CHAPTER 12 Writing News for Radio and Television
Overview
Much of what is discussed throughout the text about writing for print media applies equally
to writing for broadcast media. There are some differences in selecting, writing and preparing
the copy, though, and this chapter covers those differences.
In many schools of journalism, all would-be reporters begin in the same news writing
course. Further, broadcast news writers no longer have to work on newspapers before
entering their field.
Even though most of your students might not be headed toward broadcast news writing,
you might still want them to read this chapter and complete the exercises. After all, they
could someday make the switch, and at the very least they will have been exposed to the
differences between writing for newspapers and writing for broadcast news.
Teaching Tips
Convergence is here and journalists are increasingly being asked to do it all. Although most
of your students are probably pursuing print and online opportunities, giving them exposure
to broadcast news writing and some experience with turning print stories into broadcast
stories will certainly be helpful. In the section on preparing copy, stress that different stations
Lecture Notes
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I. INTRODUCTION
A. The terrorist attacks in Paris and Saint-Denis, France, and the power of television.
II. WHAT RADIO AND TELEVISION DO BEST
A. Newscasters repeat reports and update the audience as news develops.
B. TV and radio provide
C. In a convergence world, print and Web journalists might also be expected to write for
radio and television.
newscasts.
III. CRITERIA FOR SELECTING RADIO AND TELEVISION NEWS
A. Previous criteria apply, but these four criteria are paramount:
1. Timeliness in the
.
2. Information rather than explanation time is of the essence; even television
newsmagazine writing resembles the writing done for TV news.
3. Audio or visual impact good pictures and audio often result in prominent play.
4. People more so than in print, television humanizes the story.
IV. WRITING RADIO AND TELEVISION NEWS
A. Characteristics of radio and television news writing.
1. Immediacy
cause present perfect indicates past action that
2. Conversational style writing the way you talk; read copy aloud; make it sound
good: short, simple sentences; avoid passive voice; contractions are okay; avoid
slang, colloquialisms, incorrect grammar.
3. Tight phrasing
do it all, so select facts carefully.
4. Clarity
B. Story structure somewhat different from print/online.
1. Writing the radio and television lead
2. Writing lead-ins and wrap-ups a lead-in introduces a taped excerpt from a news
-ups follow the
3. Writing to the video write with pictures in mind; complement the pictures; use the
-and–
scene changes).
V. USING SOCIAL MEDIA IN RADIO AND TELEVISION
A. Second-screen viewing.
B. Blending online with on-air teaming up with social media by using a hashtag;
second screens.
C. Guidelines for using social media.
1. All information gathered from social media must be verified.
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2. Stations should be digital first All
information gathered by reporters should be shared online and on social media
before newscasts; only hold investigative reporting.
VI. PREPARING RADIO AND TELEVISION NEWS COPY
A. The goal is to make copy easy for newscasters to read and for audiences to
understand.
B. Format most stations use newsroom computer system software (NRCS) to prepare
rundowns and copy and produce newscasts. Spacing is built into NRCS templates.
C. Names and titles full names typically used on first reference, with just the surname
D. Pronunciation help newscasters with pronunciation by spelling out difficult names
find out; syllable with the most emphasis should
be in all capital letters.
E. Abbreviations generally avoid them in copy; when you do use them, use hyphens
instead of periods.
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some stations have exceptions for sports, statistics, financial market reports,
G. Quotations and attributions rarely use direct quotations and quotation marks; use
indirect quotes or paraphrase; attributions go in front of the rare direct quote,
short.
H. Punctuation for radio and television, less punctuation is good punctuation except
Class Activities and Discussion Questions
Activity 1: Place students into pairs, and give each pair a copy of three different Associated
Press stories written for newspapers or websites using the inverted pyramid structure. Ask
students to rewrite the story for broadcast. They should also include a before and after word
Activity 2: If you have a computer lab with Internet access and a projection unit, direct
students to the websites for both local television news operations and the local newspaper.
Ask students to evaluate the websites. If possible, ask them to present their findings to the
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Activity 3: Bring in recorded episodes of local evening newscasts. In the interest of time,
perhaps show one story per network or channel instead of the entire broadcast. Ask students
to critique the broadcasts, jotting down notes on how well the broadcasts exemplify the
Activity 4: Place students into groups of four, and give them a copy of the news section of
the local daily newspaper. Give the groups 25 to 30 minutes to skim the section and write a
five-minute radio or television news broadcast that includes at least four stories. Have
with audio or video equipment or even on a cellphone. Discussion questions: How
Activity 5: Have the student groups take their broadcast scripts for activity 4 and explain
how they would add in second-screen references to social media. Specifically, they should
Activity 6: Show a story or an episode of 60 Minutes, and ask students to compare and
contrast the newsmagazine format to the nightly news format used by the networks and by
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Solutions to Textbook Exercises
1. Be sure to have the five groups watch these newscasts on the same evening and use the
same morning newspaper to compare the coverage. The first interesting area for
discussion will be to see which network covered which stories. You might also ask the
2. Your journalism blog. This blog assignment asks students to shift from print to
3. The purpose here is analysis and discussion. This story is from the broadcast wire service;
paper style than in broadcast style.
4. The objective of this exercise, of course, is to teach students broadcast style. It is also an
exercise in cutting a story to fit the shorter time allowed in a news broadcast.
5. As we note in the overview, most of your students are probably pursuing opportunities in
Solutions to Workbook Exercises
1. The biggest difference is immediacy. Radio and television use the present and present
perfect tenses. Journalists in these media also use a much more conversational style and
2. The point of this exercise, of course, is to give students practice turning out broadcast
copy.
3. This extension of exercise 2 gives students practice in additional elements of broadcast
writing.
4.
exercise 1 above for additional points.
5. A. a.
show immediacy and continuing action. The second-to-last sentence has the weak
b. The language is simple enough to be conversational.
c. The story is written tightly.
d. The first paragraph indicates that one of the two companies will be chosen, but the
-based companies as
B. a. The present tense and present perfect tense are used when it is possible to do so. The
who have called
b. The copy is not particularly conversational, but neither is it formal or stilted.
c. With some effort, words could be cut.
C. a. Immediacy is helped by the frequent use of the present and present perfect tenses.
b. The writer has used a good conversational style.
c. The story is tight enough.
d. The story leaves some questions unanswered, but the copy is clear for a short report.
D. a. The writer of this piece has made excellent use of the present tense.
b. The story has an excellent conversational tone. The lead is fine. Note the
c.
d.
E. a. The past tense passive voice of the verbs in the third and fourth paragraphs do not
promote a sense of immediacy.
b. The lead is conversational. The dash in the last paragraph also indicates a
conversational style.
c. The following changes would tighten up the piece: Place the fourth paragraph at the
end of the story. Remove the third paragraph altogether. Rewrite the fifth paragraph
d. -tissue
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6.
they need to practice the art of creating social media posts for journalistic purposes.
7. The rewritten stories that follow are only suggestions. The objective is to teach students
broadcast style.
a. er sirens Tuesday at 10 a.m.
If there is severe weather Tuesday, expect to hear the sirens on Thursday.
b. LOS ANGELES Three are dead, and six are wounded in a battle over drug turf. Two
are in critical condition.
Six gunmen fired on a group of 10 men Sunday night. The group was drinking beer
and playing cards.
c. Officials at the National Zoo in Washington have found a partially devoured
body in an outdoor lion enclosure.
A zookeeper found the unidentified woman at 7 a.m. Saturday. He coaxed the two
lions back into the lion house and called police.
Police Department spokesman Sgt. Joe Gentile says the cause of death has not been
established. The victim was not a zoo employee.
d. SPRINGFIELD (AP) A spill of cheese curds and dairy fat from a Carthage cheese-
making business has killed an undetermined number of fish, the Missouri Department
of Natural Resources said.
8. In a normal television newscast, one or more of these stories would include a filmed
report. This exercise teaches students how to make smooth transitions from one story to
the next.
a. The lead here is okay. Possible wrap-
b. New lead-
c. New lead-
9. a. The corrections are shown in boldface below. Deletions are shown with a strike–
through.
WASHINGTON (UPI) The Forest Service today proposed a policy of planning fires
in national forest wilderness areas to reduce risk of wildfires and to permit fire to
return to its natural ecological role.
Peterson says a team of experts . . . including botanists, wildlife biologists and fire
and recreation managers . . . would study each situation and make recommendations.
He says the public would be included in each decision, and the public will be asked to
comment by August 4th on the proposed policy change.
The Forest Service administers 25 and a half million acres of the National
Wilderness Preservation System, or about 85 percent of wilderness outside of Alaska.
The rest is administered by the Interior Department.
b. WASHINGTON (UPI) Scientists say people who travel or whose work schedules are
changed drastically may be able to avoid jet lag and function nearly normally if they
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through several time zones. Thomas Roth is head of the sleep disorders center at the
Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit and a co-author of the report in the journal Science. He
says a good part of jet lag is loss of sleep. He adds that is important because
historically the emphasis has been on the time shift, NOT on the loss of sleep.
The placebo group lost sleep and also had a hard time staying alert during the
following day.
The report says behavior of the placebo group confirmed that sleep and subsequent
alertness are significantly impaired for at least three days after a sudden 12-hour shift
in the sleep-awake schedule.
c. KANSAS CITY (UPI) A former mobster turned FBI informer today sobbed during
testimony in his ex- one and a half million dollar lawsuit against the federal
government . . . saying he had never taken his son with him to commit crimes.
-wife, is seeking damages from the federal government
for hiding her son in the federal witness protection program with his father in 1986.
The boy entered the program at age nine.
Mrs. Wiser said that her daughter, Evie, who is now 27, lived with Mrs. Ruffalo for
about four years beginning at the age of 11. Speaking of that time in their lives, Mrs.
Wiser said that Evie would rather live with Mrs. Ruffalo than with her. But Ruffalo
said he did not think his former wife gave the girl very good care. He also said he often
ion from her son
caused the alcohol problem.
10. This exercise demonstrates to students that different stations have different ways of doing
things. Students should be prepared to adapt to the needs of their employers.
11.
and thereby encourage class discussion.
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Discuss questions like these:
Was the commentary appropriate?
Was there too much commentary? Not enough?
Was the message clear at all times?
12. See exercise 11 for tips on this exercise.
CHALLENGE EXERCISE
14. Suggestion for a rewrite:
First Union says it will buy First Fidelity Bancorp for nearly five and a half billion
–
largest banking company.