BROADCAST AND WEB NEWS WRITING:WRITE CONCISELY, BROADCAST STYLE

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Journalistic Writing MCM310

LECTURE 42

BROADCAST AND WEB NEWS WRITING

"Writing is hard work- it's 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 possible

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. WRITE CONVERSATIONALLY: Tell a story without being boring. Say it as though you were telling

your best friend or your Mom or Dad with enthusiasm.

2. WRITE CONCISELY: Use short sentences. Use one idea per sentence. Avoid words you don't need.

3. SIMPLIFY COMPLICATED IDEAS: Present straight-forward facts in a way that does not talk down to

people. Remember, they will only hear the information once, so it is important that what they hear is easy

to understand.

4. RESEARCH & VERIFY ALL INFORMATION: Know what you are talking about. Check the facts.

Get first hand information, not second hand opinion. Research will tell you which way your story will go in

finding the truth. Be objective; there are always two sides to a story.

5. AVOID NEWSPAPER CONSTRUCTION IN YOUR WRITING: The viewer "hears" your story.

They can not read your script. Don't use terms like, "In the Headlines" - "Front Page News" or

"Cover Story" Newspaper words: "vie" "nab" "bust" "laud" "grill" "foe" "woe" "fray" "hike"-

for raise or increase "ink"-for signs "pact" "opt" "eye"-for watch "blast" "rap" "hit"-for criticize

"slay, slew, or slain" "youth" -for young person "former, latter, or respectively" or "Accord" -for

contract or agreement. Viewers want to hear you speak naturally- like they do in every-day conversations.

Don't start or end stories with prefabricated phrases -(headlines) "It's Official" "It Shouldn't Come As

a Surprise" "It Had to Happen Eventually"

6. DON'T SCARE THE VIEWERS: Why would you start a story with "This story is very complicated and

confusing?" Viewers don't want to know about the labor pains, they just want to see the baby!

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7. DON'T GIVE ORDERS: "Listen Up" or "Attention" Just tell the information- don't tell them what to

do with it...

8. DON'T BURY A STRONG VERB IN A NOUN: Say, "a bomb exploded" not "a bomb explosion"

Use "VIGOROUS VERBS" for Go Power!

9. DON'T START A STORY WITH: "As expected" or "In a surprise move" People don't want the

expected or like feeling as though they don't know what's going on. Phrases like "A new development"

or "Making the news" are redundant. Why else would it be on the news?

10. DON'T CHARACTERIZE THE NEWS AS GOOD, BAD, INTERESTING, OR SHOCKING:

Let the viewers decide what good, bad, shocking, etc is. What is good for one person might be bad for

another.

11. DON'T START A LEAD SENTENCE WITH A PARTICIPLE PHRASE (ING-WORD) OR A

DEPENDENT CLAUSE: We don't say, "Needing new shoes, I will buy a new pair tomorrow."

The best pattern for a broadcast lead sentence is SUBJECT-VERB-OBJECT (S-V-O) - "I bought new

shoes." Don't start a story with a quotation. The viewers don't know if the words are yours or someone

else's. Always put the source before the quote, it sounds more natural. "Assistant Principal Brown said,

"blah, blah, blah." Don't start a lead sentence with a question. They sound like a quiz show or

commercial. Viewers want answers and information- not questions.

12. DON'T START A STORY WITH "THERE IS"- "THERE ARE" OR "IT IS": "Is" and "are" are

not "action verbs." They are "linking verbs" as are "have" "seen" "feel" and "become". Is-Are-

Was-Were- and Will Be are weak verbs. What viewers hear first is crucial, if they are going to keep

listening and watching.

13. DON'T START A LEAD SENTENCE WITH THE NAME OF AN UNKNOWN OR

UNFAMILIAR PERSON: If the name means nothing to the viewers, they won't keep listening. Use a

title or label before the name- "Seattle newspaper photographer..." "Tacoma mayor..."

"President..." And don't use personal pronouns (he or she) to start a story.

14. DON'T WRITE A FIRST SENTENCE WITH "YESTERDAY" OR "CONTINUES": Yesterday

is "old news." The word "continues" tells viewers that "nothing is new." If something is ongoing, find a

new angle to describe it. The word "Details" is a dirty word! It's like the fine print in a legal contract and

tells the viewer that, "there is more, but we can't really explain all that right now." Try to be positive

in your leads. Avoid using "no" or "not" in a first sentence. Change "did not remember" to "forgot."

"Did not pay attention" to "ignored" etc

15. DON'T START A STORY WITH "ANOTHER" "MORE" OR "ONCE AGAIN": These are

viewer/listener turn-off words. What they hear is "Old News" or "Just the Same Old Thing." Don't

try to cram too much information into a story. Give the viewer the "highly concentrated essence of the

story." Remember, the audience only gets to hear and see the piece once. (Who records the news on their

VCR so they can review it later? Not normal people!) People have difficulty processing a steady stream of

facts - (think of the teacher who just lectures.) Waste Words: "in order" "in the process" "literally"

"actually" "really" "suddenly" "gradually" "finally" "flatly" "personally" "officially"

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"miraculously" "local" "nearby" "area" "separate" "a total of" "then" "the fact that"

"meanwhile" "on a lighter note"

16. DON'T LOSE OR FAIL TO REACH THE VIEWERS: Talk "to" them, not "at" them. Don't make

factual errors! If you lose your credibility, you lose your audience. Learn to spell correctly and properly

pronounce names. If you are not sure about something, look it up or find someone who does know!

Writing is hard work. It's only easy for those who haven't learned to write. Confucius should have said,

"Easy writing equals hard listening. Hard writing equals easy listening!"

BROADCAST STYLE

The following is intended to work as a reference list for you to use while writing your stories. Please refer to

this guide while writing stories in lab. In this context, the phrase "broadcast style" refers to the actual look of

the written material in scripts which are intended to be read "on the air." It is to be assumed that your written

material will be used in an actual broadcast. Therefore you must pay attention to such elements as punctuation

and abbreviations. Most of these guidelines come from Wimer & Brix in their book "Radio and TV News

Editing and Writing." In some cases their suggestions have been altered.

General Rules:

Double space

Most stations today are double spacing their scripts. Your formatting steps will automatically double space your

scripts).

In the upper left corner of each page write the following:

(You can pencil this in after the script comes off the printer).

· Reporter's name

One or two word slug

Date

Page Number

Place individual stories on separate pages.

Place ### marks at the end of each story.

Capitalization:

There has been a raging debate about which style is most suitable -- a mixture of upper and lower-case or all

upper-case. In the early years of broadcasting, the poor quality of the script appearance on a teleprompter

required the use of all upper-case letters. However, as Teleprompters have improved these rules, have largely

changed. It is argued that lower-case letters, with their ascenders and descenders, have varied shapes which

readers more easily pick up. When scripts are done entirely in upper-case, all the letters have the same block-

shape. For the purposes of this class your scripts should be upper and lower-case.

Abbreviations:

In general, do not use abbreviations.

Exceptions:

MR.

MRS.

MS.

DR.

ST.

LOUIS

ST.

PAUL

FT.

LAUDERDALE

(These are considered "common usage" and are preferred by most newscasters).

Exceptions:

F-B-I

Y-M-C-A

G-O-P

F-C-C

(These are well known and readily identifiable by their initials. Also, note that a hyphen is used between the

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letters when you want the newscaster to read each letter separately).

Abbreviations of names of some organizations are pronounced as a single word and do not require hyphens.

NATO SEATO

When referring to the United States, the abbreviation U-S may be used if it is used as an adjective.

YES: "HE WORKS FOR THE U-S INFORMATIONS AGENCY" OTHERWISE: "BOLIVIA WANTS

HELP FROM THE UNITED STATES"

Phonetic Spelling:

You must indicate how hard to pronounce words and names are pronounced. Type the phonetic spelling in

parenthesis after the name. Break down the phonetic spelling into syllables by using hyphens. Use all capital

letters in the syllable to be stressed, and lower case letters in the other syllables. Use phonetic spelling every

time

you

use

the

word

name,

not

just

the

first

time.

The following is an IPA guideline that can be used to spell out words phonetically.

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YOU CAN FOLLOW THE FOLLOWING SYSTEM TO SPELL OUT DIFFICULT WORDS

PHONETICALLY

VOWELS

Use AY for long A in mate.

Use A for short A as in cat.

Use AI for nasal A as in air.

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Use AH for short A as in father.

Use AW for broad A as in talk.

Use EE for long E as in meet.

Use EH for short E as in get.

Use UH for hollow E as in the or le (French prefix).

Use AY for French long E with accent as in pathe.

Use IH for E as in pretty.

Use EW for EW as in few.

Use EYE for long I as in time.

Use EE for French long I as in machine.

Use IH for short I as in pity.

Use OH for long O as in note, or ough as in though.

Use AH for short O as in hot.

Use AW for broad O as in fought.

Use OO for O as in fool, or ough as in through.

Use U for O as in foot.

Use UH for ough as in trough.

Use OW for O as in how, or ough as in plough.

Use EW for long U as in mule.

Use OO for long U as in rule.

Use U for middle U as in put.

Use UH for short U as in shut, or hurt.

CONSONANTS

Use K for hard C as in cat.

Use S for soft C as in cease.

Use SH for soft CH as in machine.

Use CH for hard CH or TCH as in catch.

Use Z for hard S as in disease.

Use S for soft S as in sun.

Use G for hard G as in gang.

Use J for soft G as in general.

Punctuation:

The rules of punctuation in the English language do not hold for broadcast announcers.

Do not use the following marks on broadcast scripts:

: ; ( ) except for phonetics and nicknames

&$@%

The most common punctuation marks are commas and periods. Do not use colons or semi-colons.

The dash is used frequently as a substitute for other punctuation marks. (The dash is a double hyphen --).

The hyphen is used to indicate when letters are to be read as such. C-I-O, Y-M-C-A

The hyphen is also used to in telephone numbers and license plate numbers.

Don't use quotation marks. It is best to paraphrase or rephrase direct quotations. When direct quotes are to be

used you should use tell the audience that you are quoting

EXAMPLES:

WE QUOTE HIS EXACT WORDS-

HE SAID-AND WE QUOTE-

HE WENT ON TO SAY-

AS HE PUT IT-

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Numbers:

Avoid using lists of numbers.

Round off large and detailed numbers.

Use figures instead of writing out the numbers. The exceptions are one and eleven which should be written

out.

For numbers over 999, use a combination of spelling and figures.

EXAMPLES:

THERE ARE ELEVEN CHILDREN IN CLASS TODAY.

THERE ARE 15 CHILDREN IN CLASS TODAY.

THERE ARE 11-HUNDRED STUDENTS ENROLLED IN SCHOOL

NEW CENSUS FIGURES SHOW 25-THOUSAND-258 PERSONS LIVE IN HOMETOWN.

Exceptions:

Always write out a number if it begins a sentence.

Always spell out fractions.

EXAMPLES:

TWENTY-FIVE PERSONS ATTENDED THE MEETING

OFFICIALS SAY ONE-HALF OF THE MEMBERS WERE ABSENT

Don't use PM or AM Use THIS MORNING, THIS AFTERNOON, TONIGHT.

When using addresses, dates, and ordinals, use figures. Use st, nd, rd, th after figures to be read as ordinals.

Exceptions to this are first and eleventh. Always spell them out.

Avoid "PER" in news for the air. Write it:

17-CENTS A POUND

24-DOLLARS A DAY

60 MILES AN HOUR

BROADCAST NEWS ETHICS

In groups, come up with a brief statement which outlines your policy with regard to each of the following

legal/ethical concerns. What will your news organization's policies be? Talk it over and achieve some sort of

consensus.

1.) Advance Examination of Broadcasts:

Are there any circumstances under which a broadcast, or any part of it, may be seen or heard by outsiders

before it is aired? If so, what are the circumstances? Be very specific.

What about advertisers?

What about the police?

What about "outtakes"?...material which won't appear on the air.

2.) Coverage of Civil Disturbances:

It has been argued that coverage by the news media, and particularly television coverage, causes or intensifies

the very disturbances that are being covered; that people who seek publicity for their grievances will

deliberately create of intensify a disturbances so that they may "perform" before reporters, cameras, and

microphones; and that, consequently, minimizing or omitting coverage will minimize or eliminate civil

disturbances.

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What do you think of this assessment?

How can a television news organization do it's job and still address these concerns?

What specific steps can be taken to avoid inciting further disturbance?

What is your responsibility in obeying police orders regarding your presence at the scene?

If you disagree with an officer's orders, what should you do?

3.) Commercial Messages:

Should employees of your organization be allowed to participate in commercial messages? If not, why not? If

so, who and why?

4.) Interviewing Accident Victims and Their Relatives:

Under what circumstances, if any, should broadcast news employee's interview people who have been involved

in tragic or traumatic situations? How should such interviews be conducted? i.e. what sort of questions should

you ask and which ones would you avoid? What about funerals? Should you cover the funeral of a prominent

person or the funeral of a family member? If you decide to cover a funeral, how should it be handled?

5.) Limitations on Interviews as Requested by Interviewees:

Occasionally, potential interviewees seek to impose limitations on the manner in which the interview may be

conducted or used. What basic standards should such requests is measured against?

Would you agree to submit questions in advance?

Would you agree to refrain from asking specific questions?

Would you let the interviewee participate in the editing of the recorded material?

Would you make a commitment that a recorded interview, or portion of the interview, will be broadcast?

Would you agree to not edit any portion of the interview?

Finally, what if such requests are made....how would you handle it...would you fail to do the interview at all?

Oh, one more thing...if the interviewee wants to dictate that who will conduct the interview, what will you do?

What will your policy be on this matter?

6.) "Reaction Shots" and "Reverse Question Shots" on Interviews:

Reaction Shots:

Shots of a reporter shot out of natural time sequence are sometimes used to cover edits within an interview.

Will your station allow such a practice?

What are some of the concerns with regard to this practice?

If you decide to allow this practice...What specific precautions will you ask reporters and editors to take?

Reverse Question Shots:

Shots of a reporter re-asking a question out of natural time sequence which are used to get the question on tape

without needing two cameras at the interview site.

Will your stations allow such a practice?

What are some of the concerns with regard to this practice?

If you decide to allow this practice...What specific precautions will you ask reporters and photographers to

take?

If the interviewee has to leave before you get the re- ask shot...will you shoot it and use it anyway?

Should you be able to shoot the re-ask question at a different time and a different location?

7.) Outside Produced Broadcasts:

These are often news "packages" produced by people who are not a part of your news organization.

Should there ever be a time when you would accept for broadcast a package produced by an outside group?

If so, what conditions must be met by the outside producers?

What about the use of raw footage shot by an amateur with a home camcorder? What will your station's policy

be? How will such material be handled?

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8.) Sound:

Should sound effects be used to simulate natural sound?

What about "non-synchronous" natural sound (sound shot at the same scene and same general time, but not

the actual sound recorded with the shot being shown). Should the use of "non- synchronous" natural sound be

allowed? If so, under what limitations

9.) Staging:

In broadcast news the best situation is to photograph news as it happens. But, what about "staging" certain

events or occurrences? Will you allow staging under any circumstances?

If not, why and what sort of problems might you encounter?

Are there distinctions between "hard news" stories and "feature" stories with regard to staging certain

activities?

If you allow some staging, what sort of circumstances?

Suppose you are doing a feature story on a woodcarver who wasn't planning to do any carving today. If you ask

him or her to "carve" for your camera are you staging? If not, what makes this situation different?

In general, what will your policy be on "staging?"

10.) Gifts or Favors:

Employees must discharge their journalistic responsibilities with the appearance, as well as the fact, of complete

independence and integrity. Outright payment either for news coverage or a particular slant on a story is illegal.

Yet, there are other situations which fall into a gray area and are handled differently by different stations.

What will your station's policy be on the following?

Transportation provided by others. (Air or land)

A "free lunch".

Free concert or sport tickets.

Free lodging.

Free ski lift tickets or season passes.

Can you make a distinction between your activities as a reporter and your "personal" activities? (I.e. you may

argue that you accepted free sports tickets, not in your role as a reporter, but in a role not related to your

employment by the station).

What about "personal and intimate" relationships with those you might be asked to report on? How would you

handle this? (Could such activity be construed as a "gift" or "favor"?)

11.) Outside Activity: Controversial Issues:

This involves news employee who takes a position on a controversial issue. News employees have opinions and

want to act as socially responsible citizens of a free society. For the rest of the population that means being

involved in trying to influence an issue. It might mean joining a citizens group or mobilizing supporters for a

political candidate.

Can a news employee publicly take a position and still act as an objective journalist?

Should a news employee be allowed to work on political candidates behalf?

Should a news employee be allowed to work for a public interest group?

What will your stations policy be? Be very specific.

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12.) Computer Simulation of News:

Advances in computer technology have now made it possible to create virtual cities to simulate fires,

explosions, accidents and other news. This allows the station to get "compelling" video before actual video

arrives from the scene (if it arrives at all). A company called "Earth Watch" has primarily sold such systems for

weather broadcasts to allow so-called "fly-through" weather simulations. However, their new product ("Reality

3-D") now permits such advanced graphics to fly-into (helicopter perspective) breaking news anywhere on

earth via a virtual environment. The company has shown examples of the technology in Atlanta, Minneapolis

and Washington, D.C.

What do you think of the use of this new technology?

What potential problems do you see in using simulations to illustrate news?

13.) Plane Crashes:

Before reporting the fact that a plane has crashed, what information should first be ascertained?

WEB NEWS WRITING

The Difference between Paper and Online Presentation

In print, your document forms a whole and the user is focused on the entire set of information. On the Web,

you need to split each document into multiple hyperlinked pages since users are not willing to read long

pages.

Users can enter a site at any page and move between pages as they chose, so make every page independent

and explain its topic without assumptions about the previous page seen by the user.

Link to background or explanatory information to help users, who do not have the necessary knowledge to

understand or use the page

Make the word count for the online version of a given topic about half the word count used when writing for

print: Users find it painful to read too much text on screens, and they read about 25 percent more slowly

from screens than from paper.

Users don't like to scroll through masses of text, so put the most important information at the top.

Web users are impatient and critical: They have not chosen your site because you are great but because they

have something they need to do. Write in the "news you can use" style to allow users to quickly find the

information

they

want.

Credibility is important on the Web where users connect to unknown servers at remote locations. You have to

work to earn the user's trust, which is rapidly lost if you use exaggerated claims or overly boastful language;

avoid "marketese" in favor of a more objective style.

A few hyperlinks to other sites with supporting information increase the credibility of your pages. If at all

possible, link quotes from magazine reviews and other articles to the source.

The Web is an informal and immediate medium, compared to print, so users appreciate a somewhat informal

writing style and small amounts of humor.

Do not use clever or cute headings since users rely on scanning to pick up the meaning of the text.

Limit the use of metaphors, particularly in headings: Users might take you literally.

Use simple sentence structures: Convoluted writing and complex words are even harder to understand

online.

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Puns do not work for international users; find some other way to be humorous.

Add bylines and other ways of communicating some of your personality. (This also increases credibility.)

The Web is a fluid medium: Update pages as time goes by to reflect all changes. Statistics, numbers, and

examples all need to be recent or credibility suffers.

For example: Before a conference, the page about the event might point to a registration form; afterward, point

to slides or presentation transcripts instead.

Source: http://www.mashell.com

English Studies, the University of Nottingham, UK

http://www.sun.com/980713/webwriting/wftw1.html

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