Announcing/Radio News
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[edit] What is News?
News can be defined as "anything timely that interests a number of persons."
News writers try to uphold three traditional journalistic values:
- Accuracy (factual, true)
- Clarity (clear, unambiguous)
- Objectivity (free of bias)
[edit] Where does news come from?
Journalists gather news from various sources.
The assignment editor continuously monitors:
- wire services (like AP and Reuters)
- police and fire radio scanners
- National Weather Service broadcasts
- telephone beat check and phoners
- news releases that are faxed or mailed in
- stock and sports tickers
- cable news channels and other media
The assignment editor may decide that a story
- can be read as is by a newscaster
- should be rewritten by a copywriter
- needs an actuality (a.k.a. sound bite), a recorded quote from a news maker
- should be written as a wraparound, with a lead-in and lead-out around an actuality
- needs raw sound (a.k.a. natural sound), background sounds from the environment
Often the assignment editor will assign the story to a reporter to gather more details:
- A field reporter goes out into the field to cover on-the-scene breaking news.
- A beat reporter regularly covers a beat, like City Hall and the Police Department.
- A feature reporter covers soft news‚ stories, like health, consumer and entertainment.
- A stringer is a free-lance reporter who works on an as-needed basis for many stations.
[edit] Journalists as Gatekeepers
Journalists are called gatekeepers because they decide what is and what isn't news. Only some news gets through the gate.
[edit] News Factors
- Time of day
- The Medium
- Management
- Advertisers
- News sources
- Personal values
[edit] Broadcast vs. Print News
Broadcast news is...
- meant to be heard
- limited by time
- shorter in length
- present tense
- simpler words
- conversational lead
- diamond style
While print news is
- meant to be read
- limited by space
- longer in length
- past tense
- broad vocabulary
- 5 Ws and an H
- inverted pyramid
Print news uses the inverted pyramid style...
Broadcast news uses the diamond style ...
Print News Lede (The Woods) Red R. Hood, a young girl from The Woods, cleverly escaped serious injury yesterday afternoon when she was approached by a transvestite wolf while on her way to her grandmother’s house, according to sources close to the family.
Broadcast News Ledes
- Summary lead
"A small girl cleverly escaped injury today when she met a wolf in the woods north of town."
- Teaser lead
"It was a close call in the woods today."
- Question lead
"Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?"
- Staccato lead
"A girl...a wolf...and a lucky escape."
[edit] Writing for the ear
The KISS rule: Keep it...
- Short
- Simple
The AAA rule: write news that is...
- Attention-getting
- Audience-centered
- Action-focused
Prefer active over passive voice "A wolf scares a little girl." (active) "The girl was scared by the wolf." (passive)
Timeliness -- use the present tense
Says is our friend
Say titles before names
Practice strategic redundancy; repeat important facts without sounding dull
Make sure the meaning is clear: "Police found two pounds of heroin in a large woman's handbag."
Be careful of homonyms: "Ninety were killed by Ebola virus." "Ninety were killed by a bowl of iris."
Use round numbers when possible.
Don't overuse pronouns; repeat names.
[edit] Fang's Easy Listening Formula
An easy to remember guideline for broadcast news writing is Fang's ELF:
Count all syllables over 1 per word in each sentence
A good guideline for broadcast news writers is to keep the average Fang ELF below 10. Higher values are harder to read and harder to listen to.
Professor Thompsen hopes you get a good grade on the next quiz. (Fang ELF value is 3.)
Professor Thompsen also sincerely wishes you achieve maximum success in a broadcasting career. (Fang ELF value is 14.)
[edit] Reading News Scripts
Anchors must read news scripts that typically contain abbreviations & cues like:
- SLUG (brief story title)
- TRT (total running time)
- SOT (sound on tape)
- VO (voice over)
- CG (character generator)
- SUPER (superimposed)
- IN or INQ (in-cue, first words of a sound bite or package)
- OUT or OUTQ (out-cue, or last words)
- LS (long shot)
- TS (tight shot)
- CU (close-up)
- XCU (extreme close-up)
- OS (over-the-shoulder)
- RS (reverse shot).
