Infotainment as a genre of modern television journalism. Infotainment is: the meaning of the concept, scope of application. See also there

Federal Agency for Education
State educational institution
higher professional education
NIZHNY NOVGOROD STATE
LINGUISTIC UNIVERSITY
N.A.DOBROLUBOV

Course work
“Infotainment as a genre of modern television journalism”
(using the example of the SpotlightParisHilton program)

Performed:
student gr. 401 APZh
Lokhmacheva Tatyana
Scientific adviser:
K. philol. Sc., Associate Professor Brown O.S.

Nizhny Novgorod
2011

Content:
Introduction……………………………………………………………………….3
Chapter 1. Media structure of Russia…………..……………………………5

Features of the modern media system………………………..5

Models of the modern media system in Russia……………………..6

The concept of the global “mainstream”…………………………….10

Chapter 2. Infotainment as a genre of journalism……………………………14

2.1. The origin of the phenomenon……………………………………………………14

2.2. Infotainment as a psychological technique…………………………18
2.3. The emergence of infotainment in Russia…………………………………..21
Chapter 3. “SpotlightParisHilton” as a program in the genre of infotainment……………………… ……….………………………………….23
3.1. Preparation and implementation of the program…………………………………23
3.2. Features of infotainment in the “ProjectorParisHilton” program…..24
3.3. Criticism of the SpotlightParisHilton program…………………. 27
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….31

Introduction.

Modern man cannot imagine his life without television. Television performs various functions - informational, cognitive, educational, entertaining, recreational. At the same time, the boundaries between television genres are blurring, and news can no longer be classified as a purely informational genre. The nature of news is influenced by many factors: “competition among publications and agencies; availability of news from other information channels; general line of publication; forced or deliberate combination of local and foreign news, important and entertaining; size of allocated area" 1. The advantage of new journalism is the high degree of information richness of the text and the speed of response given the variety of information channels and their growing competition.
The relevance of this work lies in the fact that the genre of entertainment is new for Russian media. However, it is widespread in our reality and is popular among different groups of the population.
The purpose of this work: to study infotainment as a genre of journalism.
Objectives: to determine the origin of infotainment as a genre of journalism, its causes and origins, to identify its main functions and features. Analyze infotainment as a modern psychological technique, as well as establish the origin of infotainment in Russia. As an example for analysis, the work provides the First Channel program “ProjectorParisHilton”.
The scientific novelty of the study of this topic is characterized by the fact that among the materials describing infotainment, theoretical works predominate. The study of the program “ProjectorParisHilton”, as an example of a program in the infotainment genre, reveals the main features of the genre as a whole and their manifestations in a specific program.

The subject of the research is the genre of infotainment in modern Russian television journalism.
Object of study – “ProjectorParisHilton”, issues 87 (03/06/2011), 88(03/12/2011), 89(03/19/2011), 90(03/26/2011), 91 (04/02/2011)
Research methods: structural-functional and factual analysis of the program.

Chapter 1. Media structure of Russia.

Features of the modern media system.

New structural forms in the Russian media appeared as a consequence of reforms of the entire media system. And this was a consequence not only of the democratic changes that came in the 1990s, but also a consequence of changes in the entire world information system.
The formation of a new media structure in Russia was influenced by various factors that can be divided into two groups:
Political and economic factors – the destruction of the previous socio-economic structure; creation of the private sector in the economy; rejection of the dominance of the Communist Party in the political system of society; creation of civil society institutions;
National and cultural factors – revival of cultural traditions; taking into account language and mentality; formation of business culture; strengthening the influence of ethical standards and operating rules.
The current state of the Russian media system can be characterized by steadily overcoming the transition period. The integration of Russian media into the global media context is growing: Russian media are actively exploring the Internet; The popularity of new channels of communication and obtaining information related to mobile telephony is growing.
It is important to emphasize that these processes are taking place in almost all countries simultaneously and represent a global transition period.
The following features also appear in the media system of modern Russia:
The formed advertising market has a direct impact on the activities of the media, and in general - on the entire state of the media economy, which is based on the principles of the free market - self-sufficiency, free competition, profitability and profitability, self-financing;
The “division of labor” traditional for modern market media systems between print and audiovisual media is characterized by special attention of the press to the analysis of events and increased attention to infotainment on TV;
The quality of mediacracy (the power of the media) of modern societies forms a new system of functions and values of the professional activity of a journalist, based on which journalists act as producers (creators) of public opinion with all the ensuing consequences.

Models of the modern media system in Russia.

The territorial factor plays a leading role in determining the characteristics of the Russian media system. As the largest country by territory in the world, Russia has more than 90 regional and local geographic media markets. They are not similar to each other and are diverse in forms and nature of activity.
Here are statistics that well illustrate the point made. At the beginning of the 21st century, about 6,000 newspapers were published in Russia, their total circulation exceeded 7 billion copies. About 3 million magazines - a total circulation of about 500 million copies. The total circulation of books and brochures published in the country is 6.9 million copies.
The same data can be found on the country's broadcasting market. For example, according to the National Association of Television Broadcasters, at the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st centuries, there were more than 100 state television companies in Russia (of which more than 80% were in the regions), as well as more than 150 non-state ones. Nine television channels were received by more than half of the Russian population. The number of TV channels at the regional level ranges from 700-800 to 1000.
Radio is also seeing rapid growth as an industry. The number of non-state radio stations locally reaches more than 500.
Another peculiarity of the modern media system in Russia is that, at first glance, there seems to be no single system: the Moscow market is not similar to the regional markets. This is greatly facilitated by the multi-level administrative system, different geography and economic situation of the regions, uneven distribution of natural and human resources and the development of communication lines. These factors determine the uniqueness of information markets in the regions. Of these, the most significant factor is the relationship between the authorities and the media at the regional level. As a result, it is these relationships that leave an imprint on both the economic situation and the political preferences of the media.
The modern system of Russia can be represented by various models, which are based on different principles of media unification. We will consider two main models of the Russian media system, most often used in the practice of the Russian media system. This is a media political model (I. Zasursky) and a functional model.

The first media political model includes four main levels.
The first level is the most important, forming the federal (national) Russian information space. At this level there are all-Russian electronic media - central television channels received throughout the country, high-quality Moscow publications (“newspapers of influence”). These media are usually controlled by politicized capital, although many of them have mixed forms of ownership or are state owned. It is a tool in political campaigns.
A newspaper of influence is a printed periodical whose main function is to shape the information environment, supplying all the necessary argumentative base on the key issues of the day. These are large, financially independent newspapers or those expressing someone’s point of view, from which the information services of other media outlets draw information for dissemination to mass audiences (Kommersant, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Izvestia, etc.).
The second level - print and electronic media of all-Russian, interregional and regional coverage represents commercial publications, television and radio companies. These include all business periodicals, commercial television and radio stations that have access to the regions (Echo of Moscow, Russian Radio, Nostalzhi, Avtoradio, etc.), but are not national in terms of audience coverage. These media are integrated into the media-political system structurally, through politicized investments, or functionally - in the context of specific information campaigns. This level plays the role of a medium that can either contribute to the attenuation of information campaigns (the “cushion” effect) or act as a resonator, multiplying their effectiveness.
The task of media technologists is to create scenarios for information campaigns in which the media at this level are drawn in of their own free will, taking the position of one of the parties.
The third level – regional electronic and print media – is under the control of local administrations or large regional corporations. The real distribution of power in the regions is becoming important. If the region as a whole is autocratic, then the regional information system becomes extremely closed.
The fourth level is the Internet, which is a huge set of communication channels that can also be used by the media political system for various purposes.
The second functional model is represented by the ratio of traditional and innovative channels for transmitting information and includes two main structural elements: traditional media and innovative media.
Traditional media, in turn, are divided into:
1. Print media - newspapers, magazines, newsletters, etc. periodical printed products, which have two directions of development - federal or national and regional.
2. Television – regional and federal television companies.
3. Radio broadcasting – regional and federal radio companies.
Innovative media are represented by the global communication network - the Internet, which is now developing in Russia as a democratic, but functioning according to economic laws, communications sector.
The infrastructure of the media system is represented by a whole complex of institutions that provide the capacity and speed of information transfer as the main structural elements of the system. The infrastructure ensures the switching of means and communication lines, the technical and intellectual quality of this process. The media system infrastructure includes:
information agencies and services that provide access to information and supply information in all types of media;
advertising agencies and services that produce specialized information and provide it to the media;
public relations agencies and services that produce specialized and part of journalistic information and provide it to the media;
special technical services that provide technological and technical processes for the transfer and functioning of information in the public sphere;
special educational institutions that provide the formation of an intellectual resource for the media system.

The concept of the global “mainstream”.

In the system of general media development, it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that any media system in any state is influenced by general trends in world journalism. They represent the global “mainstream” - (from the English mainstream) - a common vector that unites the development of media in different countries.
Sometimes this concept is explained using another one - transmission vector 2.
Transmission vector is a term used to determine the directions of information and communication processes occurring in society. It is used to determine the social specifics of types of modern communication. Personal communication in letters is defined as a type of private communication, and communication through the media is defined as a type of public communication. The development of information superhighways makes adjustments to this classification, creating communication services in which the differences between the private and public statuses of information users lose their definition, acquiring multimedia features.
The modern mainstream is characterized by the following 3 features:
· reduction in the total number of newspaper readers, the return of the press to its historically original function - to inform and analyze events for a small number of readers representing the intellectual elite, highly professional managers and entrepreneurs, and decision-makers;
· a clear shift in the center of gravity of reader preferences from the national to the local level, which is confirmed by data on the number of regional newspapers in the total number of Russian periodicals (60%) and on the total circulation of regional and local newspapers in the national circulation (70%), and the dynamics of subscriptions circulation;
· development of special regional models of metropolitan newspapers to adapt to both the information and advertising markets of the regions;
· increasing the share of unpaid or partially paid press reading by strengthening advertising or free information newspapers, as well as collective or corporate subscriptions;
· non-daily reading, leading to a reduction in the frequency of small-circulation local newspapers and the development of weekly periodicals.
The same processes are characteristic of electronic media, which are developing according to trends of consolidation and convergence.
Convergence is the convergence, bringing together of phenomena and trends in various spheres of life (in the world of biology, social systems or culture). Interaction and integration of various channels and means of communication in the context of the development of multimedia processes and information superhighways, achieved through the widespread introduction of new technologies that ensure the use of digital transmission of information and various communication lines 4.
Convergence increases channel capacity and significantly changes media landscapes, stimulating processes of further super-monopolization of capital and the growth of oligopolies.

The manifestation of all these characteristics is inherent in the media market of modern Russia. The quality of relations with the press has changed. The newspaper is being revived as a means of serious information and political-economic analysis, addressed to those social groups that are at higher levels in terms of both education and income. The portrait of the average newspaper reader in the region is an elite by occupation - businessmen, intellectuals, managers, city dwellers with relatively high incomes, prepared for analytical reading.
The press is divided into high-quality, addressed to the elite of society, and mass, designed for undemanding tastes.
The development of the media system, the reduction in the total number of newspaper readers, the clear transfer of preferences from the national to the local level, the development of special regional models of metropolitan media, as well as the phenomenon of convergence led to the need to create a new genre, which became infotainment.

Chapter 2. Infotainment as a genre of journalism.
2.1. The origin of the phenomenon.
The term "infotainment" (entertainment information) was coined by Americans in the mid-1980s. Then the news ratings of federal US channels began to fall, and the principle of selecting information for release had to be changed: less officialdom, more social topics, cultural events. Methods of presenting information also changed. If any state visit was reported, journalists tried to avoid official formulations like “constructive discussion of bilateral problems”; they began to pay attention to details that were interesting to all viewers - the color of the president’s tie, non-protocol expressions.
They started talking seriously about infotainment as a technique when the hosts of the weekly CBS program “60 Minutes” began to participate in reporting along with the heroes (before this, journalists - with the exception of a standard stand-up (a journalist in the frame) - always remained “outside the brackets" of the story). This made it possible to introduce into the story a certain, albeit not clearly expressed, attitude of the narrator towards the content of the material (raised eyebrow, barely noticeable grin, repetition of the question in a key place). News gradually stratified into informational, i.e. providing dry, “objective” information (bare fact), and information and entertainment, i.e. those that wrap information in a colorful, rustling wrapper.
The CBS experience was picked up by other channels. In particular, NBC producer Neil Shapiro believed that final news releases should be presented “inventively, using spectacular photography, graphics, imagination, special effects... What is sensational in the layout should be ahead of what seems more significant,” so at the end of the day (week ) people are usually familiar with the main news. ABC (“20/20”) and CBS (“48 hours”) worked on the same principle. And Fox News put infotainment at the heart of the concept of the entire channel. Infotainment arose not because of the whim of producers of American television companies, but under the influence of changing interests of the audience. S.A. Mikhailov notes: American “society is tired of serious materials. Sociological research in the 1970s showed that “hard” news no longer interests readers” 5 .
It should be noted that such developments have been repeatedly predicted by theorists of the information society. M. McLuhan ( Canadian philosopher, philologist, literary critic) was one of the first to talk about the “electronic” society. Communication technologies, of which McLuhan considered television to be the most influential, were considered by him as a decisive factor in the development of any socio-economic system. Television creates a mosaic picture of the world, representing life as a set of messages not connected by a clear logical connection (in a short period of time, information of different scales and different perspectives from various areas and eras can appear in a news program). 6
Characterizing the consciousness of “the generations who, with their mother’s television set, sucked in all the times and spaces of the world through advertising,” McLuhan notes that “democratic freedoms are expressed to a very large extent in the fact that people are preoccupied not with politics, but with dandruff in the head, hair on the legs, lethargic bowel function, unattractive breast shape, sore gums, excess weight and stagnation of blood circulation.” In the new information environment, people are much less interested in social phenomena and problems, perceiving them as insignificant elements of the global mosaic.

The decline in public interest in the activities of civil society institutions and organizations was also predicted by M. Castells (an American sociologist specializing in the theory of the information society). The ongoing processes, according to his observations, transformed the nature of political life. Leadership became more personalized, and the path to power began to run through the creation of an image formed by the media. Society and the electorate acquire the features of a “public” that forms a demand for entertainment information. “Ultimately, the power wielded by media networks comes second to the power of flows embodied in the structure and language of those networks.” 7

E. Toffler came to similar conclusions. The information society, according to Toffler, is characterized by the fragility of values and ideals, the temporary nature of needs, a sharp increase in the volume of scientific and technical information, a serious increase in the diversity of life phenomena, and an abundance of subcultures. The world around us is constantly changing at an incredible speed, which puts a person on the brink of his ability to adapt. As a result, a person falls into a special psychological state - “future shock” (future shock), which is “characterized by a sudden, stunning loss of the sense of reality, the ability to navigate life, caused by fear of the near future.”
Information overload deprives a person of the ability to think rationally and make optimal decisions. The inability to solve one’s own problems in the context of an increasing information flow gives rise to “escapism” - an escape from reality. Escapism can take one of the following forms:
- “blocking” a frightening reality - a person resolutely refuses to perceive new information, deceiving himself, concluding that all evidence of changes is simply apparent;
- specialization - a person follows all changes in the professional sphere, but just like the person of the previous type, remains closed to the perception of social, economic, political processes;
- reversionism - “an obsession with returning to previously successful patterns of adaptation that are currently inappropriate and inadequate”, the stronger the level of arousal from the environment, the more persistently such a person repeats “past modes of action”;
- “over-forgiveness” - a person “is looking for a simple, elegant equation that can explain the whole complex of novelty that threatens to engulf him; students seeking oblivion through drugs and pregnant teenagers are similar in that, unable to solve many small problems, they find one big one, thereby temporarily simplifying their existence.” 8
Taking into account the theories of futurologists, we can conclude that in the conditions of the information society it is very difficult for an ordinary person (ordinary person) to create a picture of the world that is adequate to reality. Consequently, a socially responsible journalist, when producing information, cannot proceed solely from the demands made by society (which often craves nothing but “spectacles”). On the other hand, overloading the psyche of the viewer (reader, listener) with “serious” information is also risky - you can lose the audience.
These conclusions are close to the position of D. Merrill: “I believe that the press should give the reader what the editor thinks they want and what they need... People can want what they need. And what they need is not always what they want... there are things they need that they never thought about... A good editor is a person who understands that the journalist's responsibility is to provide the reader with important and useful news, which may not necessarily be attractive or interesting to them. At the same time, editors know that in order to convey this news to the reader, they must provide him with lower-level news, such as scoops. A good editor is both a pragmatist and a realist, but not a one-sided person who either entertains or instructs his readers. A good editor does both. It is not enough for an editor to be only a realist; he must also be an idealist in order to believe that readers should receive information that they might not have chosen if given the right to do so. In this case, the editor is likened to a teacher.” 9

2.2. Infotainment as a psychological technique.
In conditions of fatigue of a person under the pressure of information, new methods of presenting information that allow overcoming the state of anxiety of the viewer in front of new information acquire special importance for journalism. In this regard, the beginning of a game is of great interest, allowing one to bridge the gap between the journalist and the audience. The problem of the game has long attracted the attention of researchers, and today in science there are many theories that explain its nature. Significant contributions to the development of this direction were made by Spencer, Bühler, Gross, Freud, Beitendijk, Piaget, Fromm, Huizinga, and Bern. Of the domestic researchers, this problem was dealt with by K.D. Ushinsky, G.V. Plekhanov, S.L. Rubinstein, L.S. Vygotsky, A.N. Leontyev, D.B. Elkonin, M.M. Bakhtin, V.A. Sukhomlinsky, V.S. Mukhina.
Of all the properties of the game identified by various researchers, the following are especially important for journalism: 1) the developmental nature of the game; 2) its hedonistic nature. Moreover, while playing, a person can experience two different “pleasures”: satisfaction from the game process itself and the triumph of victory. Let us turn to the research of J. Huizinga, set out in the book “Homo Ludens”: “What does it mean to win? What is gained from this? To win means to rise as a result of the game. But the effectiveness of this exaltation tends to expand into the illusion of supremacy in general. And thus something more is won than just the game itself. Honor is won, honor is gained. Both this honor and this honor are always directly useful to the entire group, which identifies itself with the winner.” 10
etc.................

In marketing, everything has always been done with the consumer in mind. Lately, everything has been done with an understanding of his value system. Now companies view people not just as consumers (buyers and eaters), but as people endowed with thoughts, emotions, and souls. This is reflected in all marketing and serious changes are visible at different levels of marketing journalism: this concerns the ways and methods of work of journalists; marketing technologies used in working with audiences; methods of information delivery; legal and ethical standards, etc.

However, many content writers understand this focus on consumer values rather conditionally. Endless conversations about some

Content marketing is the process of attracting and retaining customers through the constant creation of content in order to manage consumer behavior.

Wikipedia

The serious journalistic community reacts with trepidation. And I understand them! Instead of the quality of communications and dialogue, trolling clients with texts in order to zombify them - no one can stand it. This approach simply kills communication. Today, journalists are busy with something else - they are trying new formats, principles and approaches to communication, primarily focused on the emotional and intellectual involvement of consumers in communication and dialogue.

Native texts, infographics, interactives, answers to questions (instead of a stream of texts and “selling” headlines) – commercial journalism today is busy with this. In this article, we will talk about such a format for presenting content as . If anyone doesn't know, in general,

Infotainment is a symbiosis of information and entertainment and is a style of presenting a message when serious events, actions or ideas are presented in an entertaining, casual, light, even ironic form or with a touch of entertainment

Silent history

The concept of infotainment arose as a result of combining two English words: information and entertainment (information and entertainment), and the infotainment style content format itself was born in the USA in the 1980s. The ratings of news programs on federal TV channels were low, and that is why there was a need to change approaches to selection and principles of information placement. So gradually, at the beginning, the news, and then the TV channels, were divided into:

informational;
infotainment.

Neil Shapiro, a producer at NBC, believed that it should be important for the viewer not only to listen to the news, but also to look at how it is presented. Ron Howard, one of the theorists of infotainment, generally believes that it is more important “how” rather than “what” is presented to the audience. And it was this principle that became the basis for this format not only in electronic but also in print media, and later in marketing journalism when generating content.

What it is?

Infotainment is information presented to the target audience in the form of entertainment, due to the selection of material and (or) the method of its design. It is the interpretation of information and its presentation, instead of the flow of data. The basic principles are very simple:

entertain and teach better than advertising and selling;
life story better than a story about the subject of marketing;
parable, funny story better than boring storytelling;
interview with the leader better than stating your own opinion;
talk show better than a narrative program;
interactivity and participation of the audience in the discussion better than presentation;
emotional report from the scene better than an eyewitness account;
author's video with the process taking place is better than the instructions for use.

The main distinguishing feature of infotainment is its appeal to the emotions of the audience. It is a kind of game in which the specialist engages the audience and offers them information and entertainment content. And the game, in the apt expression of M. Bakhtin:

An upside-down world, an other being, where life... plays out another free form of its existence.”
Bakhtin, M. M. "Aesthetic heritage and modernity."
Saransk: Mordovian University Publishing House, 1992. T. 2. 368 p.

According to the fair remark of researcher V. A. Evdokimov:

By experiencing this symbiosis of message and joke, the audience in some communicative situations learns about something new, interesting or lifts the veil over some intense interaction, and in others it receives a surrogate for journalistic thought.
Evdokimov, V. A. "Infotainment in the media: a panacea for boredom and an ersatz discussion"
Human science: humanities. - No. 5, 2010. - p. 215

Infotainment is form, not content. This is style, not information flow. This is the packaging of the idea that needs to be conveyed to the audience. However, having a mind for your marketing content is a must.

Types of infotainment

Today, infotainment is typical for tabloid and commercial marketing journalism, whose tasks include precisely the emotional impact on the audience. Infotainment itself has different varieties - all media texts can be divided into:

to constructive
and destructive.

Constructive

In the case of constructive infotainment, the reader receives a text with a sufficient degree of information content for the target audience and in a beautiful, digestible, and easily digestible form. Such media texts, in addition to entertainment, carry useful information, satisfying not only the interests, but also the needs of the audience. So, for example, a small text that is informative and useful for the target audience is typed, around which auxiliary elements are located: infographics, photographs, collages, sidebars that illustrate and confirm the broadcast journalistic opinion and information. The emphasis for the most part is on evidence and persuasiveness, which help convey these auxiliary elements, as well as on the visual component of the material.

An example of how, in an entertaining form without emphasis, you can remind about a brand, talk about a color trend and entertain, you can see. And in the photo there is a still from the film “Ivan Vasilyevich Changes His Profession”, illustrating an example of how important the topic of savings safety is presented convincingly, but in an entertaining way.

Destructive

In the case of destructive infotainment, there is no place for journalistic analysis of this or that phenomenon of reality. As a rule, it all comes down to a statement of a fact in which the essence, shifted to the background, is absorbed by some bright, attractive detail. Often the information is not important or is missing and in its place are put forward:

Action;
WOW effect;
Scandal;
A character participating in an event, news.

Most often, such material is built according to the principle: in the lead paragraph or on the front page - a catchy, attention-grabbing and curiosity-evoking photograph and a teaser of the material. Materials with such “screaming” teasers, headlines and headlines certainly attract the mass reader. In addition, you can often come across ambiguous teasers and headlines, which at first may cause confusion in the reader, but then, when we read the material, it disappears. Often a teaser, lead paragraph or front page is built on speculation.

Next comes the text, with a rather superficial elaboration of the material, around which emotionally charged sidebars, photographs, etc. are grouped. I note that this type of infotainment does not contain an analysis of the informational occasion as such, but is only a statement and description of what happened and who was a participant in the event. Moreover, there is a tendency towards a sensational, scandalous form of presenting the fact.

The problem of destructive infotainment is that such formats and methods of presenting information, performing a recreational function, transform and format a person’s value picture of the world. They change the established value system, reorienting the individual to a marginal attitude towards the moral categories established in society.

Not very clear? Smart and educated people, as well as those who have already formed a barrier to the perception of such content, simply “don’t see it” - their value picture of the world is different, they cannot perceive it! The rest of the representatives of the target audience we are interested in, when faced with the poor quality of goods and services, as a rule, behind such information content, very quickly learn not to consume or perceive the marginal.

Conscious consumers of marginal content, unfortunately, often do not have the opportunity to pay for most of the goods and services offered and promoted on the market or deliberately refuse to consume them in favor of low-quality marketing products. Thus, such content only works for the young and unsettled, distorting and degrading them. Writing, for example, in an advertisement: “in the area” is a deliberate technique of destructive infotainment, in the hope of getting only the attention of the marginalized.

Advantages of infotainment

Having signs of naivety, infotainment is easier to accept and assimilate by the target audience. It is focused more on emotionality, visuality, and clip quality, the dictates of which we see today in media texts of tabloid and commercial marketing journalism.

The success of infotainment is based on the basic human need to satisfy emotional needs. Good infotainment evokes an exclamation, creates a feeling and sensation...
Stoykov, L. "The hedonic function of media: infotainment and reality TV"
Relga, 2007, No. 4.

Marketing content made in the infotainment format certainly attracts attention, but not only the form of presentation of the material is important, but also the content.

2,302 views

INFOTAMENT - the reader doesn’t care what methods or genres you use to tell everything about the flood in Yakutsk, the plane crash in Irkutsk, etc. Whether the journalist experienced the situation himself or not, he supplemented the story with statistical data, learned the historical patterns of the phenomenon.. It is infotainment that makes it possible to play with the facets of an event, to highlight one or another aspect, with 8-10 news facets. This is what infotainment is. And the reader has the right to read all or some part about the event. But in any case, he will not pass by such news promotion.

Working in journalism today is difficult, but incredibly interesting. Material of any volume requires truly creative work, searching for form, polishing content.

One of these INFOTAINMENT methods is acting out the news. This is how the news about preventing an American airliner from entering Russian airspace was played out. The news played out as follows:

1) photograph of the best airliner in the world;

2) tactical and technical data of the MD-11 aircraft (manufactured by the American company McDonell-Douglas);

Information about the situation (Unfold the shafts! - something like this was said by the Russian dispatcher to the American pilot who flew across the ocean. Author: Z. Lobanova);

Schedule of the flight route Atlanta - Tokyo, made by ITAR - TASS;

What is an air corridor and air route? Explanatory note;

There is only one piece of news, but how competently, multidimensionally and professionally it is played out. Three authors, ITAR - TASS chart, history of the problem, technical data of the airliner, note - explanation of “what is an air corridor.”

Now imagine the same newspaper volume, but issued in bulk. Even if it were divided into internal subheadings, but written by one author. It is the participation of several authors and the individual style of each that creates the salience and fullness of this phenomenon.

Another example of playing out the news. “Sergei Dorenko faces three years in prison”1. The situation with this news is as follows: TV presenter Sergei Dorenko was riding his motorcycle in the Krylatskoye pedestrian zone. Captain 1st Rank Valery Nikitin, walking with his family, made a remark to the “reckless” driver, and in response, the motorcyclist hit the officer. This motorcyclist was the popular TV presenter Sergei Dorenko. In this version, the news went around all print publications and electronic channels. But Komsomolskaya Pravda did it better and more interesting than anyone else. Again, the news is panned, made convex, and a multi-step solution is carried out:

1) from the KP dossier - biographical data of captain 1st rank Valery Nikitin;

2) photograph of captain Nikitin;

3) interview of A. Yevtushenko with captain Nikitin;

4) commentary by V. Barants with Vice Admiral Mikhail Barskov;

5) statement of the sofa party “KP” “Why is the president silent?” I. Kotsa;

6) map - diagram “How it happened in Krylatskoye”;

7) comment by the lawyer (what threatens Sergei Dorenko if there was a collision? If Dorenko was drunk, does this aggravate his guilt? How should the police have acted after the incident?);

8) V. Varenov “What motorcycle was Dorenko on?” - technical characteristics of Dorenko’s motorcycle;

9) photo of A. Zhdanov with a subtext: “Now Sergei Dorenko will have to give an “Interview” to the investigator.”

So, 9 news components, 6 authors and each with its own news segment. After such accurate, verified news promotion, thorough, scrupulous, the reader can make a verdict: guilty! And against the backdrop of all this, the protest of citizen Dorenko is ridiculous and naive: “I consider everything that is happening to me to be a political provocation that fits into the chain of political provocations against the press recently.” As they say, no comments!

The news aspects in playing out the news are limitless. An example of this is the “Picture of the Day” spread - “Who is more needed in Turkey - Russian tourists or Chechen terrorists?” The situation regarding the seizure of one of the best hotels in Istanbul by terrorists is developing, but already in addition to the traditional headings “testimony of a hostage”, “From the KP dossier”, “Call to a travel agency”, “View from the sixth floor”, a new “KP” column is added - “ Question of the Day: “Aren’t you afraid to fly to Turkey?”

What is attractive about “infotainment”? High creative potential. Parallels inevitably arise: acting out the news is acting out a performance. Indeed, each journalist has his own role and each is unique in its performance: tonality, shades, coloring, sound. And in the end - a news show - a strip.

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More about the concept

Infoteiment is a word borrowed from English, which was formed from two words “information” and “entertainment”, in the Russian version “information” and “entertainment”.

Infotainment is a new way of working in modern media, when information is presented in an entertaining form. With the help of theatricalization and games, journalists attract the viewer or reader and focus their attention on a specific issue.

Infotainment is also a method of work of marketers and other economic agents, with the help of which they create consumer demand for certain goods or services.

Information storage is also understood as an entire culture that reflects the development trends of modern society. This is a powerful tool in the media arsenal, with the help of which opinions and trends are created.

Origins

A new cultural phenomenon arose in the 80s of the 20th century in America. Then they began to decline rapidly, and TV show editors put the infotainment format into practice: the emphasis in selecting material was on socially important and cultural topics. Official and dry expressions, which made the information boring and difficult to perceive, began to be used less on air. More attention was paid to details that interested the public: items of clothing, gait, manners. The vocabulary of reporters and talk show hosts has become more lively, emotional and controversial.

The first television program to embody the techniques of infotainment was the American program “60 Minutes.” In it, for the first time, the presenter participated in the report along with his heroes. In this way, viewers could learn not only certain information, but also the narrator’s hidden opinion about it, which he expressed with gestures, facial expressions, or seemingly random smiles. It was no longer an impartial monologue, but a contradictory dialogue with many opinions and points of view.

Since that time, news has been divided into two types: informational and entertainment-informational. In the first, accurate and objective facts were reported, in the second, these same facts were placed in a bright shell, which gathered a lot of people at the screens and increased ratings.

Features and Signs

Once upon a time, journalists asked themselves the following question: “What should we tell the public?” Today this dilemma sounds like this: “How to tell this in an interesting and exciting way?” This question is answered by the infotainment system with a huge arsenal of various techniques. The new media culture is characterized by the following features:

entertaining and informative;
primacy of form;
some disdain for the content;
emotionality and expressiveness;
fragmentary presentation of information;
attractive visuals;
commercial orientation;
a combination of different genres and styles.

Infotainment is, first of all, a way to attract the public to a particular communication channel. In pursuit of high things, they dodge in every possible way, inventing new forms of providing information. The main emphasis is on the game and entertainment, which gives the content emotionality and excitement. This catches the audience, fascinates them, because they are interested in knowing what will happen next, how it will all end.

A creative, non-standard approach is very important in creating infotainment. Boring news or scientific facts should be presented in a way that makes the reader or listener feel at ease and free. That is why there are a lot of talk shows on modern television, where the host and invited guests discuss various socially important topics. Very often everything turns into a so-called “booth”, where everyone tries to outshout each other, but this is also part of attracting a large number of spectators.

Infotainment functions

The modern cultural phenomenon performs many functions. In some ways they resemble the main tasks of the media, which are related to society and its development.

Infotainment pursues the following goals:

informative;
entertaining;
communicative;
educational;
attracts and holds the attention of the public;
satisfies the needs of society;
forms certain behavior and opinion;
simplifies information.

Why is this so relevant?

It is very difficult for people to navigate the rapid flow of information, because there is too much of it. Lost in the variety of news and discoveries, they gradually despair and find themselves unable to perceive new material. This is where innovative journalistic methods come to the rescue, presenting information in an easy, relaxed manner. It frees people from the fear of constantly receiving information and forms in them a definite opinion about current events.

Critical opinions

Infotainment is used everywhere in journalism. However, opinions about its use are very ambiguous. Many researchers believe that the media pays too much attention to the entertainment value of their products, without paying any attention to the content. It is believed that the information content in them is reduced to a minimum; the public does not extract useful and important information for it. Many journalists classify such media as low-quality communication channels that do not fulfill their main functions and pursue only commercial goals.

Infotainment in various types of media

First of all, the role of infotainment on television is enormous, because it was here that it was presented for the first time. Today, almost every program is entertaining and informative and fulfills all the functions and tasks of this method.

Various talk shows have become a popular television product of the new culture. These are programs in which invited media personalities and experts discuss a topic that is currently relevant. Talk shows originated in America, where their hosts are the most famous and respected journalists in the country. On Russian television this type of program is also very popular. Basically, the subject of discussion among the participants is social and political topics.

Infotainment is used in various educational programs or documentaries. Usually these are stories about how a particular product is produced. Such films are also advertisements that attract potential consumers. The public is privy to the process of production of a particular product. And knowledge of manufacturing technology increases consumer confidence in the product. We can say that films of this kind combine the functions of infotainment in education and marketing. On the one hand, they inform society, and on the other, they inspire it with the need to purchase a particular product.

Basically, in the print media, this method of presenting information is used in covering secular news and gossip. It is generally accepted that infotainment is a weapon of the “yellow” press. However, in modern reality this is not the case; the division of various periodicals into high-quality and tabloid is very arbitrary. The main goal of print media, like television, is to increase circulation and, therefore, focus on the needs of a mass audience.

An important element of creating infotainment in the press is the title of the article, because it is what catches the eye first. To achieve maximum expressiveness, journalists transform well-known proverbs, aphorisms or sayings. Personification of the title of a section is also common, for example, “Cinema Hour with Anatoly.” The articles focus on colloquial words and expressions, which makes speech natural.

Very often, infotainment in various types of media is intertwined with infotainment in politics, since this topic is the subject of the most heated and controversial discussions.

Infotainment in Russia

Infotainment appeared on domestic television after perestroika. For the first time his techniques were implemented by Leonid Parfenov in the famous TV show of that time “The Other Day”. The creators of infotainment content were guided by the experience and achievements of their American colleagues. The main emphasis was placed on the diversity of genres and opinions, which organically intertwined within the framework of one project.

Today, infotainment content occupies a significant share of Russian television. The main TV channels producing such programs were NTV, Rossiya and Channel One.

The most popular and successful examples of implementation

In addition to the already mentioned television programs and talk shows, there are many other examples of infotainment on Russian television:

“Collection of nonsense” on the NTV channel;
“I Want to Believe” on the STS channel;
“Special Correspondent” on the Rossiya channel;

TV products of Channel One:

"Field of Dreams";
"What? Where? When?";
"Let them talk";
"ProjectorParisHilton" and many others.

Of course, the potential for the development of infotainment is incredibly high, including in Russia. In each country it acquires its own, original characteristics, but globalization reduces everything to one thing: meeting the needs of the audience.