Analyze the life of the Washington Post.com online

Editor's note:
Online newspapers are a common form of publishing. Some well-known newspapers and periodicals have their own online versions. In order to add more interactive factors to online publishing and attract more readers, publishers have opened news chat forums, where readers can directly discuss with reporters some concerns. So how does this new model work, what kind of role changes does it bring to traditional publishing, and how does it make news reports more lively? This article is aimed at these issues, through the analysis of the Washington Post.com's life online to find the answer.

The Life of Washington Post.com online may be the largest real-time chat project in the nation's major newspapers, and it has provided 30 hours of chat time per week since December 1999. Many times, the online life will directly use the reporter resources of the Washington Post, and these responsible persons personally make the chat the leading role, so that readers can directly through the chat section to consult with experts. This kind of real-time chat naturally brings unlimited business opportunities to newspaper publishers. First, more readers click on their sites, the residence time will be longer, and naturally more advertisers will be attracted. In addition, this type of interaction brings about changes in the relationship between journalists and readers. Journalists are no longer merely writing and readers are no longer passively receiving. This kind of role conversion brings about a new type of change. Equal relationship.

Undoubtedly, under the chat mode of living online, the production and consumption of news has changed. The linguist Ron ScoUon pointed out that traditional news communication is a simple "send-receive" model. It is difficult for reporters and readers to come into direct contact with each other and their respective external environments are also different. The main limitations of reporters' information exchange In a circle with other journalists, editors, and other media, the information sent by reporters is the result of information interaction in this circle. And the reader is in another environment, and their interactive objects are other readers who read the same information. The emergence of newsrooms has changed this mode of information dissemination. It gives readers a space in which readers can make interactive feedback without leaving the medium for receiving information. Internet chat not only enables readers and reporters to directly communicate, but also allows other readers to read these. Communication content.

In the course of news and chat, people always think that what the reporter knows must be more than what he wrote in the article, so the reader often puts many questions beyond the story itself. According to the study of live online chat rooms, it can be seen that the interaction between journalists and readers is an important way for them to understand each other.

News online chat is very different from traditional media news reports. Is this new model valuable? From the topic of Lifeline Online from September 1st to November 15th, 1999, all the topics were invited by the Post reporter as guests. The topics discussed covered political, domestic and international news. In the study of these issues, this article pays special attention to how journalists, readers, and the media are positioned, as well as the expansion of reporters' traditional roles.

First, how to chat live This kind of real-time chat online like radio, TV shows in the "visit show" to provide an environment to invite readers to participate. In real-time chat, the positions of editors, reporters, and news sources have changed. They appear as background material for news events. To specify the nature of the reported events, all events start with a title, including “speaking” and “discussion”. , "Q&A" ("Quest & Answer"). The following is a live chat on a military topic on October 20th. Through the following records and analysis, you can understand how this kind of chat is actually performed.

<Headline> and Post Pentagon Spokesman Dana Priest's Questions & Answers

<Date> Wednesday, October 20, 1999

<Author> Dana Priest

<Opening> The Ministry of Defense has issued a detailed study on the NATO air strikes against Yugoslavia. Dana Priest, the host of the military column for this post, published a series of articles on this issue.
Priest will now discuss the latest military news online.

Priest had been in the post for 13 years, first as a foreign editor's assistant, and then nine years ago as a national reporter. Priest then reported on the federal statute and went to Baghdad to write about hostage-taking in Iraq.

In the past four years, Priest was responsible for reporting the Pentagon press. For this reason she went to Bosnia to write about the U.S. troops stationed there. Priest also reported extensively on the military’s efforts to recruit women.

(Following the opening content is a copy of the homepage)

As can be seen from the above, Dana Priest’s name appeared several times before the chat began. In the title, under the author’s photograph, there were also five appearances in the opening remarks. The author's photo used on the page further emphasizes the authority of the reporter. However, the name of the Washington Post appeared only once in the title, appeared twice in the opening, and the editors who wrote this opening and editorial content were not mentioned. Can be seen in the real-time news and chat is more prominent reporter is the protagonist. Followed by the introduction of chat topics:

Washington Post.com: Welcome to our monthly postal reporter prest

The discussion took place, thank Dana again for coming to our chat room. a president

The task force, in spite of opposition from local residents, proposed to continue bombing the Puerto Rico Islands.

What do you expect the outcome of this dispute?
The unknown editor directly invited readers to participate in the "daily" discussion with the priest. The readers can see these contents on the site. The editor of the post.com turned to the author priest and thanked her for her arrival. Call her Dana to form a formal, inviting tone before the participants.

After the participants are finalized, the topic will be elicited. The editor will ask questions to guide the discussion. The role of the copy should also be highlighted here. In the place mentioned in the discussion event, there will be a link at the bottom of its open page, inviting the reader to “submit a question”. By clicking this link, readers can submit their own position directly. The location, questions and comments. This link is also an invitation for readers to remind readers to participate directly in online chat.

The readers participating in the chat are usually identified by their geographical location, and some topic discussions are marked with the reader's name or the beginning of the comment.

Second, the role of change In online news chat, readers are explicitly invited to ask their own questions, readers will respond to this, this situation is very different from the traditional, because in the past when studying a topic, the reporter always acts as the questioner.

In addition, in the United Kingdom, when a research report on radio news coverage was published, reporters were often in a neutral position in the incident report. After asking questions, they would seek information sources to make an answer instead of expressing their opinions on the topic. However, from the perspective of life online chats, this model has changed, and now readers are asking questions, and reporters must respond. On the one hand, after this time, the readers are no longer listening to the audience. The reporter is no longer a neutral one. Reporters, because they are chatting in real time, reporters must give their own opinions and judgments. This can be demonstrated by the following live online November 15 chat:

Washington Post.com: In your article, you mentioned that students who go to college lack a sense of community. So what is the attempt to change this situation?

What will these trials be?
Jim Naughton: I'm not exactly sure how to form a sense of community in a college where everyone is busy. Any ideas?

In this case, the reporter is faced with an exact question and needs to directly judge whether there should be a change. Mr. Naughton's reply is: I am not sure. Affected by the old habits, Naughton turned to ask the reader what the idea was and played back into the role of the reporter's question, but this time there was no reader response.

Interestingly, the editors of the Post.com immediately questioned Naughton and asked Naughton's point of view. At this time, the media allowed journalists to abandon the past neutrality and to express their opinions. From Naughton's answer, he expressed his opinion unambiguously, and cited some examples and data in making his own conclusions, which are not the same as those pointed out in the article. What the reporter said at this time seemed to be What should not be said in the role of a traditional journalist shows that the reporter here is no longer a neutral spokesperson, but a discussant who has expressed his views.

Third, conclusions Online news chat allows readers and writers to take a step closer to directly conduct interactive lectures on materials. This is much more effective than feedback from readers who wrote letters in the past. It is not limited by the length of paper and time, it promotes interaction between news communicators and recipients, and it increases the interest of other readers.

In the process of chatting, the responsibilities of journalists (or academic authors) have changed, from the original media information sender to the “interpreter” of information, and with greater initiative. At the same time, it must be pointed out that this initiative is also a challenge for journalists and a change in traditional concepts and work patterns. It is necessary to work hard to achieve this role transition.