Yin Hong: The norms of online dramas and TV dramas should be differentiated

Whether online dramas should be consistent with TV dramas broadcast by traditional media in terms of normative standards and normative procedures is worth discussing and analyzing from the conceptual and operational levels.

At the National TV Drama Industry Annual Conference, Luo Jianhui, Director of the Online Audiovisual Program Management Department of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, emphasized the issue of online drama censorship and supervision in his theme report "Development and Management of Online Drama". The rule that "online and offline standards are unified, and nothing can be broadcast on TV, nor can the Internet" subsequently triggered an earthquake in the TV drama and online drama production industry.

Yin Hong, executive vice president of the School of Journalism and Communication at Tsinghua University, published in the People's Forum article "Can the bottom line of online dramas be lower than TV dramas?", discussing whether the censorship standards for online dramas and TV dramas should be the same. He believes that from the perspective of different communication methods, different audience thresholds, and different audience compositions between TV and the Internet, the norms of TV dramas and online dramas should indeed have certain differences. Online dramas can be more open and diverse, while television will be more orthodox and mainstream.

Attachment: Yin Hong's "Can the bottom line of online dramas be lower than that of TV dramas?"

With the rapid development of the Internet and new media, online and mobile video users have increased rapidly. Online audio-visual programs in China have experienced a surge in growth in recent years. Online dramas, online micro-movies, online big movies, online variety shows, and online talk shows are surging. Not only are they numerous in number, but their influence is increasing day by day. A single product may be viewed by tens of millions or even over 100 million people, which has exceeded traditional movies and TV dramas. The possibility of comprehensive influence.

At the same time, some online video content has problems such as violence, pornography, and vulgarity, which has attracted great attention from all walks of life and industry management departments. Many popular online dramas such as "Promotion of the Crown Princess","Addiction" and "Tomb Robbing Notes" have been ordered to go offline or modify.

How to standardize cultural forms such as online dramas, who will standardize them, and what standards to use have attracted widespread attention. Whether online dramas should be consistent with TV dramas broadcast by traditional media in terms of normative standards and normative procedures is worth discussing and analyzing from the conceptual and operational levels.

The removal of popular dramas from the shelves has triggered controversy over the self-review, self-broadcast, and filing and censorship models of online dramas

. As the scope of online dramas has expanded, it has in fact become a cultural product with public influence. Therefore, it is necessary to regulate online dramas in accordance with the current core political principles and standards, ethical bottom-line standards, and social security standards. It is also in line with the basic requirements of the Constitution and relevant national laws and regulations, as well as the fundamental interests of the people.

In this regard, online dramas and traditional media should be no different. In fact, in countries around the world, there are basic "bottom-line norms" for popular cultural goods for the public. However, in European and American countries, they are more regulated through a sound multi-level legal system. The normative method generally does not adopt pre-emptive "inspection system" and adopts post-event "legal punishment. Due to its high intensity, this post-legal norm may often turn into front-end pressure on information producers and disseminators.

However, in China, due to imperfect relevant laws and regulations, insufficient ability to enforce laws and regulations, and relatively complex social conditions,"no one can rely on" make legal management difficult to operate. Therefore, what China basically adopts is the normative model of pre-review.

There are still obvious differences between the pre-review procedures of network dramas and TV dramas. Network drama and other network literary and artistic products are basically standardized by means of self-examination and self-broadcasting and filing review. The broadcast platform has the responsibility of reviewing and supervising the content of the products broadcast; if there is any dispute over the broadcast content, the relevant department or industry association will review it and propose rectification or broadcast suspension requirements.

Some time ago, the removal and revision of "The Promotion of the Crown Princess" and "Addiction" were in accordance with this procedure. Overall, this is an effective normative model. First, it strengthens the main responsibility of the broadcast platform, shortens the standardized procedures and reduces the uncertainty of the specifications, which helps the broadcast platform to enhance its independent innovation capabilities for online dramas and other related products on the premise of being responsible; Second, it also reserves the power of adjudication for the final specification, which can effectively correct the possible or unexpected "negativity" of online dramas and other products. Although this relatively flexible regulation procedure somewhat increases the risk of content security, it also greatly expands the space for content innovation and has a positive effect on the development and prosperity of online literature and art.

In recent years, under the guidance of this normative method, the online dramas broadcast by various online platforms have generally shown a "mainstream" trend in terms of ethics, social views, and aesthetics."The Battle of Shushan" and "Live Goodbye" have appeared,"Hurry That Year: Long time no see "and" Jianghu College "and other online dramas that have both network characteristics and mainstream value standards, and have also had extensive market influence, are even basically close to the broadcast standards of television. The online movie" Pancake Man "has also become a theater movie licensed for public release.

The online drama itself is undergoing a development process from extensive to sophisticated, from subculture to mainstream culture. Not only has the quality of high-end works improved, but the overall bottom line level has also improved. From this perspective, the current management model can still play a positive role in promoting the development of online literature and art. We need to further improve this normative model so that it can sustainably promote the healthy development of online literature and art.

The standardization of online dramas and TV dramas should explore similarities and differences

. Television is a "zero-threshold" mass communication medium with wide coverage and high popularity. It basically does not require the audience to actively choose to watch. Moreover, instant synchronization can achieve the "mass communication" effect of different ages and different cultures. This zero-threshold, synchronicity, and mass communication characteristics make television (open-circuit) the media form with the strictest norms and the strictest bottom line in the world. At this point, European and American countries are even stricter than China's legal regulations on television. For example, prime time has stricter restrictions on violent and bloody scenes, smoking and drinking scenes, advertising content, celebrity behavior, etc.

Compared with TV dramas, there are three obvious differences between the communication method of online dramas and TV dramas: First, if TV is passively accepted, online dramas are actively chosen, so it raises the threshold of contact. At least most minors will not inadvertently be exposed to online information. This "threshold" of active choice leads to its ethical and aesthetic standards being based on the thinking and judgment of adults.

Second, if TV is synchronized in space and arrives in one go, then online dramas are transmitted in a delayed time and accumulated. Therefore, the influence of online dramas usually needs to be accumulated through the accumulation of clicks to form mass communication, and their timeliness is relatively low. If there is a problem with the content, there can be a certain amount of management buffer, and the degree of negative impact is relatively low.

Third, if television is mass communication, then online dramas are more focused on mass communication. The audience of mass communication varies greatly and has many differences. Some relatively sensitive topics can easily cause completely opposite disputes and even lead to conflicts of opinion. However, the audience of online dramas is relatively concentrated. Different audience groups will choose different online dramas, often people are divided into groups and dramas are grouped together, and social conflicts of opinion caused by cognitive differences will also be reduced.

Therefore, judging from the different communication methods, different audience thresholds, and different audience compositions of TV and the Internet, the norms of TV dramas and online dramas should indeed have certain differences.

Of course, the differentiation between online dramas and TV dramas only refers to a certain degree of difference in the standardization procedures and the mastery of normative standards. However, in terms of political bottom line, ethical bottom line, and aesthetic bottom line, as relevant parties have said,"What traditional media cannot broadcast, online media cannot broadcast either." In other words, the bottom line of core values, whether it is online dramas or TV dramas, cannot be broken through and must be adhered to.

However, in terms of non-core value content, especially in terms of content where acceptance and understanding among people of different age groups and occupations differ significantly with the development of society, online dramas can naturally be more open and diverse, while TV will be more orthodox and more mainstream. The relative drama of TV dramas and the relative diversification of online dramas complement each other and become interesting, which themselves also reflects the diversity and richness of contemporary culture.

In China, although Internet video communication platforms are commercial media, an "oligopoly" pattern has basically taken shape. On the one hand, whether Internet companies can effectively and responsibly regulate content is of great significance to the survival, development and brand building of the company; on the other hand, these communication platforms will also change from the initial "explosive" development to "connotation" development, while driven by commercial interests, proactively assume more conscious social and cultural responsibilities. The larger the scale of the enterprise, the closer the relationship between its economic interests and social responsibilities will be.

Therefore, although the current situation of online drama is obvious, after the waves wash away, online drama will inevitably become an important part of China's cultural content industry under the promotion of various forces in society, including the continuous improvement of corresponding laws and regulations. In today's era of rapid development of society and increasingly diverse cultures, by standardizing a healthy direction for online dramas and opening up a free sky, those who will ultimately benefit will be cultural consumers and a more rational and tolerant society.

Editor: yvonne