Author: Mao Yuxi (Deputy Director of Guangzhou **Quan** Editorial Center, Senior Editor).
*: Young Journalists, Issue 13, 2023.
Introduction: Starting from the phenomenon of "strong editing and weak editing" that is prevalent in the current mainstream news production, this paper briefly explains the development trajectory and multiple connotations of this phenomenon, specifically analyzes the potential contradictions and practical alienation brought about by the "strong editing and weak editing" in news production, and clearly puts forward the feasible path of "strong editing and weak editing" in mainstream news production.
With the deep integration from the first half of the "mobile, social" to the second half of the "first, intelligent", the way of news production has undergone profound changes, the mainstream (generally refers to the "newspaper network end screen" communication matrix built based on local party newspapers, party periodicals, radio and television, including **level**, provincial**, municipal**, district and county media centers) news production has appeared "more editing", "less collection", "reporter editing", "in the 'line' field", "AI generated content" and other generalized trends, the overall presentationThe characteristics of "strong editing and weak editing".
At present, a comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon of "strong editing and weak editing" in mainstream news production is conducive to correcting the direction of future news production, calibrating the development goal of deep integration of mainstream news, and creating a healthy and orderly ecology.
Strong editing and weak mining": a technology-driven production shift.
Why does the mainstream ** news production present the phenomenon of "strong editing and weak editing"? Exploring the evolution trajectory of mainstream news production can be summarized into the following three stages of development.
In the first stage, the phenomenon of "strong editing and weak editing" in news production originated in web1In the 0 Internet era, it is mainly reflected in the networking and integration of the editing process. At the beginning of the 21st century, with the popularization of network applications, comprehensive content consumption has become an important channel for netizens, seizing the comprehensive reading and listening market that originally belonged to newspapers, radio and television. At that time, the commercial ** represented by Sina, Sohu, and NetEase first became the "integrator" of information dissemination channels, and then from the ** to the local mainstream ** have opened the "newspaper network interaction" layout, which initially showed the powerful integration function of information and information, promoted the networked and integrated transfer of the news consumption side, and initially highlighted the importance of the editorial link driven by media technology, and the "strong editing" link took the first step.
In the second stage, the phenomenon of "strong editing and weak editing" in news production is prevalent in Web2In the era of 0 social networking, it is mainly reflected in the collection and writing of the first and remote. In web2 represented by Weibo and WeChatIn the 0 era, ordinary users, social platforms, news organizations and artificial intelligence together constitute the main body of content production, the boundaries of news producers are gradually blurred, and the mode of news production has become interaction, sharing, and convergence, and users basically no longer care about news (information) **Clues are basically obtained through**, and the boundary between facts and opinions is becoming increasingly blurred. For example, in breaking news reports, the pictures or short shots taken by users often become the source of information used by many mainstream **; In the era of social networking in seconds or instant transmission, going deep into the scene has become no longer "economical", and news gathering and writing has changed from "on the spot" to "**field". Under the coercion of new media technology, the "weak collection" link of mainstream news production has become more and more common, and the phenomenon of "strong editing and weak editing" has gradually become the regular state of many mainstream ** daily news production.
In the third stage, the phenomenon of "strong editing and weak editing" in news production is stereotyped in Web3In the era of 0 intelligent interconnection, it is mainly reflected in the intelligence and automation of process links. The coupling of AI and the media industry has given birth to and strengthened machine-generated content (MGC) and AIGC, and the content production paradigm has undergone a huge evolution from professionally produced content (PGC) to user-generated content (UGC) and then to MGC AIGC. At present, the successful "out of the circle" of ChatGPT chat software means that we are moving from the era of "weak artificial intelligence" to the era of "strong artificial intelligence", which means that the era of large-scale commercialization of AI is coming. [1] In the future, intelligent original generation tools similar to ChatGPT will definitely integrate various media forms such as text and audio to achieve highly unified intelligent content production and output, and have the high-dimensional ability of "mass production" of news.
By tracing the development trajectory, we can find that media technology (rather than policy factors) is the core force driving the reform of news production, and the phenomenon of "strong editing and weak editing" in mainstream news production is becoming more and more common, which is the development result of gradually adapting to the whole era. In this regard, some scholars mention it in a sentence or a word "in one stroke", which has not yet been deepened, and the term "strong editing and weak collection" clearly refers to the narrow connotation of the literal interpretation of "editing (arrangement) strengthening + reporter (writing) weakening". [2] Media academia often use terms such as "remote reporting", "physical presence", "multiple presence" and "post-presence" to explain the changes and impacts of news reporting in the context of the application of media technology, and rarely touch the pulse of the practice framework of the whole chain of news production. [3]?[4] A comprehensive and complete explanation of the phenomenon of "strong editing and weak editing" in mainstream ** news production should actually include three perspectives and levels. The first is the perspective of role change, that is, the role of editors in the back-end processing in the whole first-class communication process is strengthened, and the role of reporters in front of the writing is weakened. The second is the perspective of link change, that is, the processing of information in the whole communication process is strengthened, and the on-site origin of information is weakened. The third is the perspective of content change, that is, the "machine-produced content" (AIGC MGC) in the whole ** communication process is strengthened, and the manually written content is weakened. Unlike some scholars who point to the narrow connotation, the deeper connotation of "strong editing and weak editing" should point to the latter two perspectives and levels, which is where we pay attention to the phenomenon of "strong editing and weak editing". That is to say, behind the phenomenon of "strong editing and weak editing" in mainstream news production, it actually points to the evolution and transformation of the mode of news (content) production, indicating that mankind has ushered in a new paradigm of news (content) production in the whole era.
Flaws and Yu see each other: the triple logic of "strong editing and weak collection".
Starting from the above-mentioned practice trajectory and multiple connotations of "strong editing and weak editing", we can find that the mainstream news production of "strong editing and weak editing" presents the dual characteristics of coexistence of opportunities and risks, which brings potential contradictions and practical alienation.
First, the "integration of news logic" enriches the product form of news production and virtually dissolves the on-site value of news production. Fusion news is not only an emerging form of news, but also a new news concept, the essence of which is that news reports break through the barriers of different media, and produce all ** news products suitable for different users in the form of text, h5, short and other multi-** fusion forms. For the mainstream, the key link to achieve media integration is to reengineer the editorial process, establish a strong support system for "curating, editing, editing, and disseminating", and integrate news concepts to become the standard for building a full-scale communication ecosystem. At present, the mainstream has completed a similar "kitchen" style media platform architecture, and basically realized the construction of a full-scale communication system of "one collection, multiple generation, and multiple communication" (the media industry vividly calls it "one fish eats more"). To some extent, the key to the success of the "* kitchen" news production is precisely the editorial link in the back. Front-line reporters are responsible for providing verified "primary products" - even such "primary products" tend to be "first-class", and then "deep processing" is completed by a strong back-end editor, and the editing process has a leading role; The mainstream has begun to change from the traditional "content producer" to the new "content organizer" positioning. In such a normalized "strong editing" production process, it will naturally breed similar phenomena of "irrigation" and "mastery" - no longer pay attention to and verify the news**, and are keen on "making cars behind closed doors", grafting or patching together at will**.
In addition, with the visual transformation of integrated news presentation, it has led to the browsing habits of users who do not receive non-visual news and do not watch non-visual news, and the in-depth expression of news value is gradually weakened due to the advanced form of technology, which may lead to the weakening of the on-site nature, depth and value of mainstream news production in the long run, which is manifested in: the news supply side is increasingly falling into homogeneity, overload, and fragmentation.
Second, the "flow-oriented logic" reflects the market consciousness of the mainstream to participate in the competition of the "eyeball economy", which virtually dissolves the professionalism of news production. In the social era, social platforms have given birth to commercial cash-out of "traffic is king" and "traffic is supreme". On the one hand, traffic reflects the best influence, on the other hand, it represents user attention, and traffic is the value intermediary of content production and commercial realization. The mainstream ** pays attention to "traffic thinking" and values the commercial value behind the traffic, which is understandable, because the traffic logic reflects the accuracy and efficiency of attention value measurement, and "traffic is king" has become an important guide to measure the quality of news products. However, for the sake of the so-called traffic, some mainstream ** have repeatedly lowered the professional standards of journalism, and "brought" social ** platforms ("self-**" to win traffic routines - fake news, emotional transmission, "headline party" popularity and other chaos emerge in an endless stream, some works are shoddy, and some works are vulgar and kitsch. Similar to "journalistic migrant workers", "codewriters", and """ have also become a kind of self-deprecation of journalists' perception of their professional identity, which has greatly dissipated the journalistic professionalism that they originally adhered to. Of course, more and more mainstream ** have also realized that it is not advisable to simply value "traffic is king", and to obtain traffic should rely on high-quality content, and traffic is the "end" rather than the "root".
Third, the "technology empowerment logic" has broken the technical barriers between mainstream news production and social platforms, and virtually dissipated the practical value of news production. At present, artificial intelligence technology has been deeply involved in the whole process of information production, distribution, interaction and evaluation, making news production more efficient and convenient, product distribution more accurate and personalized, and "technology empowerment" has become an indicator to measure the improvement of mainstream news production capacity. For example, the Xinhua News Agency's copywriting machine "Kuaibi Xiaoxin" can automatically write, edit and issue through data collection and processing, and complete the automatic writing of sports events, Chinese and English scripts and financial news at the fastest speed, and its accuracy and timeliness can surpass that of reporters and editors. At present, CCTV, People's **, Xinhua News Agency and other mainstream ** have launched AI virtual anchors, laying out a new highland of intelligent anchors in advance. In general, artificial intelligence empowers news production, mainly through six levels: information generation, data journalism, interview filling, intelligent anchors, personality recommendation, and narrative expression.
Of course, once artificial intelligence is deeply involved in news production, news content will often be patterned and stereotyped, appearing solid, boring, and mechanical, and some news will be similar, and the finished news products will lack flexibility, emotion, and richness, forming the phenomenon of "mass production" of news products. The "empowerment" of artificial intelligence has invisibly distorted the labor value and practical core of the news industry from the technical level, because the essence of news should be "people write news", not "machine news".
Practical reflection: how to correct the "strong editing and weak collection".
In the ecological environment dominated by new media technology, how to seek a way forward for mainstream news production by strengthening on-site awareness, professional ethics, and professional values is particularly urgent in the "post-truth" era.
First, mainstream news production should abide by professional ethics, adhere to professionalism, and strengthen the main business of news content. In the whole era, the diversification of production subjects makes the news content mixed, muddy and sandy, and the news information has obvious characteristics of mass quantification, fragmentation and aggregation, which is the innate "nature" of the mobile Internet. Against this background, it is particularly necessary to return to and uphold the professional ethics and professionalism of journalism with comprehensiveness, objectivity and impartiality as the core. For example, in the face of anonymous sources such as "disclosed by an informed source", "relevant ** said", "said by an unnamed person", the inherent requirement of journalistic professional ethics is to use it with caution, not to abuse it, and not to arbitrarily fabricate anonymous sources. For another example, in the face of the popular phenomenon of "headline party" -- some of them are misleading, some are partial and complete, some are exaggerated, and some are vulgar and kitsch, the inherent requirement of journalistic professional ethics is not to distort or tamper with the headline, not to mislead readers, and not to damage the original meaning. From the perspective of the process, we should integrate the traditional advantages of the mainstream and the new environment, and look at the dual impact of the phenomenon of "strong editing and weak editing" dialectically, and should not separate the opposition between "strong editing" and "weak editing", and "strong editing" does not necessarily lead to "weak mining"; For the deficiencies or deficiencies caused by the "weak collection" link, it should be strengthened or repaired from the "strong editing" link, and the news professionalism should run through the whole process of news production, such as writing, editing, verification, and feedback, which is also the proper meaning of the transformation and development of the news production model.
Second, mainstream news production should do a good job of fact-checking and try to build a vertical fact-checking platform. Fact-checking is an important part of stopping fake news and an entry point to enhance the credibility of mainstream news when it comes to ensuring the credibility of news reports. In terms of news fact-checking mechanisms, the West has accumulated a certain amount of experience. On the basis of learning from the concept of fact-checking in the West, there is also a practical exploration dedicated to news fact-checking in China. In August 2018, the China Internet Joint Rumor Refutation Platform was launched, setting up columns such as ministry releases, local responses, ** verification, expert perspectives, and rumor refutation classes, with the functions of reporting and verifying rumors. Statistics show that as of January 28, 2023, China's Internet joint rumor refutation platform has released 425 rumor refutation labels, and major ** platforms have marked more than 250,000 rumors based on rumor refutation labels. [5] In September 2021, The Paper launched the "The Paper" platform, which is committed to building a global international news fact-checking platform. With the superposition and integration of the era of artificial intelligence and the era of big data, the wide application of data mining, search comparison, and algorithm technology will greatly improve the efficiency and reduce the cost of fact checking. To this end, the mainstream needs to incorporate fact checking into the whole process of its own news production, explore the creation of a diversified and vertical news fact verification platform, "connect" the social ** platform and its users, do a good job in the interaction and feedback of fact verification, so that all news can be put under the "magnifying glass" to be tested, and get through the difficulties, blind spots, and pain points of controlling fake news.
Third, the mainstream needs to give full play to its professional advantages, participate in the improvement of media literacy of ordinary users, and jointly build a well-ordered ecology. In the era of "everyone has a microphone", everyone is a producer and disseminator of information (news), which is the inevitable result of technological innovation and an unstoppable trend. Media literacy, as the ability to choose and question, understand and evaluate, produce and create, discriminate and interpret information in the face of different media information, is not only the basic literacy of people, but also the basic literacy of the public. The production and dissemination of objective and authentic information (news) not only tests the professionalism of the best people, but also a problem that every ordinary user must face. As the professional ethics and moral bottom line of the content industry, it should become the common basis for the development of "self" social networking and mainstream. In this context, the mainstream should give full play to the "MCN role" in terms of news professionalism and professionalism, and create a certification system for the media profession by carrying out professional training, public welfare forums, list selection, incubation studios, etc., and become an advocate, leader, and participant in improving the media literacy of ordinary users, and jointly create a healthy, orderly, and vibrant ecology.
Fourth, the mainstream ** can try to identify and label "AI-generated content", so that users can make their own judgments when obtaining such information. Machine writing such as ChatGPT can achieve massive, efficient, and all-weather work mode, which has indeed greatly improved the efficiency of news production. In terms of data analysis, information release, identification, hosting and broadcasting, etc., the "batch output" AIGC products have greatly liberated news productivity. However, for users who are not familiar with the content or topics involved in the sample news, it is easy to dismiss AI-generated content as legitimate, authoritative content, and not to think that intelligent machines may "make up facts". In the face of the increasing prevalence of AI-generated content, it is essential to let users know that this is "machine news" to avoid creating a flood of rumors or fake news. With regard to how the mass media publish advertisements (or special topics), China's Advertising Law clearly stipulates that advertisements published through the mass media shall be prominently marked with "advertisements", which shall be distinguished from other non-advertising information, and shall not mislead consumers. Inspired by this, the publication or dissemination of AI-generated content also needs to be standardized from the top-level design level, and the presentation and labeling of AI-generated content should be explored, so that users can identify, analyze and judge this kind of information by themselves.
In short, in the face of the deep integration of the first and the most intelligent transformation, how the mainstream and its people return to the "field", how to ensure that "people write news", and how to reflect the practical value are all issues of the times worthy of further reflection.
This paper is the interim result of the Humanities and Social Sciences Planning Project of the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China "Research on Mainstream Ideological Discourse Communication Innovation in Colleges and Universities" (Grant No. 22YJA710023).
References: 1] Xing Meng. ChatGPT is popular: How far are we from the large-scale commercial use of AI? [n].*2023-02-08(a3).
2] The era of integration emphasizes "weak collection and strong editing", that is, the establishment of a strong back-end support system to strengthen the core position and leading role of editors in the overall report. See Luan Yimei. How do we become journalists in the era of Rong ** [n].Guangming**,2014-12-13(a10)
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4] Wang Jiahang. The "Presence" of Journalists: The Transformation and Reflection of "News Scene" Reporting[J].Contemporary Communication,2022(06):71-74
5]**The Whistleblowing Center of the Cyberspace Administration of China continues to carry out the work of refuting rumors on the InternetPeople's Daily Online, (2023-01-28).
This article refers to the citation format:
Mao Yuxi. Analysis of "Strong Editing and Weak Reporting" in News Production from the Perspective of Technology[J].Young Journalists, 2023(13):48-50