ORGANIZATIONAL MASS WORK WITH AUDIENCE

Stimulating the audience for cooperation, as we have already noted, depends on the initiative and activity of editorial staff. The popular newspaper "Arguments and Facts" largely consists of correspondence with readers. Every publication itself predetermines the subject of mail. So, in connection with the rise in price of legal services and at the same time the lack of legal literacy of the population, many editions began to regularly respond to readers' questions regarding legislation. As a rule, the heading "Legal advice" is a success.

In order to attract the audience, virtually all of the press, as well as electronic media, began to hold contests, play lotteries, and invite to participate in gaming clubs. Winners are awarded prizes, prizes, publications in the press. Such undertakings are designed for the gambling part of the population, mainly the youth.

However, in a game form, tasks of great social importance can be solved. On the initiative of Komsomolskaya Pravda, in particular the observer Vasily Peskov, in 1998 a very informative contest “Protected ECHO-98” was held, connected with the environmental problems of Russia. It was organized by the Ecological and Educational Center “Reserves” within the framework of the program of the World Wildlife Fund. The purpose of the competition is to attract regional and large-circulation media to cover the environmental, scientific, environmental education activities of nature reserves and national parks, as well as to draw public attention to their important role in preserving the nature of Russia. The jury reviewed about 2500 publications in 89 publications from different regions of the country. The submission contains information about 63 reserves and national parks of Russia.

Acting on a different thematic direction and in a different manner, the same “Komsomolskaya Pravda” provokes a flood of letters from fans of the national stage, regularly publishing, with preservation of the author’s style and spelling, such addresses under the “I Write Idol” rubric:

Valdis Pelsh. Dorogusik-baby! You are the most beautiful guy I've ever seen in my life. You're so good at this stupid show that you don't notice its stupidity. I have a little problem. I am a little poorer and ask for your help. Call me on the transfer, make the ruble equal to the most expensive currency and help me win. I will be very grateful to you and give you a girl by the year 2000. You just call me.

Oksana K., Kiev

Many publications regularly print crossword puzzles, offer quiz questions. Such forms of attracting attention, active competition with the aim of obtaining material benefits stimulate the interest of the audience in the media and satisfy the personal interests of citizens. It is clear, however, that such relations of the editorial board with the audience are not designed to intervene and assist the media in solving social problems.

Permanent activists of editorial boards can make a much more constructive contribution to the activities of the media and public life. The concepts of "Rabkor" and "Selkor" are gone. Now this category of people is called the more common word "authors". With their help, a typical letter from previous years –– a complaint was recently checked. Millions of citizens were in correspondence with the press, and it was impossible to solve all the issues with one editorial team. But time has passed for major economic and political campaigns that were conducted by all publications. There are no large-scale construction projects monitored by the media. Today, you rarely find such a form of work as an exit editorial. The print run and wall print have declined. As a result, a rather large army of active people with some literary abilities remained out of work. What and how can they express themselves?

The experience of associations of freelance editorial staff: freelance departments, correspondent offices, public editorial boards, public reception offices, press groups, literary associations, photo clubs finds application in the practice of the media. These formations are not very active in modern large editions, but do well in the local press.

Freelance departments emerged in the second half of the 1950s. The social activists, along with the staff members, independently developed complex topics, made plans, handed in applications and finished materials to the secretariat, attracted the right authors and even were on duty by number. The only difference was that non-staff employees performed their duties as a public order, without wages.

Such an enrichment of the editorial structure was especially useful where the journalistic staff was small and it was necessary to cover a wide range of issues. Departments have their own constant theme, their section in the publication, their headings. As experience shows, most often they are engaged in youth and cultural life, morality, law, sports, environmental protection, book promotion. The benefit of public departments, among other things, is that their employees are not only authors, but also organizers of new correspondent forces. Thanks to them, a newspaper or a broadcasting company gets the opportunity to more fully, quickly and efficiently cover the diverse life of their region.

Correspondent points from public figures arise where there are no staff correspondents. Freelance correspondents are approved at the meeting of the editorial board and receive editorial certificates. Their efforts on behalf of the editors are investigating critical signals and accepting visitors. Public secretaries, as well as staff ones, systematically provide the editorial staff with operational information, participate in mass work, help other authors to appear in the newspaper.

Public editorial boards or councils are advisory bodies for editors. They participate in the discussion of plans, as representatives of the population, analyze the activities of the journalistic team, help them with suggestions and comments. Sometimes editorial boards of thematic pages are created, which are fully prepared by the hands of activists.

Special attention deserves a public reception - a kind of freelance department, with regular access to the newspaper or broadcast and regular headings. In addition, they receive visitors and analyze their complaints. Such units appeared in the early 1960s and were created both with the editors themselves and with their offices. They facilitated the work of full-time journalists, as they took over the proceedings with a large proportion of letters and complaints to the editor. Creating a reception begins with the selection of employees. These should be reputable and competent people, preferably with journalistic experience. People turn to them not only for help, advice, advice, but also simply for an encouraging word. The reception includes lawyers, teachers, doctors, former officials of ministries and departments. There are usually many pensioners among them who continue to use their professional and everyday luggage for the benefit of people.

The names of press groups, press centers, literary associations, photo clubs quite eloquently speak about the profile of these freelance units.

There are prizes, awards, honorary titles, as well as awards and other forms of material incentives to encourage voluntary editorial assistants.

Readers' interests and needs are beginning to interest journalists during the subscription campaign . In addition to the line in the subscription catalog there are all sorts of "lure", convincing of the advantages of this publication over others. Most often used active forms of working with the audience, calculated on the mandatory response of readers. Thus, in the Leningrad Region, the newspaper Vesti three times conducted the Super Sign-a-Lot “Sign the Neighbor!” With ever-increasing premium rates. Prizes were intended for those who are more agitating subscribers and submit receipts to the editor. The lottery paid off: the circulation of the newspaper has increased significantly.

During the 1997 subscription campaign, the Izvestia newspaper offered the Muscovites an alternative subscription, putting forward the motto: “Tomorrow’s number is tonight.” It could be issued in libraries ahead of time and at a lower price. Along the way, offers a cheaper subscription is the press of Belarus. It introduces discounts for those who took care of themselves earlier than others, for the needy, for veterans, for regular subscribers.

In order to attract the attention of the audience, some editors “charge” portraits of famous psychics and healers with supposedly miraculous power. They promise the whole happy year to those who cut out and keep the animal patron (in the year of the tiger such a happy tiger cub in several numbers was offered by the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda). Novaya Gazeta, in agreement with the institutes of foreign languages, promised its subscribers English language training using a simplified method. In such cases, advertising goals are inseparable from the mass work. It happens that, having achieved the desired, the editors do not fulfill their promises. In a situation of deceived trust, the demand for an edition suffers irreparable losses.

However, most journalists, especially in the local press, are convinced that circulation will rise when the media renews the “postal novel” with readers: they will become for them, as in the good old days, a lawyer, a matchmaker, a psychologist, an agronomist, a family doctor, a culinary consultant , employer, supplier of goods and services.

The emergence of interest in a particular media is associated with certain psychological attitudes of consumers. One needs a press for work, another for study, a third for entertainment and recreation, the fourth attracts the possibility of material gain. True, the latter is more characteristic of television, where the rating of programs sometimes directly depends on prizes and awards (as in the programs Field of Miracles, Self-Directed, Gold Rush, Guess the Melody). The most positive way to warming the interest of the audience affects communication about the publications. It is known that the discussion of news, events, television and radio programs, newspaper interviews, speeches and statements has become a part of our public life. At the same time, the media audience is significantly expanding, and people develop a desire to independently get acquainted with the latest press.

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The topic discussed in this chapter is at the intersection of the interests of journalism and sociology. The “eternal” questions of the organizing work of a journalist belong to the category of the fundamental social characteristics of his profession and change little over time. But every foundation decays. Theoretical knowledge is becoming obsolete, mass editorial practices are becoming poorer, the system of relationships in the journalistic team is changing. And yet, as polls show, a significant proportion of the journalist’s working time is spent on organizing relationships with the audience. Those journalists who are conscious of their social duty and treat the audience as a value, and not as a product, learn, experiment, and experience new forms. As a result, they achieve perfectly practical goals - to increase the culture of their labor and the demand for their products.