PECULIARITIES OF WORK IN PRINT MEDIA

Printed publications have distinct specificity as elements of the media system. It is determined by the fact that the main working material of the press is the word and image left on paper or other “solid” media. Newspaper, magazine, almanac, book kept for years without visible destruction. They at any time can be claimed by the consumer. They are easy to analyze in their entirety, compare, repeatedly re-read, return to the same important idea. Naturally, therefore, lagging behind radio and television in efficiency, the print media outperforms them in analyticity, even if their leaders profess so-called news journalism. In periodicals, there is a high demand for style and accuracy of word usage. As practice shows, the “aggregate reader” draws attention to any mistake, even if it is made in the output data.

Of course, each of the prints has its own characteristics. The old adage “a newspaper lives one day” is only partially true, but it underlines the requirement for the promptness of a reporter working in a daily newspaper. Sometimes it is compared with a pipeline, where each performs its own operation, and in the end it turns out something in common. Here, along with problematic and journalistic speeches, an important place is occupied by a short information note, which forces readers to pay attention to this or that event or phenomenon. The weekly is no longer so necessary high efficiency, but here reviews, analytical materials are extremely relevant.

The magazine, unlike the newspaper, rarely publishes materials "without delay". The fact is that here the technological cycle is much longer than in the newspaper. But the magazine has its merits. So, the same number (the same book, as they said before) of the magazine is read by about five times more people than a copy of the newspaper. It is considered that the magazine can provide the author with more space than a newspaper. This is by no means always the case, since there are differences between thick and thin magazines. But they also have a common one - this is a clearly established frequency of exit. The almanac, unlike the magazine, is produced as material accumulates and rarely has a clearly defined periodicity.

Editorial and organizational work in journals and almanacs is led by editorial boards, each of which has a chief editor and his deputies, a responsible secretary (he coordinates the work of the departments), department heads, editors and members of the public. The number of staff depends on the type of journal. Thick magazines often involve experts and consultants.

Differences between print media only underline the common ground between them. Namely - the need for careful work on the word , clarity of conclusions and generalizations. The reader is unable to attend the scene. The reporter is not only his eyes, but also his ears, nose, organs of touch and taste. That is why the “picture” that the journalist draws must also have all the other necessary qualities of vitality, and not only be “visible”.

In any print edition, a journalist is obliged to thoroughly verify names, surnames, numbers, dates, quotes. In short, all that in case of an error can mislead readers. You shouldn’t hope for a voice recorder and other technical equipment: the last name is not always, say, written as it is heard. And memory can fail. That is why experienced journalists write important details in block letters in a regular notebook and do not forget to double-check.

And one more peculiarity: an employee of a newspaper or magazine should be trained in the skillful use of design tools - most often the reader’s only body that gives him an idea of ​​a particular material, and the publication as a whole, are the eyes. Modern print media is rarely without illustrations. Therefore, the author in the preparation of the work should think about how you can animate and supplement the text with illustrative material. Since we live in an era of “screen civilization,” the iconic print series is extremely important. In addition, illustration, unlike a word, is psychologically perceived as a documentary and irrefutable evidence of the authenticity of a message. Event-informational, documentary, educational, entertaining, satirical, humorous and other photographs, drawings, diagrams can not only illustrate textual material, but also have their own significance.

Text and illustrations, heading complexes, announcements, tie-ins, selections — all this and much more makes a newspaper, magazine, almanac not just a “collection of words and pictures”, but a single organism living with the thoughts and feelings of the authors. Any newsboy knows that the font design of headings and text can highlight or, on the contrary, make it almost invisible on the page. The old truth - the form is meaningful, and the content should be formalized - it predetermines special requirements for the selection of fonts for header files. The “blind” headline may lead to the fact that even the most important information will not be noticed and perceived by the readers, and the excessively bright, blatant will turn the secondary material into the main material on the page. You can not forget about it. That is why it makes sense to imagine in advance the place of the material on the strip and select the heading font corresponding to its size and content.

In recent years, more and more publications go to the so-called monogontitory layout, when one font is chosen for texts and headings, and allocations are made by changing the size or outline (i.e., saturation, tilt, density). This is technologically justified, although it significantly reduces the expressiveness of the appearance of the publication.

There are still editions in which they work according to the old classical scheme: materials prepared for publication and a draft layout of the number are submitted to the publishing house, where original mock-ups, films or photo forms are made on the basis of manuscripts and illustrations, which are then transferred to the printing house. But the computerization of journalistic labor makes such a scheme economically inexpedient. That is why an increasing number of revisions begin to independently prepare at least original issue layouts. This requires newspaper makers to master computer technology and to acquire skills in handling it.