There have been many comments analyzed from the perspective of the film, but I think I might as well try to explore these increasingly scarce investigative reporters from the perspective of individuality. In the cold winter of paper media, investigative journalism is dead. It can be said to be the worries of the entire industry under the impact of the Internet. In today’s environment, not only Chinese media, but many Western media’s positions are also difficult to be objective, whether it is for political service, religious control, or for Capital services, most of us are not investigative journalists, and why investigative journalists are so difficult to do, what is scarce, and what qualities are needed, I think I might as well take this as a curiosity.
One, difficult
I put difficulty first because I was very impressed with Mike's appearance in the film.
-"Did you let him speak?"
—"No, but I will"
This is Mike’s appearance line. I’m sure without any doubt that Mike is young, aggressive, and likes to deal with "troublesome" characters, and even himself is judged as a "difficult" person. After waiting for no results, he took advantage of the secretary to fall. Café’s work directly “visited” the lawyer who refused to be interviewed. When the copy room had closed and he had to leave a copy of the case file, he immediately tipped and settled it. He was very calm when he learned that he was going to investigate the Geogen case.
The church’s difficulties are not touched by the police and lawyers are inconvenient to touch. The forces involved are huge and cannot be touched lightly. They all know it, and their bosses also know it, but the reason why journalists were once known as the uncrowned king is because they are difficult to do. It is precisely the value of these incidents. Because they are difficult to deal with, everyone has their scruples. The interest chain involved in most cases worth investigating is extremely complicated. It is also because of this that investigating reporters need to be stalked. Fearless courage to deal with these difficult things.
2. Independence, third-party identity, and complete neutrality.
——"We have to ignore everyone's thoughts on this matter"
The so-called foreign monks are good at chanting. Before a tricky policy needs to be touched (even if we may face in our daily life), he must handle himself and all aspects of the chain of interests, so that he will try his best not to help others. If you are in a complicated environment, let yourself be like the "Jewish" with a low voice and a slow speaking speed, try to stay out of the matter, and avoid threats, temptations and hints as much as possible. Can the press liberalism that the Western newspaper industry has struggled for a hundred years can still be realized today?
It is difficult, but this is indeed the meaning of news supervision. I don't know who will be the enemy one day, not to stand for the benefit of any party, and not to threaten the power of any party. This is the way for news to take care of itself.
3. Hidden strength and unscrupulous
Robbie’s first encounter with Jim started casually on the golf course, pretending to inquire unintentionally, and using personal connections to take the first step. Lawyers and judges have their own professional ethics, and the principle of confidentiality of cases allows evidence collection. The road became difficult, but after the conventional methods did not work, I did not stop there, digging for clues, constantly visiting witnesses, and constantly going to various places that may be related to the case. After confirming that the number of perpetrators may be as high as 90 Later, after confirming the possible influence of the case, Robbie again visited the attorney Eric and his old friend, and strongly "threatened", "We have two reports. Which one do you want to see?"
The editor-in-chief's prototype Barron (the character was originally named) said: We can pressure the court by revealing some facts. We warn that we have the ability to reveal the truth to the society and the ability to inform the society how many churches are aware of child molestation incidents. Yes, able to inform the society how much damage these scandals might have done to the faithfulness of the faithful to Catholicism. Our efforts finally worked, and we did everything possible to successfully obtain those documents.
State your position.
4. No special interpretation, and leave the content to be expressed to the person concerned.
——"Listen, we can't take it all in one stroke. It's not enough to just say indecency. Everyone needs to know what happened."
Cruel? It is very cruel. It is very cruel to expose the scars of others, but compared to being vague, interviewing the person concerned, listening to the person's speech, making sure that every fact is based, affirming his answer and then asking to encourage the person to say Telling the truth, this is the way to expose the true appearance of these crimes. Collecting evidence is a cruel process. Just as the crime hurts the person involved, it should hurt the public once, so that the public can feel the pain on their skin. One detail that I am deeply impressed by is that Mike put the notebook under the table when interviewing the first victim and took it up after making sure that he was trusted. The victim also gathered courage from the anonymous interview at the beginning to when he left. Representation of
"Use my name if you need it."
5. Prolonged cautiousness and rush before DDL, firmness and thorough inquiries, to ensure the accuracy of every fact
—"How long does your investigation usually take?"
-"A few weeks, or a year."
When Spotlight started investigating the Geogen case, everyone’s voice was very strict since the beginning of the collection of newspaper clippings. Even the reporter himself discovered that there was a priest involved in the case near his home. He hoped that he could warn the residents of the community to be vigilant. He insisted on professionalism and strictly guarded the truth of the case until the article was completely published. Not only because other newspapers and periodicals may sniff out signs, but because there may be keen good deeds in every link, and it is possible that your utterance may interfere with the direction of the incident, so that fewer people know what you are doing. The better, don't waste unnecessary words.
Six, record with pen
Although many people may now rely on electronic devices, such as voice recorders, computers, etc., to record the person’s dictation, the use of electronic devices, especially voice recorders, will distract the recorder’s attention to the event and make people instinctive. It creates a sense of dependence of "ah, I can listen to it again anyway". This is the same as using electronic equipment to record the teacher’s lectures when we were in college classrooms. Using a pen to record can quickly grab key words and force the recorder’s feelings. The train of thought has been following the incident, and the stenographer may not necessarily know what the meeting was talking about, only the students who listened to the class would know.
7. Journalism ideals and journalism professionalism
——"Although it attracted people's attention for a while, it didn't make any changes in essence."
They are not good deeds. They only seek a "big news", nor are they fearless or emotional, but because they are too emotional, they cannot be indifferent to sin and want to change. This may be the ideal of every journalist. To put it aside, China does not have no investigative reporters, but fewer and fewer investigative reporters. As of 2017, statistics show that the number of investigative reporters in China is only 175. Of course this is not the case. It is not a separate phenomenon. There are no outstanding investigative reporters, but they cannot be investigated. The reason is not that one person, two people or three people can change it, but just like the words I have always cherished:
"Desperate?" "Somewhat"
"Go forward?" "Of course"
8. What the residents want to pay attention to most must be the real immediate interests, which have nothing to do with beliefs, fearlessness, and nothing else.
9. Cautiously revise the report itself verbatim
( ; J k )
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