Reportage is information from the scene of an event. A journalist is personally present where something is happening and conveys information with details and specifics. The reader or viewer (if it’s a video) should feel as if they are part of the event. To achieve this, the journalist provides vivid details, describing events in real time.
Examples of phrases and lines:
“Right after that, the young performers released hundreds of balloons into the sky, and for a moment, the sky above the spectators was completely covered with colorful floating balloons.” Compare this to a description in a standard news article: “At the end of the concert, the performers released hundreds of balloons into the sky.”
Or imagine tourists in Central Asia:
“Every participant of the traditional Nowruz celebration was served kumis; each took a sip of the national Kazakh beverage and felt its refreshing, pleasantly tangy taste.” In a regular news note, we might write: “Festival participants had the opportunity to try kumis.”
Reportage is a highly popular genre of journalism. Arguably, the most popular genre is the news article, while reportage and interviews share the second and third places equally.
The key feature of reportage is its timeliness. Information is often delivered live if it’s for television. In newspapers, magazines, and news portals, journalists also strive to publish reportage promptly, usually on the same day or in the next issue. This makes reportage similar to a news article, which is also published quickly. In contrast, interviews don’t require such urgency and can be published weeks or even months later without losing relevance.
Main Steps of Creating a Reportage:
- Preparation:
Be well-prepared and know as much as possible about the event or occasion, the organizers, and what is likely to happen. This helps you plan your actions and your future reportage. For instance, a journalist might plan as follows:- Arrive at the opening.
- Include a quote from the senator’s speech in the text.
- Take photos and videos of the performers.
- Collect comments from the audience and organizers.
- Participate in the games planned at the end of the festival.
- On-Site Work:
Follow your plan but be ready to improvise. Things rarely go exactly as expected. The senator might not show up, the opening might be delayed by an hour, and the organizers might replace games with a quest. Adapt to the situation and gather as much material as possible — plenty of photos, videos, comments, and notes for your reportage.However, moderation is key. For instance, filming numerous 25-minute videos will make editing into a short clip difficult. Instead, capture 5–10-second highlights, aiming for around 30 clips to easily create a compelling final video. Photos are easier to manage, but taking over 100 may also be excessive.Pro Tip: Take more photos! Thanks to digital technology, you lose nothing and can simply delete the unnecessary ones later. Beginner journalists often return with just five photos, some of which are overexposed, obstructed, or otherwise unusable, leaving only one or two acceptable shots — not enough for a good reportage. Capturing 50–70 photos at an interesting event is not hard and can even be enjoyable.
- Details:
Convey the “effect of presence.” Take note of and, ideally, write down details — the taste of food and drinks, sounds, weather, participants’ emotions, and everything else. However, avoid overloading your final text with excessive details. Add occasional vivid elements to help the reader visualize the scene. - Structure:
Avoid writing a sprawling text with no structure. Like other genres, reportage requires a headline, a lead (a catchy opening paragraph), followed by a chronological narration of the event.