Interfax publishes textbook for journalists based on internal information standard

MOSCOW. Jan 13 (Interfax) - Interfax News Agency has published an updated and enlarged edition of its book The Technology of News, which is a public version of the agency's internal operating standards.

The textbook explains in detail the general working principles of Interfax journalists, genres of news reporting, the rules for writing and verifying news, and technology for covering specific subjects and events in real time.

The new edition is twice the size of the first one, which was published in 2010, so it is able to cover new types of news, changes in the way journalists work amid the digital transformation and increased demands for fast reporting, accuracy and analyticity of newswires. The section of the book dealing with the legal risks of the profession is far more in-depth.

"We developed The Technology of News over a period of almost 30 years as our internal set of rules and standards. They are battle tested 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and revised in order to better and more fully meet changing customer needs. But in updating the operating standards, we remain committed to our core principles - objectivity, accuracy and speed," Interfax News Agency Deputy General Director Yury Pogorely, the science editor of the book, said.

He said the book will help beginning journalists to look beyond the obvious to see the news that is important to readers, avoid making mistakes and report not just events, but also their meaning and implications.

The Technology of News has been recommended by the Federal Education Methodological Association as a manual for post-secondary students studying journalism and media communications.

"A real journalist differs from a nonprofessional foremost in their knowledge and understanding of the standards of working with information, which are constantly changing along with the requirements of the times and demands of the audience. Interfax: The Technology of News is a book that will open the path to professional journalism, teaching the reader attention to detail and a correct understanding of the principles of the profession," the Dean of the Faculty of Journalism and Moscow State University, Yelena Vartanova said.

Interfax: The Technology of News is being published through Alpina Publisher, one of the leading Russian publishers of business literature. A pilot run of the book was released on the eve of the New Year for Interfax's many clients.

General sales of the book will begin in March and it can be pre-ordered on the publisher's website: https://alpinabook.ru/catalog/book-interfax/.

Interfax began to develop its rules and standards from its first days of reporting the news in 1989, when the agency's news stories differed radically from the Soviet journalistic norms accepted at the time. Interfax did not follow the official line, it was the first to find out about important events and report the whole range of views on them, seeking to show the full picture.

Interfax was the first in Russia to publish specialized news products for individual sectors of the economy and different markets, and to learn to speak in a language professionals could understand. Interfax news reports became the best on the market, and the agency's rules and format became the industry standard.