Instead of standing with traffic, Zhou Ruijin: News should stand with people

In 2005, a few years before her retirement, Le Ying published her first book on journalism, "News from Our Newspaper - Selected Works of Le Ying", which collected more than 100 news works from her 30 years of work as a journalist interviewing various industries. Qin Shaode, then editor-in-chief of the Jiefang Daily, wrote a preface for it, greatly praising Le Ying's precious spirit of being content with and persisting in being ordinary, "willing to be an ordinary reporter for the rest of her life", and strongly advocated that one should be an ordinary good journalist.

In 2019, 10 years after her retirement, Le Ying published a new book, "My Journey to 100 Countries". After retirement, she traveled around the world with her husband Chen Danlu. With her advantage of being proficient in English, she visited more than 100 countries, observed the world with the eyes of a reporter, explored the world with the thinking of a journalist, and wrote a series of insightful, comparative and commentary travel articles. Qin Shaode wrote the preface for "My Journey to 100 Countries". He respectfully called Le Ying an old colleague and old friend, praising her for being "a reporter who never retires and has expanded her coverage to the whole world".

In September 2023, Le Ying used the three years of anti-epidemic work at home to write a memoir of hundreds of thousands of words, reviewing, thinking and summarizing her 36 years of interviewing experience and mental journey as a reporter at the Jiefang Daily in nine chapters. Unexpectedly, this time she sent the manuscript to my desk and said, "You are the old leader who watched me enter the newspaper, and I should ask you to write the preface for this book."

I read the manuscript for the first time and felt good about it. The author uses a simple and plain style to tell the story, which adds a sense of intimacy and credibility. In particular, the author's delicate, soft and real emotions are revealed in his writing, which is gripping and touching, making readers often stop to think deeply and can't help but admire, praise, enlighten and resonate.

In fact, Le Ying experienced a unique historical period in my country and ushered in a unique development opportunity, which made her a unique journalist who can use a computer to publish articles, master a foreign language, and drive modern transportation. With the education level of a junior high school graduate, she worked hard on the farm for 5 years. As a farm worker, she was selected to work as a reporter for the nationally famous newspaper Jiefang Daily. In the daily tense and busy interview and reporting practice of the newspaper, Le Ying studied hard, wrote boldly, and experienced interviews and writing in multiple departments and fields; at the same time, she was admitted to Shanghai International Studies University and obtained a bachelor's degree in English. Soon, she entered Shanghai University of Finance and Economics to receive rigorous training in real estate and environmental protection majors, and then engaged in interviews and reporting in the real estate and environmental protection industries. Finally, she became an expert reporter who was handy and able to cope with it, and was finally evaluated and appointed as a senior reporter with a news title. Doesn't this growth process of reporters reflect the unique background of that era? It can be concluded that Le Ying and reporters like Le Ying, their unique journalistic career is destined to be recorded in the history of China's news development.

The Liberation Daily nurtured Le Ying, who also dedicated the best 36 years of her youth, energy and wisdom to the Liberation Daily. After she married Chen Danlu, a photojournalist from the Labor Daily, they turned their home into a studio, a darkroom and a photo exhibition. The two devoted themselves to journalism, regarded publishing as their duty and the newspaper as their home.

Oscar Wilde, a famous British poet and representative of aestheticism, once said: "The true value of a person is not to be seen in what he has achieved, but in what he has lived." Indeed, Le Ying has been working as a newspaper reporter for 36 years. She has not won any glamorous awards in the news industry, but she has lived up to her character as an excellent reporter. Behind the ordinary writing of "News from this Newspaper", there is an extraordinary statistic: 174 interview books, 28 notebooks, 46 contact books of interviewees, more than 1,000 people interviewed, more than 200 correspondents contacted, and 145 people are still in contact with WeChat. This set of numbers tells people what Le Ying's character as an excellent reporter is.

News should stand with people, not with traffic. No matter how technology changes the way of expression, communication channels and business models, at the critical moment, "I" will be on the scene, exploring the truth, breaking the cocoon, and providing readers with real and valuable information. Content is king. This is the eternal pursuit of journalists, the source of the powerful vitality of news, and an important manifestation of journalists' party consciousness, professionalism, self-discipline, professional standards and credibility.

Live out the true qualities of an excellent journalist, strive to record society, the world, and life throughout your life, safeguard social fairness and justice, understand the worries and joys of the people, have sincere feelings for the newspaper, and adhere to the socially progressive ethics of your profession. This is the value of Le Ying's life as a journalist.

This article is the preface to the book "My Dream as a Journalist" by Le Ying