Monday 3/15 - Broadcast News Writing

Welcome back, folks! I hope everyone had a fun and relaxing break.

We began today's class by reviewing the midterm exam. Several common mistakes emerged, including:

• Apostrophe placement (e.g. its vs. it's, sheriff's department)
  
• Drunk vs. drunken ("He was drunk," "drunken driving")
  
• Ages (Always use figures.)
  
• Titles (Formal titles are capitalized when used directly before a name; when set off by commas, they are lowercase.)
  
• Dimensions (Use figures and spell out inches, feet, yards, etc.)

When in any degree of doubt, consult the AP Stylebook for clarification!

Then, we moved on to broadcasting. Although this includes radio and television, we focused mainly on radio. We started by discussing the historical importance of radio for disseminating propaganda in countries such as Rwanda and Nazi Germany. We also mentioned the current importance of radio in developing countries where it is the main news source. Next, we discussed several guidelines for broadcast news writing:

• Use simple sentences (subject-verb-object), active verbs, and simple words
  
• Be concise (one idea per sentence)
• Include attributions at the beginning of the sentence
• Keep subjects and verbs close together (avoid apposition)
• Use tape or summarize rather than repeating exact quotes
  
• Personalize the news when appropriate (use "we," "us," and "our")
• Spell out all symbols and fractions
• Avoid pronouns
• Timing is crucial. (1 minute of copy = 15-16 lines)
  

Overall, broadcast news writing is less formal and more conversational than print news writing. Because an announcer is reading the copy and others are listening to it, the style must be easy to comprehend for both parties. Furthermore, listeners are often multitasking, so broadcast journalists must find a way to get their attention.

We also discussed several formats for radio news stories, including:

• Copy or reader story (News announcer just reads the copy.)
• Actuality (We hear the voice of a participant.)
• Voicer (We hear a reporter, not a participant.)
• Wrap (We hear a reporter's voice, then a news maker, then the reporter's voice again.)
• Package or documentary

Finally, we worked on two in-class writing assignments, Exercises 9.2 and 9.9. This Thursday's homework is Exercise 9.1 on p. 224. Our next news quiz is Thursday, March 25.