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RADIO DOCUMENTARY:Commentary, History, Persons, Things, Phenomena

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Radio News, Reporting and Production ­ MCM515
VU
LESSON 38
RADIO DOCUMENTARY
Documentary
Documentary is a radio or television format that gives facts & evidences about something artistically.
Documentary is a combination of two words which are: Document and Commentary.
Document
Word document is derived from Latin word Docere that means Proof, Evidence, an attested piece of
paper with words.
So Document is an official paper or book that gives information about something and can be used as an
evidence or proof of something.
Commentary
Commentary is a spoken description of something.
Documentary
Documentary is a presentation of evidences of a person, place, or thing which can hardly be denied.
Purpose of documentary
The purpose of documentary is to provide people with the information about a person, thing,
phenomenon, event, etc., with the help of facts, figures and evidences. A documentary attempts to offer
authentication of what is otherwise speculation through the recordings of the informants, witnesses,
participants, etc.
History
the word document became more active as verb that means the act of furnishing
In 1711 AD
evidence such as court records, school reports, letters, journals, newspapers, diaries, etc with words.
word documentary report emerged as a description of evidence coupled with imagination.
In 1802 AD
the present day use of the word documentary emerged.
In 1935 AD
Topics of documentary
There is an unlimited range of topics that can be treated as documentaries. Some of them are as under:
Topics about tangibles
Topics about intangibles
Topics about Tangibles
Topics about tangibles can further be categorized as under:
Persons
o
Things
o
Persons
The life of a personality that may come from national heroes, leaders, scientists, scholars, players, actors,
singers, etc. can be depicted through a documentary.
Things
Documentary can be planned and produced on anything such as bazaars, streets, life in dark slums, life in
big cities, countries, culture, traditions, fashion, books, the life and culture of animals, etc.
101
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Radio News, Reporting and Production ­ MCM515
VU
Topics about Intangibles
The topics about intangible things can further be distributed amongst the following categories:
Phenomena
Abstract topics
Social topics
Phenomena
Documentarily can be produced on different phenomena such as:
The blooming of a bud
The functioning of heart
The making of a missile
Discoveries, inventions
Historical facts, wars, riots
The galaxies
Abstract topics
Some of the abstract topics are: anger, insomnia, fears and phobias, habits, attitudes, children's psychology
etc.
Social topics
Pollution
Population
Child labour
Women's issues
Price hike
Smoking
Narcotics
Illiteracy
Essentials of Radio Documentary
The following are the essentials of radio documentary.
Script
Narrator
Sound effects
Interviews of concerned persons to authenticate the information
The more the interviews, the more authenticated the documentary will be.
102
Table of Contents:
  1. WHAT RADIO IS:HISTORY OF RADIO, MARCONI –THE INVENTOR
  2. HISTORY OF RADIO:B.B.C. – 1922, Radio in Sub-Continent, PBC SERVICES
  3. OBJECTIVES OF BROADCASTING IN PAKISTAN:Information, Islamic ideology
  4. NEWS VALUES I:CONFLICT, PROGRESS, VICTORY AND DEFEAT
  5. NEWS VALUES II:TIMELINESS, PROXIMITY, NOVELTY, HUMAN INTEREST
  6. NEWS VALUES AND ELEMENTS OF NEWS:MISCELLANEOUS NEWS VALUES
  7. MEASURING THE IMPORTANCE OF NEWS:Intensity of an Event, NEWS STORY TYPES
  8. TYPES OF NEWS STORIES II:SIMPLE TYPES, ILLNESS, DEATH
  9. TYPES OF NEWS STORIES III:Conspiracy, Drug Trafficking, Lunar Months
  10. TYPES OF NEWS STORIES IV:COMPLEX NEWS, Forms of Government, Monarchy
  11. TYPES OF NEWS STORIES V:Education, Research, Religion
  12. TYPES OF NEWS STORIES VI:Lifestyles, Receptions, Entertainment
  13. SOURCES OF NEWS I:Network of Reporters, QUALITIES OF A REPORTER
  14. SOURCES OF NEWS II:MONITORING, NEWS/ PRESS RELEASE
  15. SOURCES OF NEWS III:National News Agencies, HARD NEWS, SOFT NEWS
  16. REPORTING:ORDER OF REPORTING, REPORTER’S QUALITIES, Well informed
  17. A SUCCESSFUL RADIO REPORTER:Briefing, Reporter’s Ammunition, Meeting Deadline
  18. INTERPRETATIVE REPORTING I:Growth of Interpretative Reporting
  19. INTERPRETATIVE REPORTING II:Factual Background, SPEECH STORY
  20. INTERPRETATIVE REPORTING III:FIRES & ACCIDENTS, CRIME STORIES
  21. INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING I:Thalidomide Scandal, Watergate Scandal
  22. INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING II:Identification of the problem, INTERVIEW
  23. TYPES OF INTERVIEW:Hard News Interview, Informational Interview
  24. ESSENTIALS OF A GOOD INTERVIEW I:Comments and Opinion, Topic must be specific
  25. ESSENTIALS OF A GOOD INTERVIEW II:Preparation of the Interview, Language
  26. RADIO NEWS GLOSSARY:Actuality, Cut, Voicer, Wrap, Hourly, Lead
  27. FUNDAMENTALS OF NEWS WRITING:Inverted Pyramided Style, Telling the Story
  28. FUNDAMENTALS OF WRITING NEWS FOR RADIO I:Language
  29. FUNDAMENTALS OF WRITING NEWS FOR RADIO II:Complex numbers
  30. ESSENTIALS OF A NEWSCASTER:Authority, Credibility, Language, Pronunciation
  31. PRODUCTION AND PLANNING:Principals of Planning a Program
  32. PRODUCER & BUDGETING:Strengths of a Radio Program, Budgeting a Program
  33. JARGONS OF PRODUCTION (Continued):Frequency spectrum, Dead studio
  34. TYPES OF TALK:Qualification of a Talker, Essentials of a talk, Vetting a talk
  35. DISCUSSION:Controlled Discussion, Live Discussion, Current affairs
  36. DISCUSSION:Selection of the TopicKnowledge of the Topic, Narrowing down the topic
  37. RADIO FEATURE:Sound Effects, Narration, Dramatic Feature, Religion, Personalities
  38. RADIO DOCUMENTARY:Commentary, History, Persons, Things, Phenomena
  39. DRAMA:Solo plays, Series, Serial, Soap, Components of Drama
  40. SPECIAL AUDIENCE PROGRAM:Children’s Programs, Women’s programs
  41. SPORTS PROGRAM:Live Programs, Recorded Programs, Preparation of OB
  42. THE MUSIC I:Folk Music, Classical Music, Light Music, Pop Music
  43. THE MUSIC II:Classification of Raga In Terms Of Notes, Aado, Khaado
  44. ETHICS & LIMITATIONS OF MEDIA:Domain of Freedom of Media, Defamation
  45. RECAP:What Radio Is, Timeliness, Elements of news, Types of Reporting, Production