July 2 is International Sports Journalists Day.
Behind every festival is a cultural and spiritual heritage.
Sports reporters are witnesses to various events, witnesses to the birth of world records, communicators of the Olympic spirit, and promoters of the development of sports.
However, in the era of self-media where "everyone can be a reporter", is it still necessary for sports reporters to exist when traditional media are constantly under attack?
In this festival dedicated to sports journalists, we have invited a group of senior reporters who have been deeply involved in the field of sports news for many years, colleagues who have worked hard on the sidelines of the game and now completed various identity transformations, and sports media practitioners to discuss this issue. The present and future of the profession.
Data map: A foreign female reporter is filming the men's trampoline competition at the Youth Olympic Games.
Image source: Oriental IC
Tian Yingming, founder of Lantern Sports
In any era, sports are a positive existence.
The high-burning pictures on the field, coupled with the inspirational stories off the field, have made countless legendary stories that can inspire generations to come.
Although there are many self-media and athletes can share their life through social platforms, only professional sports reporters can conduct interviews and research seriously, down-to-earth and down-to-earth, conveying the spirit of sports in an all-round way and showing the charm of athletes.
Sun Yiwen's sword in the Olympic finals blocked her throat, because a reporter's report let more people know how she "self-abandoned martial arts", broke her habitual tactics, and turned her previous disadvantages into advantages, thereby encouraging thousands of young people.
Because a reporter reported, let more children understand the benefits of this project, so as to join the sport.
These need to be written by reporters who can have in-depth contact and understanding of athletes, and it is difficult for self-media to do so.
One more scene of a flaming game and one more objective report with positive energy may help some growing teenagers to establish the correct three views.
Salute to the sports reporters who are fighting on the front line, you are helping the birth of youth idols in the new era.
Gossip, rumors, tearing each other... These may be the passwords to gain attention, but I hope that the world of sports is not full of traffic, but upward force.
Bao Hongguang, Editor-in-Chief, Sports News Department, Beijing News
Sports reporters will never have a vacation until the Earth explodes.
At present, the media and methods of communication have undergone earth-shaking changes.
There is an argument that anyone can be a journalist with just a smartphone.
But in fact, it's not.
At most, it is just a recorder, far from being a sports reporter.
First of all, sports reporters in institutional media have a sense of rules, have norms in their writing, and have boundaries in what they do.
Although there are many other recorders with extremely high business literacy, in general, they are still mixed, and the good and the bad are mixed.
Second, sports reporters in institutional media have experience working in teams.
When encountering large-scale events such as the Olympic Games and the World Cup, the editing and editing, text, picture and video complement each other, and individual recorders obviously do not have such working conditions.
Third, most sports reporters in institutional media have a clear purpose - faithful record and seek the truth.
This is difficult for some recorders to achieve, and they even have their own thoughts and goals;
Of course, with the development of the times and the advancement of technology, sports reporters are also advancing with the times.
Being able to collect and write, be able to shoot and cut, and be able to connect and live broadcast has gradually become a standard skill for some peers.
Live and learn.
That's good.
Data map: A photographer was lying on his side in order to adjust his remote camera.
Xu Shaolian, Chairman of Cool Deer Sports
We-media is a product of the times. It enriches, enriches and makes up for the original form of media. It should coexist and co-prosper with traditional media.
At present, in the field of sports news, the phenomenon of self-media impacting and even strangling the media is the standard.
What's more, sports news writing has a professional threshold. Letting the self-media prevail and rampage will only make sports news superficial and lose its professionalism, and then the bad money will drive out the good money, causing irreparable damage to the industry.
Professional people do professional things, and sports news always needs the persistence, dedication and hard work of professional sports reporters.
Founder of Li Tao Sports Big Business
The self-media era gives sports lovers more ways to express, but it cannot teach the norms of expression.
From the basic writing ability of "text follows the word smoothly" to the spirit of objective and fair news reporting, from the method of data collection through rigorous investigation to the endless professional and advanced thinking, all are the qualities or skills that qualified media practitioners should have.
After hundreds of years of development in the media industry, a scientific mechanism has been formed to cultivate media professionals with the above qualities.
No matter what changes in the form of media in the future, there should be the same mechanism to ensure that the disseminated content is not shoddy or even confusing right and wrong.
Unfortunately, at least this mechanism does not exist in the current self-media industry. We still need the power of traditional media to tell us the basic principles and attitudes of disseminating content.
Data map: The picture shows the moment the reporters photographed the winners celebrating each other.
Image source: Visual China
Zhang Bin is a media practitioner, senior sports industry commentator
In the era of self-media, not only sports reporters are needed, but sports reporters are even more needed.
The content provided by We Media is one-dimensional, mainly outputting information and opinions, which is not much different from the content presented by news pop-ups and short video highlights.
But sports content is multi-dimensional. In addition to the scores and other news, the stories behind sports people are more moving.
Excavating the stories behind sports people is obviously not something that can be done by self-media people, but requires real media reporters.
They are on the front line, outlining the characters' characters through details, and describing the characters' stories through interviews.
Of course, this is not limited to sports reporters in the pure sense. Many character reporters have also made very good reports on sports characters.
The volume of sports content is exploding, but quality sports coverage is increasingly scarce.
On the one hand, the media has shrunk, and many sports reporters have changed careers; on the other hand, many media are reluctant to pay for reporters to report on the front line (of course, the epidemic is also a factor that cannot be ignored).
This has led to a self-media trend in the content presented by the few remaining sports reporters, which may be even more deplorable.
Sports reporters who are still obsessed with the front line and can bring high-quality reports are scarce and precious in this era.
Zhou Chao, chief editor of Sina Sports
I can't see the need for sports reporters right now, because at the moment, there is not much demand for paid sports information and watching events in China.
Without demand, there is no income.
Today's sports market is actually a national investment market, and has not grown into a "private market".
That's why demand for sports coverage is shrinking.
If this supply-demand relationship does not change, China's sports reporters will only shrink, leaving only public welfare sports reporters who report on public welfare.
Data map: Photographers collectively took a truck to shoot the marathon.
Image source: Oriental IC
Fang Liang, Marketing Director of Live Bar
If people still have a quest for facts, they must need journalists, including sports reporters.
The so-called contradiction between traditional media and self-media is more focused on journalism ethics, operational techniques, and professional ethics, which will not be discussed here.
Some self-media do not have to do this badly, and some media do not do well either.
From the perspective of content, there is no conflict between the self-media and the reporter itself. A good reporter may also be an excellent self-media person.
If he is not an excellent media person, he may not be able to make popular works if there is no self-media.
There is no shortage of traffic and excellent works in every era.
I think I have always aimed at this, and I am afraid I will not be trapped by the "self-made media".
But instead, ask yourself, and some stand and talk without back pain.
Going back to the sports industry, there are many factors at play in the profession of a sports reporter.
Not only self-media, but also public relations, as well as constantly improving technological means, such as the upgrade of the broadcast format, have allowed the audience to get close to the game to a large extent.
In all aspects, the requirements for sports reporters are higher, and sports reporters are more difficult to do.
On the other hand, in the media, how to attract and retain talents has also become a problem.
Cao Yaqi Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Sports Weekly
For any era, sports reporters and content output are in demand, the question is just how big the demand is.
It is undeniable that the impact of self-media is getting bigger and bigger, and the content output under the hijacking of traffic is showing a blowout trend. Of course, there are some well-done self-media worthy of recognition, but more self-media has obvious drawbacks. :
First, there is too much or even flooding of homogenized content. Second, there is a lack of a minimum truth-seeking process, and conclusions are drawn based on personal understanding or speculation, leading to misleading readers. Third, there are many out-of-context intentional departures from the truth in order to earn traffic. Fourth, there is a lack of systematic review and analysis. The good content that has been precipitated by long-term tracking and is worthy of long-term collection.
So, back to the topic of sports reporters, there is no doubt that this is necessary, but the threshold for being a good reporter will be raised because of the impact of the media. The sports reporters who are left behind by the real big waves must be able to do quality and truly walk. The content report of the heart must jump out of the normal thinking of focusing on scenes such as the scene, press conference or official announcement.
These contents have actually become open source contents with the enrichment of the dissemination methods.
Just like many champion players start live broadcasts after the game, will the content of interviewing him/her still be the first destination?
Therefore, the selection of interview angles and interview objects will become the focus of thinking for future reporters - you need to prepare enough question marks, and turn the question marks into the production content (whether graphic, video, audio or live broadcast) through the interview. Period, then this content is likely to be demanded.
Data map: A reporter from Chinanews.com is at the Tokyo Olympics.
Zhan Sheng, General Manager of Sina Sports
Sports reporters are still needed in the self-media era. High-quality content is timeless and still has traffic and commercial value.
However, the definition of high quality is changing, and the era of information explosion makes the advantage of exclusiveness or speed no longer; sports reporters must complete all-round upgrades from production to distribution, including the integration of resources, the content of reports, the form of content, and team collaboration to Mechanisms adapted to user needs and platform distribution.
Discussion Moderator Lu Yan, Director of China New Network Culture and Sports Center
With the development of economy and society, as well as the change of health concept brought about by the epidemic, sports have become more and more important in Chinese people's daily life.
However, as one of the important puzzle pieces in the field of sports, sports media and sports media practitioners are facing severe challenges with the advent of the era of social media and the rise of self-media - especially some traditional "sports reporters" , the difficulties encountered are the first to bear the brunt.
In fact, the question of "whether sports reporters are needed in the self-media era" has more or less elements of logical traps in it.
We need to clarify the concept of "sports reporter", especially under the trend of media integration, can you become a qualified sports reporter only by writing good articles?
Not quite.
Rather than saying that the industry is being challenged, it is better to say that the skills of practitioners must further meet the needs of readers and the market.
Under the tide of social media, in a sense, everyone has their own microphone, but this also highlights the importance of the reporter position.
A qualified sports reporter must first have excellent policy literacy, good editorial literacy and professional sports knowledge literacy.
This requires professional training and time accumulation, which is also the advantage of sports reporters; secondly, they must be good at enriching their professional toolbox by means of media integration, and express their keen sense of news in a form that readers like to hear.
This is easier to achieve with the help of media platforms.
There are many forms of expression of news today, and there may be more in the future, but professionalism is "body", and the form of expression is "use", and "use" under the leadership of professionalism is the product that can stand the test of time and credibility.
Of course, the professional group of sports journalists also needs to adapt to the development of the times and make conceptual adjustments.
In the era of information explosion and fierce media competition, a successful sports reporter should probably be like this: a "high-level athlete" who is deeply involved in the professional field, a "cross-border and cross-sport expert" who plays with various editing tools, and communicates professional sports and sports. "Social Sports Instructors" for general readers, and "Sports Agents" for integrating platforms and interview resources.
On this International Sports Reporter Day, I would like to share with you mentors, friends and industry leaders.
I wish my colleagues in sports reporters a happy holiday and smooth work.