Reportage

Reportage

 

(in Russian, korrespondentsiia), a journalistic genre, the subject of which is a concrete social situation (a “slice of life”), limited in time and place. There are two basic forms of reportage: informational and analytic. Analytic reportage considers the totality of socially meaningful facts from the perspective of class-party interests and draws conclusions having important practical significance. Reportage is characterized by a stable unity of content and form, ensuring its journalistic effectiveness. It is one of the most common genres in the Soviet general political press; urgent production and economic questions are its main theme.

---

Reportage

 

a type of journalism that provides a readable and vivid account, with all essential details, of an eyewitness event or one in which the author has taken part.

The manner of presenting reportage depends on the means of mass media—press, radio, or television—for which the material is intended. Press reportage, usually in newspapers, may center on events or may be thematic, describing events unified by a single theme but occurring at different times. It is usually illustrated with photographs taken at the scene of the events; features illustrated with photographs are also in wide use. Reportage on the radio always follows a chronological sequence of events and uses vivid language to present the events realistically. Reportage on television often becomes a commentary on the event being depicted.

In Marxist journalism, reportage truthfully informs the public about the most important and interesting current sociopolitical, economic, and cultural events.

Reactionary bourgeois reportage, especially that of “yellow journalism,” usually describes scandals and sensational events in order to divert the attention of workers from acute social and political problems.