the field to which the subject of his journalistic speech belongs. Therefore, it is desirable for him to have not only journalistic, but also special education ”[19].

If it comes to journalism (a special kind of literature devoted to socially significant issues and one of the highest stages of journalistic creativity), it is usually correlated with the author’s bright literary talent and with the certainty of his civic position.

The dynamism of journalistic abilities is manifested in the fact that they are subject to development, refinement and improvement. This can be achieved practically in the course of daily work, which is usually stressful. In the mid-1990s. journalists of the Le Monde newspaper (France) worked about nine hours a day. Their work week consisted of six, not five days, as is customary. Overloads were offset by an increase in vacation. The correspondents of “Leond” daily went to the scene of the event, looked through sources and listened to the radio. All this is immutable imputed to them in official duties.

Deploying the capacity of a journalist is carried out in the course of vocational training. Currently, the system of journalistic training provides ample opportunities for the formation of creative individuality. It includes universities (faculties and departments of journalism), institutes, schools, colleges, as well as numerous courses, including international ones. Today, those who have already graduated from a higher school in any other specialty can receive a journalistic education. A wide range of educational opportunities helps the future media worker to find his “interest”, corresponding to his inclinations, inclinations, characteristic features and allowing him to acquire knowledge, without which it is difficult to achieve true professionalism. But even the synthesis of knowledge and abilities still does not give us a holistic view of the journalistic profession: a person’s uniqueness is revealed in his interaction with the outside world.