Writing the story

Rewriting
• A lot of broadcast news writing involves
rewriting.
– Editors receive stories from press releases,
scripts and notes Hence it must be rewritten.
• Before re-writing it is very important to
understand what you are rewriting.
– If you are unable to understand the received
news in various forms, how can your
audience?
Steps to be followed to rewrite a story for broadcast

– Read the source copy till you get clear understanding

– Ask the 6 major questions of jouralism – who? what?
when? where? why? and how? – to have more clarity.
– Retell the story to yourself IN YOUR OWN WORDS
or to your team for improvement
– Now rewrite the story IN YOUR OWN WORDS!
• Keep in mind…
– Don’t just rearrange words – make it your own.
– Many channels/News papers are using similar source
material – hence you should make your story different.
 Short, Simple Sentences
• Keep sentences short and simple.
• A sentence should not be more than 20 words.
• Use conversational language to your writing.
• Alternate short and long sentences.
• Alternate simple, declarative sentences with
sentences starting with and, but, or because.
• The best format is subject-verb-object.
– Examples:
• The Farmers orgnaisation simplified marketing.
• The Farmer adopted the INM.
• The hurricane destroyed the crop.
 Brevity
• Unlike print, broadcast writers must deal with time
issues.
– Keeping apart deadlines, write the stories of 30 second time
slot.
• Tell the news in few seconds, give as many key details
as possible.
• be brief but include all necessary details. Don’t distort
or leave out essential information.
• Act like a editor – decide what is important for your
audience and tell them.
• Always ask WHY and include reasons for events and
actions.
 10 Tips for Broadcast Writing
1. Maintain originality and write stories in
your own words. It creates impact on
listeners.
2. Use short sentences, Write as you talk.
3. Write simple sentences without many
adverbs or adjectives.
4. Be brief and concise.
5. Only include important details, and be sure
to include the WHY.
6. Use one fact per sentence.
7. Use simple vocabulary.
8. Talk it out! Make sure everything
sounds right.
9. Make sure stories are easy for
announcers to read.
10. Think and write like you talk.
 Now it’s your turn…
• You are now taking on the role of a broadcast journalist.
• From now until the end of the semester, you will be
responsible for rewriting one broadcast story. This will be
called a copy card.
• Here’s what you do…
– 1. Find a story from the internet or a current newspaper.
 Now it’s your turn…
– 2. On a piece of paper, write the name of the source, the author of
the original article, and the date of the original article’s publication.
– 3. On you paper, rewrite the original article as if it were being written
for broadcast.
– 4. Staple the original article to the back of your copy card before you
turn it in.
• Copy cards will be worth a 10 point grade.

Source - Reporting for the Media and Beginning Radio-TV

Newswriting
 How broadcasting is different

• Think about how seeing something on

television or hearing a person on radio is
different than seeing still photos and reading a
story.
• Broadcasting ads an emotional element.
• Always make your stories accurate, use solid
news judgment and strong writing.
 Broadcast writing steps (part one)

• Keep it simple. Viewer and listeners only have one

chance to hear and understand the news.
• Keep it conversational (pretend you are telling the
story to your best friend).
• Use present tense making the story immediate.
• Try something besides the who, what, when, where,
why and how in your lead. Use a sentence for each
idea. You should be able to read each sentence aloud
in just one breath.
 Broadcast writing steps (part two)

• Boil down your story to the most essential elements.

Broadcast news is constrained by time. The simplest stories
tend to run in just 30 seconds.
• Use the differences between print and broadcast to your
advantage. For example on TV you can show a parade, on
radio you can use the sound (blare of a brass band) to
transport viewers and listeners to the scene.
• Use transition from one story to another so the one following
seems like a logical next step. You pick the order of the
stories, it should be done in a way that makes sense to the
audience (for example going from one business story to
another). Start from the most important news, then going to
the least important.
 Setting up scripts
• WRITE SCRIPTS ENTIRELY IN CAPITAL LETTERS.
• Each sentence is a new paragraph.
• Use a narrow margin that is about three words long. (A TV anchors eyes won’t have
to go too far from side to side.)
• Write story so it is easy to read and understand. (Put pronunciations in parenthesis
directly after the word in question.)
• Make your script organized and easy to follow.
• Indicate production elements in your script-when video or sound come in.
• Use a teleprompter if possible for the TV anchor(s).
 A television script
• A television script requires different information than radio script, such
as when to start video, superimpose titles and words etc.
• Divide the page in two, the right side is for the anchor to read. The left
side is for technical instruction.
• Read the sample radio and TV scripts in our Journalism (Nextext)
textbook on pages 381-383.
 Podcasting-radio script
• Since we don’t have a radio station yet we will
put our news stories online on my Web site as
podcasts.
• A podcast is an audio file we will create in a
mp3 format (same format that you listen to
music on your ipods with).
• Your news stories will be published online to
the world.
 Helping Listeners
Use Don’t Use
Anger Indignation
Need Require
Cuts Lacerations
Try Attempt
Question Interrogate
Give Contribute
Start Ignite
Dead Deceased
 Helping Listeners
• Don’t cram sentences with several separate facts.
• Most sentences should be limited to one single fact or image.
• Take each story one step – or sentence – at a time.
• Use a simple vocabulary.
 Helping Listeners
• Remember…
– Use only one main idea per sentence.
– Take stories one sentence at a time.
– Keep vocabulary simple – use “nickel and dime” words rather than
“10-dollar” ones.
 Talk it Out
• Remember that broadcast writing is meant to be heard. It
often helps to say sentences out loud before writing them
down.
• After you have written your story, read it aloud and listen to
how it sounds.
• Stories should sound as if they are being told, not read.