On the morning of 31 december 2019, the first financial monopoly released “vuhan unidentified pneumonia has been isolated and the results will be made public at the first opportunity”. This story, just over 700 words, is the first story in the country about the new coronary epidemic。
On 20 january, chinese newsweek, in a report entitled "victors of the virus: preventing the emergence of a new type of coronary virus from becoming an effective human being " , introduced the concept of preventing the emergence of "super-transmitters", and at 10 p. M., zhongnan yama was interviewed by a fellow student at white rock pine. The key to prevention was to prevent the emergence of super-transmitters。
On 20 february, zaixiang published “many cases of suspected new coronary infection in the wuhan home for the elderly” stating that “a nurse at the wuhan city social welfare hospital stated that about 11 elderly people died of repeated fevers and respiratory failure in the hospital, that medical personnel were infected and that there were suspected symptoms in the lung ct”。
On 20 march, the wuhan frontline journalist of the health times made a live and exclusive video interview with the inspector of the national health commission's medical administration and medical services department and the head of the central mission to hubei medical services unit for serious diseases, jiahui, to fully decrypt the backstage command of the final examination for the new coronary pneumonia treatment。
It is not difficult to find that they all share a common feature — a profession。
Why are professional journalists hereEpidemic coverageI'm sure it'll be a good time. What is the importance of professional journalists for the media? How are we supposed to grow
In this context, zhao anping, deputy editor-in-chief, media tea club, yang yudong, first financial editor, chen xiaoping, vice-president, china newsweek, yang xiaoming, director, new media department, health times, zhang su-lan, wang kara, first financial reporter, emma, interface journalist。
What's the point of a professional journalist
At the end of a medical conference, medical experts said to you, "i have only a few minutes to ask you two questions."
One journalist asked the question: "what does the analysis you just mentioned mean?"
About half of the journalists and half of the doctors in the plenary room made a boob。
At the time, the expert was suffocating, explaining briefly, and then he said, "well, that doesn't count, let's raise two more." the whole scene was full of laughs。
“professional journalists, or “runner journalists”, may also be called expert journalists. He was well aware of a particular area, had a certain level of professionalism, was able to speak to and interact with top-level experts in the system and often raised the issue of moving experts. In general, knowledge, concepts, skills and methods in the field of specialization are disseminated in a manner that is understandable and interesting to all, based on and deep-rooted over five years. This is also where professional journalists did a great job during the epidemic. Zhao anping, deputy editor-in-chief of health times。
On 23 january, following the announcement of the “sealing of the city” by wuhan, hundreds of journalists entered hubei province to cover the events。
“in addition to public health emergencies, disease and medical (industry) reporting has been an important area of coverage in china newsweek.” the vice-president of china newsweek, chen xiaoping, said。
Since 2013, china news weekly has been systematically conducting information on epidemics and the medical systemIn-depth coverageAnd sequence it。
In order to report on the epidemic, the weekly chinese news magazine has broken down the areas of specialization involved in the epidemic — epidemiologists, clinicians and virologists — a plan that has enriched the experts interviewed and strengthened their discourse。
According to chen xiaoping, professional journalists were able to express themselves during the reporting of the epidemic “because of their long history of accumulation and observation in the field of health, their ability to capture the core issues in dynamic events, and their ability to conduct more clearly and accurately an analysis of developments through interviews, i. E. To find the real issues and to provide in-depth coverage”。
At a time when society is calm, there is also much media coverage of the various sectors, and the audience does not feel too much, and access to such news seems natural。
And when major events occur, we need more professional voices. Seventeen years ago, someone was quenching the board and 17 years later, someone was queuing to buy double yellow series of oral fluids and every story was affecting the society. At this point, it is important that a group of professional and expert journalists come forward。
According to yang woo-dong, the first chief editor of the economy, professional journalists usually provide news from all walks of life and the media publish it as shallowly as possible, so that it is not perceived as professional or very deep. However, when major events occur, the situation varies considerably。
“for example, in this new coronary outbreak, the conceptual distinction between viruses, proteins and bacteria, the difference between nucleic acid and serum antibodies tests, the difference between clinical and research, the difference between treatment and prevention, etc., requires a very strong pool of expertise.”
He added: “the epidemic has given us a deeper sense of how important it is for professional journalists in the field of public health, who, in the age of mobile media, social media, have already had an explosion of information, but who are clearly also extremely troubled by the perception of authenticity, and at this point in time it has highlighted the value of professional media and journalists. This is also an important reason why a group of professional media with a long history of in-depth coverage was able to emerge from the epidemic.”
The dilemma of professional journalist career development
Is there a shortage of professional journalists in the media
Almost all the journalists interviewed said, “good professional journalists, we've always been short”
In 2003, the chief epidemiologist of the centers for disease prevention and control of china, professor guang, in his presentation at the forum entitled " public health reporting needs expert journalists " , stated that in public health reporting, in addition to the need for journalistic expertise, there was a need to strengthen expertise in relevant disciplines。
“in the meantime, i have been interviewed by many media journalists, and i have answered many questions, and i feel that our media lacks highly qualified professional journalists in the field of public health.”
Seventeen years later, we still have “a shortage of highly qualified professional journalists” at the health level。
According to chen, if a journalist were to be given a choice, he would certainly be willing to give priority to society, current politics, personalities, features, and not to take the initiative of running the health path, a common phenomenon。
Why, then, do most journalists not want to go to the health level
She explained that: “because news is easily trained in sudden-onset, social and other forms of journalism, it is an introductory level of journalism and basic training in journalism techniques. And some of the topics of medical health, such as our epidemic coverage, require journalists to build their own logical relationships, some scientific thinking, and purely literary thinking is more difficult to fulfil.”
The director of the new media department of the health times, yang xiaoming, said: “the health portal is colder than the current news, financial news, etc. Together with medical health, there is a high level of expertise in journalism and medicine and a higher threshold in itself. And those who choose to take root in this industry cannot but love the word.”
After graduation in 2008, yang xiaoming started running for medical health care for 12 years now。
He said that there was no attempt to change trade or run. “you know, every day you deal with hospitals, you talk to the country's top medical professionals, you report them, you become friends with them, and you feel very well. "health and health care" is closely related to everyone, is sacred, cannot be a doctor, cannot treat a disease, can report on them, is part of this circle, has long run away and knows more about medicine and health, and benefits the people around it.”
The reporter wang kara of the new kyoto newspaper also gave his example: “many people who have just been interviewed find it hard to understand, confused and unwilling to do it. It will take two to three hours for me to start writing a small piece of paper, because many of the specialized terms are not very well understood, and i need to find out what i understand before writing.”
Wang kara used to run social and public news, but instead turned to medical news six years ago because of the hospital link. The threshold of first-time production is actually high, the resources of the enterprise are inadequate, the financial report is not clear, the focus is not clear, and writing a piece takes a long time. She said that she was still learning and that so far she had felt that much had not been learned。
According to ma xiaohua, the first financial journalist, “professional requirements in the field of health are relatively high and relatively few people are interested in news in the field of health compared to other areas”
Runaway journalists need an expert perspective, based on emerging outbreaks, analysis and judgement through expertise, scientific patterns, and a media perspective. “for example, the emergence of `non-pneumonia-free behaviour' in the new coronary pneumonia treatment programme reveals the existence of a special group — people infected without symptoms. So we started to focus on and report on people with no symptoms. Professional perspectives can convey more information close to the truth.”
How to train professional journalists
How long will it take to become a professional medical reporter
Njp journalist zhang shulan said at least two years. “from trying to get some expertise, if you're interested, keep your love up.”
According to wang kara, it will take at least three years. “this is a process of accumulation of knowledge, which in a few years can lead to an understanding of the industry, and then further through continuous learning.”
The interface journalist emma said there was no end to time. “the scholars cannot be expected to study research articles written in their own right for years or decades, and read them overnight as amateur journalists.”
So how does the media train its own professionals
The health times, which was launched in january 2000, has been in existence for 20 years, and its strength has grown almost alongside it. The basic cadres in the team have been trained for about 10 years, almost becoming specialists in their counterparts。
YesTalent developmentOn the other hand, the health times has chosen a model similar to that of the medical profession - the teacher and the student。
"we're very typical teachers. Once the new recruits have arrived, they will work for a period of time before the department director matches the senior journalist. It is usually an old journalist who takes a new journalist for a year, until the apprentice is either on the right side or alone. We also held a master's ceremony, where the apprentice bowed to the teacher and issued a certificate, and the apprentice regularly reported to the teacher on his work and on his heart, as a cultural legacy.” zhao anping said。
In addition to teachers, the health times pays special attention to teaching practical cases. “specially well-doed stories, which are taught by various departments, and which, for a variety of reasons, are particularly typical of mistakes, will be taken as examples. As soon as we have it, we organize it."
At the same time, the health times has invited major experts to teach, and the president of the chinese association of photographers has been invited to teach, and the entire newspaper has remained in a state of continuous learning。
Zhao anping said, "because knowledge is being updated too quickly, you want to take root here, you don't learn well, you can't do it."
On the subject of talent development, yang yudong said: “the media with ideals and a sense of social responsibility must insist on one word: `raising', which is difficult to highlight when there is no big news, but in the event of a big event, they can quickly increase the power and influence of the media by using a wide range of professional stories, so-called soldiers for thousands of days
He offered three specific ways: first, to bring in more journalists with professional background and experience and to train them from university; second, to turn some of the best journalists around in order to increase professional training in the relevant fields; and third, to be treated in a way that reassured such journalists and allowed for continuous progress。
At the same time, yang yudong pointed out that the media needed to build influential reporting platforms in relevant areas of expertise to help journalists to gain greater influence and access to resources, which would create a virtuous cycle。
