Assignment : Broadcast News Writing

BROADCAST WRITING Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and/or video signals which transmit programs to an audience. The audience may be the general public or a relatively large sub-audience, such as children or young adults. Writing for broadcast takes a different level of skills than writing for print. The writer must use all of the techniques that he or she has learned in writing for print and must refine those techniques for broadcast copy. The most important of these techniques is that of condensation. The broadcast writer must learn to select and condense information. The writer must learn that an even higher value is placed on brevity than in writing for print.

Selection of news —

While many of the basic news values are still at work in the selection of broadcast news, the broadcast journalist works with an additional set of considerations. Timeliness is one of the most important of those considerations. Broadcast news emphasizes immediacy; the news that is the latest is often the news that is mentioned first. The emphasis on information rather than explanation is another of those considerations. The broadcast medium is generally not one that allows time for a full and complete development of a story. Getting information to listeners and viewers is of primary importance. The audio or visual impact of a story is another important consideration in the selection of news for broadcast. A story that has good pictures or compelling audio is likely to be used over a story that does not. It is said that: "Writing is hard work- it is only easy for those who haven't learned to write." Writing broadcast news can be divided into two story types. Both types are based on the time it takes to present the information to your targeted audience. News Features are stories between 3 and 7 minutes long about things that have happened in the past. The ideas and pictures for feature news stories are usually planned out on a storyboard. Writing news feature storyboards

involves explaining how the audio (sounds) and the shots, (visual details) will present the researched background facts and information. Breaking news and daily announcements are stories that are happening today or in the near future. Breaking news and daily announcements are usually written into a teleprompter to be read on-air by announcers. Writing breaking news and daily announcements involves presenting information in short stories between 15 seconds and 1 minute long. Sources of information may be limited. The information can be incomplete or possibly inaccurate. Usually, you have a very short time to contact sources to confirm or correct information. A rule-of-thumb that advertising writers use to estimate a story's time is that at a normal speaking pace, 65 words equal 30 seconds. Whether you are writing news features, breaking news or daily announcements, the following are basic rules to follow:

1. Th e Le ad .  

                     The most common story structure for the broadcast news story is dramatic unity with its three parts: climax, cause and effect. Journalists should also understand the importance of an attention-getting lead in making sure that listeners hear and understand their stories. Such leads require a deft touch on the part of the writer. They may look easy to produce at first glance, but they are more difficult to do well than they appear. Three types of leads used commonly in broadcast news are the single-feature lead in which the most important part of the story is emphasized at the beginning; the umbrella lead, or blanket lead, which features two or more important elements; and the chronological lead, which tells the story in the order it happened. The lead in broadcast is like the headline in newspapers; it lets the reader know what the story is about. The WHAT is usually the most important of the Ws and H; followed by the WHO. The WHEN should be as current as possible. If the WHERE is not apparent to the viewer/listener, it should also be included. The HOW and/or WHY take longer to explain and should be saved for the last part of the story. The lead should not begin with a name. Save the name for the second sentence. Many listeners are doing other things while the news is on and may miss the name if it is mentioned first. You could start with the person’s title, such as “Secretary of the Treasury”, followed by the name.

2. Quo tes .

          All comments should be attributed. The attribution word in broadcast writing is says. Using the present tense makes the story seem more current. Say: “Those were his exact words”, or “That’s the way she said it,” or “Quoting him exactly.” Do not use the “quote, unquote method.” Paraphrasing will probably work better than quoting a person directly. You can use sound bites to get direct quotes.

3. W riti ng st yle . There are a number of differences in writing style between broadcast writing and writing for print. Style rules in broadcast writing are designed primarily to make it easy on a news reader to read out loud. Use short sentences. Be brief and concise. Avoid using adjectives and adverbs. Stories cannot run over the time allotted. The story should have a conversational feel, so the writer should write the story the way he would tell it in person. Repeat words and significant facts if necessary. The listener may not have another chance to hear the same story.

4. Co ntr acti on s. Contractions are okay to use in broadcast journalism as they sound conversational.

5. Us e of “o ur” an d “ us”.

    Unlike newspaper reporters, broadcasters are visible components of the story, and they are a part of the community that they are telling about. So it is permissible for broadcasters to refer to “our” town and “us.”

6. A cti ve v oice .

      As in newspaper reporting, broadcasters should use the active voice rather than the passive.

7. T ense .

      Use present tense whenever possible, but it is okay to mix tenses as long as the story makes sense. Make the story sound as current as possible with phrases such as “Just moments ago”, “shortly before noon”, and “this afternoon.”

8. Abbre viat ion s.

        Avoid using abbreviations except for Mrs., Mr., or Dr., which the announcer would read as entire words. If abbreviations must be used, you need to place hyphens between letters and numbers that should be pronounced separately. The announcer may be reading your copy cold and may not realize what you had intended. Write: U-S-A, not USA. Write Ndouble A-C-P, not NAACP. But use 1999 or NATO.

9. N um ber s. •

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 Spell out figures through ELEVEN. Use numerals for 12-999. Use hyphenated combinations for numerals and words above 999. (Example: 33 -thousand.) Round off numbers unless the exact number is significant. Use "st," "nd," "th," and "rd" after dates, addresses and numbers to be read as ordinary numbers. (Example: "2nd Street," "May 14th")

10. Sy mbol s. Spell out symbols. Use dollars instead of $. Use percent instead of %.

11 . Me as ure ment s/ am ou nt s.

     Spell out words which deal with measurements or amounts. Use inches instead of “. Use pints instead of pt.

12. O rdin al n umber s. It is permissible to write st, nd, rd, and th after numbers used in addresses and anywhere else ordinal numbers might be used: 17th Congressional District; 4210 43rd Street.

13. R ou nd o f f n umber s.

     Write “about 1000” rather than an exact number such as 1002. Or you can use words such as around, about, close to, just under, just over, nearly.

14. Ti me . Avoid the use of a.m. or p.m. Say “this morning” or “this afternoon” as these sound more current. Follow the rules for writing numbers if you are

using exact times. Use informal time references, such as “tomorrow” or “yesterday” rather than “Tuesday” or “Thursday”.

15 . P un ct ua tio n.

     Sentences are short, and punctuation should be kept to a minimum. Use only the period, dash, question mark and comma. Three periods indicate a pause. A double hyphen is used instead of parentheses.

16. C orrectio ns .

     Do not use copyediting symbols to correct mistakes. This will only confuse the announcer. Instead, strike out a word or sentence completely and retype it.

17. S pell ph one tic all y.

  If a word is unusual and may cause problems for the announcer, spell it out phonetically, such as using “I-sen-trop-ik” for the word isentropic. Broadcast writers should learn how and when to use phonetic spellings for words or names that will be unfamiliar to the reader. Journalist should remember that broadcast copy is often written on deadline, and news readers may not have time to practice reading their copy before they go on the air. A good exercise for journalist is to have them spell their names phonetically.

18. E asy Li st enin g Form ul a.

    Avoid more than 12 two-syllable or more words in a sentence.

19 . T ra ns iti on s. Help the story flow smoothly by using transitions such as “for example”, “for instance”, “as an illustration”, “furthermore”, “in addition”, “accordingly”, etc.

20 . A void h is si ng s ou nd s.

     Avoid causing sibilance. A series of words that begin with or contain the letter S will cause a hissing sound.

21. R ead a lo ud. R eme mber th at y ou a re ‘ Wri tin g f or t he e ar , no t the eye’ . This is the key difference between writing for broadcast and writing for print. Students need to understand that what they are writing will be read aloud, not read silently. The listener has no opportunity to go back and “rehear” a news broadcast to see what he or she has missed. In that regard, clarity in writing becomes one of the chief goals of the writer. Before giving your copy to the announcer, read it aloud yourself to catch problems.

22 . B E C ARE FUL ! The following words have more than one meaning and must not be used improperly: Accident= Accidents happen all the time, but so do intentional acts. Don’t predetermine cause by a haphazard word choice. Admit= Other than meaning to grant entrance, the word means to concede or confess and implies acknowledgement of wrongdoing. Claim= Claim means to demand or assert a right (generally used in legal context). Elderly= This may be viewed as a negative. Use only for people 65 years of age and above—and even then, use carefully. Ghetto= Do not use lightly. This is a section of the city overwhelmingly inhabited by members of a minority group and/or a minority group that has been forced to live in that section. Guerrilla, insurgent, rebel= Guerrilla fighters generally employ hit-and-run tactics; insurgents or rebels fight against the government generally and are more appropriate terms to use in most cases. Illegal= Use only in reference to a violation of law.

Leftist, rightist, radical= Use more precise political descriptions. These are at best subjective terms as are conservative, left, right, moderate. Also, a radical wants upheaval of the existing government, so be particularly careful. Sanction, sanctions= Sanction, as a verb or noun, means authoritative approval. Sanctions, as a noun, usually in international law, refer to efforts of one or more countries to force another to change some policy. When speaking, be sure to make the distinction clear. Survey= Only use this word if there has been an actual survey.

23 . C om mo n pr oblem s. The following list represent some of the most

misused, misunderstood or mispronounced words by broadcasters. Be sure to articulate words accurately so they cannot be misunderstood as another word with a different meaning. Also, make sure the word you say, is the one you mean! Accept, except = accept is to take; except is to exclude Allude, refer= allude is to speak of something indirectly; refer is to speak of directly Allusion, illusion= allusion is a casual reference to something; illusion means to create a false impression Boycott, embargo= boycott involves an organized refusal to buy, use or participate in something; embargo involves a government-imposed restriction on trade Die, kill= all people eventually die; some people are killed Emigrate, immigrate= emigrate means to leave a country to settle elsewhere; immigrate means to enter a country from the outside.

Ensure, insure= unless you’re speaking about insurance, the proper word is ensure Irregardless= not a word, use regardless instead Rebut, refute= rebut means to argue against with evidence; refute means to prove wrong Toward= not towards Whether or not= should almost always be just whether

Writing for TV news • • • •

Grab the audience's attention. Pay particular attention to the lead. Use interview sound bites throughout. Sound bites should not be longer than 20 seconds. Do not forget about the suggested studio introduction. Need to have a lead-in to your story. The first requirement for writing news for broadcast is clarity. Understanding must be immediate. If have the cleanest copy (devoid of grammar mistakes), and is unclear, you've not done your job.

Script format Script formats vary from station to station. All have similar components. Four basic script formats in TV and radio: single column (radio), the single column sometimes used in TV, two column principal TV format, with video on the left and audio on the right, and the film or screenplay format, with each sequence consecutively numbered.

Script preparation begins with a summary or an outline; a short overview of what the script is about. The treatment or scenario is a more detailed chronological rundown of the prospective script, giving information about the plot, setting and characters, and examples of the dialogue.

Storyboarding • • • • • •

Rough sketch of the anticipated shot. Emphasis on ‘rough’. Number them to when you will change a shot on your script. Give commentary at the bottom. What this does is gets you to visualize what your show will look like. Also if going to different cameras, let you know if will have problems. Draw outline of set and cameras to see if will move.

Scriptwriting •

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Start by dividing your page into two columns. Video commands, explanations of what shots you need, and other special effects should be listed on the left side; anything related to the audio should be included on the right side. This will help you and your producer visualize what you need to say, and will remind you to explain what you need to show. Decide what the approach your video will need. Do you need a straight voice-over (narration over video)? Will it be hosted by someone on your staff? Hosted by a professional? Will you include interviews? Consider your audience. What will the audience members' interests be? How long will you be able to retain their attention? An adult audience's attention span will last about 8 to 10 minutes, if the viewer does not have a vested interest in the subject matter. If the viewer does, then the attention span can be stretched a little longer. For children, plan for three to five minutes. This is often one of the most difficult aspects of writing a good script. There is often too much to include in a short time-span.

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Write the way you speak. Write for the ear, and remember that unlike something written, your audience cannot go back and refer to something in a previous paragraph. Most people will not stop a tape and rewind to refresh their memories, so write in simple, easy-tounderstand sentences.

When you've finished writing your script, use the following as a checklist: •

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Have I explained myself in simple language? (When I read the script aloud, does it sound like I'm talking to an audience or just reading to an audience?) Have I avoided technical language? Have I used music and natural sound (background sound) to help tell my story and break up constant narration or interviews? Do I have any lists or main ideas that could be reinforced on the television screen as they are being discussed? Will my audience be interested throughout my entire program?

To save time, use on-screen text to support what you need to state . Another method of saving time is by avoiding lengthy introductions and conclusions. Remember that your video tells a story without your needing to state everything. If your video about an academic program shows children intent and focused on a lesson, you do not need to tell your audience that children in this program are 'intent and focused on their lessons.' Once you have a completed script, if you used two equal video columns on 8.5 x 11 - inch paper (12-point type), consider that a full column of video will last about 30 to 45 seconds per page. After you've finished writing your script, why not let someone in your intended audience read over it? You may learn that you have included jargon or inadequate explanations in some areas. You also can determine what areas your intended audience will find the most and least interesting.

CLASS : B.A.(HONS) PART-2

INSTITUTE : ENGLISH.

SUBJECT (MINOR) : MASS COMMUNICATION.

TEACHER CONCERNED : SIR LIAQUAT ALI UMRANI.

TOPIC OF THE ASSIGNMENT : “FORMULATION OF BROADCASTING NEWS”

DATE : 22-10-2008

REFERENCES: http://www.mashell.com/~parr5/news_writing.htm http://www.mediaawareness.ca/english/resources/special_initiatives/toolkit_resources/ti psheets/writing_news_story.cfm http://aee3070.ifas.ufl.edu/Writing.htm http://taje.org/fortaje/PDF/writing_for_broadcast.pdf. http://www.jprof.com/broadcasting/bcstyletips.html http://www.newswriting.com/newrules.htm