We explain what the report is, how is its structure and classification. Also, what are its characteristics and what is reportage 2.0.
The report is a type of journalistic narration that recomposes events of a news nature and discloses them for informational purposes. It is considered a documentary genre, although it may contain subjective information from its author, but different from the opinion column or the chronicle , much more permissive in terms of style.
The report must be as restrained as possible in the transmission of positions regarding what is narrated , as in almost all branches of journalism ; Even so, a good level of analysis of what is referred to and a deep understanding of the subject are expected from a report, which gives the author a certain protagonism.
The reports are often accompanied by interviews or other types of informative approaches. He is often considered an example of investigative journalism.
The birth of reporting is closely linked to that of the written press . News writers fed the first rudimentary publications, such as newsletters and pamphlets, with narratives of interest to the locality, gossip, matters that attracted attention and were in some way of public interest.
In the 19th century, reporting emerged as we know it , hand in hand with news consortiums and the need, for example, of witnesses in the great world wars and sources of information located at the scene of the events, without having to wait. at the end of the event to review it. The word reporter was first used by Stendhal in 1829.
There are many ways to report, and the more authorial journalists can pretty much do whatever they want. However, the traditional structure is more or less as follows:
Two great virtues are expected from every report, in principle:
A good report makes use of scriptural and rhetorical resources (metaphors, contrasts, powerful turns of expression), as well as intertextuality ( interviews , quotes, short stories) and in many cases photographic or audiovisual support.
It should be noted that the arrival of photography and its close relationship with journalism gave rise to numerous photo-reports, characterized by the same principles exposed here, but in them the visual document has much more prominence than the written text . In those cases, it is the text that is at the service of the points of view expressed in the photographic account.
There are different types of report, according to the type of information they want to cover and the types of discourse they use for it:
The news source of a report can be as varied as the courage and talent of the journalist allows . Stories, informal interviews, everything can contribute to the writing of the article, although there are much more reliable and verifiable sources such as written documentation, books, publications, newspapers, radio or television broadcasts .
There have been remarkable reporters in history , especially in adverse political and social conditions, which often cost them dearly. A notable case is the Argentine Rodolfo Walsh , who secretly published reports denouncing the last Argentine military dictatorship , and whose brave work cost him his forced disappearance and assassination.
A less unfortunate case is that of Joseph Pulitzer, the inspiration behind the award that honors him today , whose work as an investigative reporter shed much light on the networks of corruption in large international economic consortiums, thus opposing truly enormous powers and promoting honest and committed journalism.
Facing today's hyper- informed world, in which the role of the media is constantly questioned, the report gains importance in the face of its enormous expressive possibilities and the construction of a point of view . In fact, it could be said that there is currently a proliferation of points of view that does not always contribute to the democratization of information.
The Internet and new technologies seem to attack the journalistic institution, to the extent that any citizen can become a critical and informed voice on topics of interest and current news.
However, the issue works both ways, as the social networks and the world 2.0 is a quarry giant information for reporters, and digital journalism a way to get their hands on hypertext media, multimedia, making the story a novel experience and more relevant than ever.
On the other hand, the disorderly proliferation of information points of view and actors legitimizes, consequently, the need for informed voices.
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