2021年1月23日发(作者：老黄牛)
Editing Strategies in Television News Documentaries
Abstract:
Richard J. Schaefer


This
study
describes
the
editing
techniques
used
in
four
renowned
television
news
documentaries
that
aired
between
1954
and
1982.
It
is
informed
by
Peirce5s
theories
of
signs, and realist and symbolic film theory, as well as some of the understandings common
to
broadcast
journalists.
The
analysis
attempts
to
bridge
subdisciplinary
boundaries
to
advance an accessible
vocabulary
for
discussing
journalistic
representational
strategies.
The
prevalence
of
continuity
and
thematic
editing
styles,
special
transitional
effects, audio track synchronization, and differing cutting rates was quantitatively analyzed
and linked to classic film realism and montage
strategies.
The
quantitative
findings

and a comparative case study analysis of the structural nuances of each documentary
illustrate the variety of representational strategies used by network journalists. These findings
are discussed in light of analysts5 assertions that televised reports have become increasingly
journalist centered.
Key Words:

TV
documentary,semiotics
,editing
strategy,film
theory,production
techniques
For
decades,
culturally
oriented
critics
have
studied
the
routine
practices
of
print
and
broadcast journalists. Altheide and Snow (1979), Epstein (1973), Glasser and Ettema (1989),
McManus (1994), and Tuchman (1972, 1978) examined journalism from the broader context
of organizational and professional routines. Their studies provide a functionalist alternative
to journalists5 understandings of news work. The researchers described determinations of
news value, attempts to balance sources, and objective styles of representation as efforts to
deflect
criticism
and
legitimate
news
practices.
By
naturalizing
their
professional
routines,
network
journalists
were
able
to
meet
commercial
imperatives
by
producing
news
and
documentary reports more efficiently. In light of this ethnographic perspective and a belief in
the
media
’
s
social
responsibilities,
other
researchers
have
relied
on
an
information
transmission
model
to
examine journalistic representations.
Gans
(1979), Gitlin (1980),
the
Glasgow University Media Group (1982), Graber (1988), Gunter (1987), and Robinson (1986)
used
content
analyses
and
reception
studies
to
support
claims
that
standard
journalistic
practices often fail to meet their full potential for conveying information.

Patterson
(1993)
turned
to
longitudinal
content
comparisons
when considering
press performance. He described recent political coverage as


becoming increasingly negative and journalist centered. This more negative style privileges
journalists
’

voices
over
those of
the
politicians
and others
featured in
news
reports.
Thus,
even the journalistic practice of previous decades has been used as a basis for evaluating
contemporary press practices.

Peirce
’
s Semiotics and Film Theory
In his semiotic work, Peirce (1940) distinguished between the iconic, indexical, and symbolic
qualities of signs. Iconic signs bear a resemblance to and convey many of the details and
characteristics of the objects they represent. Indeed, photographic signs are icons because
they
look
like
the
objects
they
represent.
Peirce wrote
that
photographic
signs
were
also
indexical, because the photo-graph is a by- product or trace of the thing it represents (much
as a footprint communicates a step and a weathervane signifies wind direction). Signs can
also
have
symbolic
qualities
that
convey
arbitrary
and
conventional
meanings.
Symbolic
meaning
is
not
derived
from
a
sign
’
s
relationship
to
actual
events
so
much
as
its
conventional usage and propositional appropriateness within a broader semiotic argument.

According to Peirce (1940), the three different qualities of signs are not exclusive. A visual
image may have a combination of iconic, indexical, and symbolic overtones. The iconic and
indexical
qualities
of
contemporary
imaging
technologies,
including
film
and
video,
have
enabled audiovisual signs to rival the written transcript and written description as the most
accurate representations of events. This ''camera of record
”
approach is based on the detail
evident
in film and video representations and journalistic guarantees that the images are authentic.

This
study
examined
four
significant
and
well- distributed
works
from
a
single
broadcast
journalism genre. It utilized a case study approach reinforced by a quantitative analysis of
four
editing
variables
to
reveal
the
programs5
varied
editing
strategies.
Therefore,
it
explored a frequently overlooked structural aspect of broadcast journalism.

The Documentaries
Each of the four documentary telecasts aired during different periods in a genre that scholars
have labeled the prestige documentary (Bluem, 1965; Carroll, 1978; Freed, 1972; Rosenthal,
1988). The four programs were chosen, in part, because they achieved such notoriety that
much
has
been
written
about
them.
The
programs
are
still
available
for
viewing
in
many
public and university libraries. This makes it possible for readers to see the documentaries for
themselves.
Coding
The programs were coded on a shot-by-shot basis. This allowed four formal


variables to be tabulated for each visual transition in the documentaries. The following four
variables were tabulated, because, when taken in combination, they provide insights into the
prevalence of realist and montage editing strategies:
(1)
Shot length: The duration in seconds and tenths of seconds of each visual image. This
variable indicates cutting rate, or how many visual edits were made per minute. High cutting
rates
suggest
more
overtly
artificial
and
fragmented
editing
strategies.
Low
cutting
rates
suggest a less fragmented
“
camera of record
”
approach to representation.
(2)
Use of straight cuts or special effect edits: Whether visual transitions used cut edits or
more elaborate special effects, such as dissolves or fades. Frequent use of the latter would
typically convey a sense of artificiality and reduce classic continuity realism.
(3)
Style of visual edit: Whether the visual edit was a continuity edit, a montage edit, a jump
cut
or
transitional
edit,
or
an
edit
that
had
no
apparent
visual
logic.
Transitions
between
shots recorded at a single site and without any apparent breaks in action were characterized
as
continuity
edits.
Montage
edits
reinforced
traditional
or
avant-garde
symbolic
understandings.
If
a
transition
could
have
been
characterized
as
both
a
continuity
and
montage edit, it was counted only as a continuity technique, because its use in the continuity
sequence
fostered
a
more
iconic
and
indexical
realistic
interpretation.
Jump
cuts
make
viewers aware that an event has been condensed through editing. Thus, they destroy the
illusion
of
continuity.
Transitional
edits
are
sometimes
considered
a
particular
type
of
continuity edit. They typically begin with an exterior shot of a building or outside detail, and
then
transition
to
a
shot
of
a
scene
inside
the building.
Finally,
some
transitions
between
shots lacked a clear visual logic and were therefore labeled as such.
(4)
Audiovisual synchronization: Whether or not the
primary audio track was edited with
synch sound that appeared to have been recorded with the visual image. This synchronized
sound
would
reinforce
realistic
interpretations.
Sounds
that
appeared
not
to
have
been
recorded on location with the visual image, and were presumably added during the editing
stage,
were
categorized
as
asynchronous.
The
presence
of
such
overlaid
asynchronous
sounds reinforces a more artificial and symbolically complex editing strategy.

Production Techniques of the Documentaries
Subject matter and individual producer preferences influenced the construction of the four
documentaries. The relatively slow pacing (3.4 cutting rate) of the 1954
McCarthy broadcast could be partly attributable to the fact that Executive Producer Edward
R. Murrow rejected the quick-paced editing style common to the newsreels of the 1940s and
1950s (Yeager, 1956, p. 202). Instead, Murrow adopted a more classic realist strategy that
relied on the iconicity


and indexicality of
“
camera of record
”
footage of McCarthy acting like a political bully.

This
classic
realist
approach
was
practical
because,
as
a
prominent
newsmaker,
Senator
McCarthy left a trail of authentic film images in his and Producer Fred Friendly
were
able
to
collect
those
images
and
select
clips
that
showed
McCarthy
abusing
his
congressional powers. Although Murrow
’
s live lead-ins provided some critical context for the
authenticated clips, the images of McCarthy were presented in a seemingly unmanipulated
manner. This technique emphasized the indexicality of the images as traces of real events.
Thus, rather than Murrow merely issuing a subjective attack on McCarthy, the senator
’
s own
actions appeared to be presented for viewers to judge for themselves.

Conclusion
The use of traditional montage and independently edited audio and visual tracks in the four
documentaries
appears
to
reinforce
some
press
critics5
claims
that
there
has
been
a
noticeable
rise
in
overtly
subjective
and
journalist- centered
reporting
during
the
last
few
decades.
However,
it
should
be
remembered
that
all
these
documentaries
presented
the
strong editorial sentiments of their producers. Even the Report on Senator McCarthy, which
was most obviously grounded in classic realism, conveyed the subjective editorial assertions
of its producers. In fact, by emphasizing the indexical properties of the imagery, classic realist
representations
can
present
subjective
arguments
in
a
seemingly
objective
and
nondiscursive
manner
—
a
manner
that
is
even
less
self- evidently
biased
than
montage
strategies.
Therefore,
if
classic
realist
representations
are
giving
way
to
more
montage-structured journalistic efforts, it would follow that observers would be more likely
to notice journalists taking editorial stands in contemporary television reports.

Despite the fact that each of the subsequent documentaries relied more heavily on synthetic
montage techniques than the previous documentaries, this four documentary analysis does
not
prove
that
broadcast
journalists
are
now
turning
to
montage
over
classic
realism.
To
make that claim, it would be necessary to conduct rigorous longitudinal analyses of larger
representative samples of news, news magazines, and documentary reports.

In
this
study
I
have
attempted
to
bridge
some
of
these
subdisciplinary
boundaries
by
integrating baseline concepts and vocabulary from film theory, Peircian semiotics, and the
jargon of professional journalists. Just as manipulating editing techniques advances the art of
television reporting, using a commonly accessible vocabulary for analyzing the techniques of
nonfictional editing can advance the art of
“
reading
”
television journalism.


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