broadcast news writing
DESCRIPTION
Broadcast News Writing. RTV 440 -- NOT FROM OUR TEXT --take good notes. Writing the News Story. Goals for this lesson: To learn the news elements and how they are applied To learn how to write a broadcast news lead To learn how to organize a news story - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Broadcast News Writing
RTV 440 -- NOT FROM OUR TEXT --take good notes
Writing the News Story
Goals for this lesson: To learn the news elements and how they are
applied To learn how to write a broadcast news lead To learn how to organize a news story To learn how to update a news story and make it
relevant to the audience To learn what is effective communication
Writing the News Storyas noted at start of semester
Elements of News Timeliness Proximity Significance Conflict Prominence Human Interest
News Elements TIMELINESS
News is what happens now, what happens in the immediate present or what may happen
*What has already happened (historical and background information) is mentioned briefly in stories to provide perspective and explain “why.” This usually occurs in follow-up reports when you have had time to investigate the background.
Examples….
timelinessFirefighters controlling blaze at local
post office late afternoon Five o’clock newscast
Story focus = fire at post office, authorities on the scene, injury report, damage estimate
Ten o’clock newscast Story focus = update on blaze (how long to get
under control), damages, injuries, speculation of cause from authorities
News Elements PROXIMITY
News is what happens close to us - either geographically or emotionally - so we can identify with the event
Examples…
proximity
“The railroad crossing at Main Street and Jefferson Avenue was the scene of an early morning accident as a trailer truck tried to make it through descending crossing guards.…”
Stories that happen in our communities are of interest because we relate to the situation.
A good journalist must determine what is most momentous, interesting or signifcant about the story to the audience.
News Elements SIGNIFICANCE
News is what affects us in some way, whether financially (increase in gas prices), physically (mad cow disease detected), emotionally (school shooting), or in some other way that has a direct bearing on our lives.
Examples….
significanceIf the story is
newsworthy, the information will have direct relevance to our lives.
Information related to our personal health and financial stability is often significant.
“The Centers for Disease Control reports that increased obesity among children is responsible for many kids having hypertension and diabetes by age 12.
News ElementsCONFLICT
News is whatever happens between two opposing forces - whether between individuals, nations or as the result of fateful occurrences.
Examples…
conflict Person v. Person
Political race for public office Person v. Self
Student earns GED after dropping out of school Person v. Fate
Accident victim learns to walk again Person v. Nature
Family stays together despite losing home in tornado
News ElementsPROMINENCE
News is what happens to famous people, places or things.
Examples…
prominenceCelebrities, pro athletes,
rock stars, and national politicians get a lot of attention.
Charlie Sheen...
It is important for journalists to cover such famous people when they do newsworthy things.
“The President will be in town Saturday to give the commencement address at SMU. The place is jumping with Secret Service agents and news media everywhere.”
News ElementsHUMAN INTEREST
Ultimately, news is anything in which people are interested. If you think a story would interest a majority of your audience, it is probably newsworthy.
Examples…
human interest
Stories that highlight unique human behavior often attract our attention because they are out of the ordinary. “These two football
fans have traveled more than 8,000 miles, camped outside three stadiums and braved sub-zero temperatures to see every Denver Bronco game this season.”
But -- Civic Journalism videos...
• Framing a story -- when you determine a focus, what kind of ‘frame’ are you putting around it? --conflict?
• ‘Two sides to every story’? (no -- many)• Instead, spend more time ‘in the middle’ -- instead of the extremes on the ends• The concept is that your well-developed story can generate ‘more light’
(understanding) and ‘less heat’ (friction)
“These two football fans have traveled more than 8,000 miles, camped outside three stadiums and braved sub-zero temperatures to see every Denver Bronco game this season.”
Writing the news story
Understanding the news elements helps us know what to emphasize when we put the story together.
Always start with the most important news element that will capture the most attention from your audience.
Writing the lead The LEAD - the sentence that begins the
report by summarizing the essence of the story to come.
A good lead grabs the attention of viewers and causes them to need to know more
The lead should highlight the “news” element The most typical lead is the summary
Writing the lead Summary Lead
A summary lead emphasizes the outcome of the story so far to give viewers the most important news up front
Highlights one or two main facts to help audience get into the story
Hard news v. Soft news Hard News = Used for breaking news or major stories in which
the audience expects just facts Soft News = Can be used for lighter stories or interpretive pieces
when you want to emphasize the human interest and emotional aspects of a story
Let’s see how this works…
Writing the lead Facts:
It is July, and sanitation workers have been negotiating for higher wages
Workers are planning to strike if requests are not met this week
City Council is scheduled to meet in three weeks What is important to viewers about this?
If workers strike, it could be three weeks before trash is picked up
How can we write this in a one-sentence intro? …
Writing the Lead Hard News Lead:
This lead emphasizes the latest news in the conflict but keeps a serious tone
“Your trash pick-up could be delayed a few weeks if city sanitation workers strike as promised and city council refuses to discuss the issue for another three weeks.”
Writing the Lead Soft News Lead
This lead emphasizes the bad smell of the problem with a slightly lighter tone than the hard news lead.
“We’ll soon be smelling themounting garbage instead of the roses if City Council doesn’t reschedule their meeting.”
Writing the Lead Other Lead types:
Suspended interest Question Freak events Well-known expressions Staccato Metaphor Literary allusion Parody
Writing the Lead Suspended
interest Delays the
climax or essence of story until end of the lead.
“A Montana woman wondered why her dog kept jumping into her bed as she tried to sleep. The reason became clear when she got up to find a python in the bathroom.”
Writing the Lead Question
Use this lead type sparingly. It is dangerous because if the question lacks substance, the audience will lose interest.
“Would you like 5,000 turkeys? An Atlanta brother and sister are searching for that many to donate to the needy this Thanksgiving. …”
Writing the Lead Freak Events
Crazy occurrences are natural material for leads that introduce an unusual story
“At zero degrees, it was a chilling sight to see a Colorado couple in swimsuits at Bear Lake saying their wedding vows. It was their plan to take a ‘second plunge’ at the conclusion of the ceremony.”
Writing the Lead Well-known
expressions Use sparingly as
well since clichés can be trite and uninteresting
“Chicago firemen today learned that you can “teach an old dog new tricks” when they coaxed a German shepherd from a two story building onto a stretcher below.”
Writing the Lead Staccato Leads
Sets the tone with a one-two punch that gets the story off the ground
“Rain…then sleet, snow, and wind… that is how the day began for the residents in our nation’s capital.”
Writing the Lead Metaphor
Uses figures of speech that connect us to other aspects of life with which we are familiar
“Florida has been anything but the ‘Sunshine State’ for the past week. The entire area is under a severe weather watch and flooding is expected.”
Writing the Lead Literary allusion
References to fictional or historical characters to begin a story
“Will Rogers said, ‘I never met a man I didn’t like.’ Well, Will Rogers never met…”
Writing the Lead Parody
A take-off on events and sayings currently in vogue and of widespread interest
“You’ve heard ‘Let Mikey do it?’ Well, two men are resting well tonight because Mikey rescued them after a Copper Mountain avalanche. This was a first for Mikey, a St. Bernard pup, owned by one of the men.”
Writing the story Once you have the lead, you must organize
the rest of the information in a logical format
INVERTED PYRAMID style was developed in the Civil War by newspaper journalists Included the five W’s/H (who, what, when, where, why,
how) Facts listed in descending order of importance in case
entire story did not get transmitted from battlefield to news office
Broadcast style modifies the inverted pyramid…
Lead
Link to body
Body
Writing the news storyBroadcast style often follows
a PYRAMID (conversational) format Concise lead with one or two W’s (who,
what) Story follows in informal style presenting
facts in descending order of importance Place emphasis on the event not the time
to keep news fresh and appear as if just occurred
Lead
Body
Writing the news story Audiences expect to
hear news that is happening now
Although news happens before the newscast, write as if just occurring
“Sanitation workers will be on their regularly scheduled routes tomorrow with a retroactive pay increase of 50 cents per hour. Our air will smell cleaner thanks to City Council’s decision last night.”
“Sanitation workers will be on their regularly scheduled routes tomorrow with a retroactive pay increase of 50 cents per hour. Our air will smell cleaner thanks to City Council’s decision last night.”
Communicating effectively Conversational
Don’t you know, contractions can help?
Whassssup? - It should not be street jargon
Should sound as if we are speaking to the audience, not reading
Related Information must be relevant Answer the question, “What
does this have to do with me?” for audience in first two sentences
Creative Important facts can
become dull without lively writing
Make sense Organization with logical
flow and progression Technically correct
Anchors, producers and others involved must be able to read the copy and understand it to deliver it properly.
Communicating effectively :20 to :30 for a reader or VO story
8 lines 10 pound bag
:30 / :15 / :15 for a VSV Balance Lead main point 1 Reaction and comment Main point 2 and close
1:30 for a PKG Lead and main point 1 Reaction and comment Main point 2 Reaction and comment Main pointt 2 b and reaction and comment Main point 3 and close
Communicating effectively List your main facts Outline the main ideas W W W W W H and so what? Conversational and
grammatically correct You have to first know what
you’re talking about You have to then be able to
relate that story to an individual -- write to one -- third person, objective
Take-home Challenge Think of a “newsworthy” story from your own
life (use the news elements to determine an event that could be newsworthy to you or your friends) and practice writing a hard news and soft news lead for it.
Write the full story for a one-minute VSV news report. Make up a person’s SB comments
TV News writing reminders ‘Write to the pictures’ -- start with a strong
visual lead that telescopes the story to come Balance in story between reporter track with
b-roll / sound bites / stand - up Reporter tells Who, What, When, Where,
Why and How (only the facts) Sound bites should mostly be ‘reaction and
commentary’ from people connected to the story
TV News writing -- Chap. 1 Television is a language Words, but effective visuals
Focus, information gathering, meaning, 5 W’s Lighting, Audio, Images, composition Visual storytelling, NPPA
Eyewash, wallpaper Clear focus, write the pictures first, shoot sequences,
prove the focus visually, story focus in spot news, tell story through people, strong nat sound, build in surprises, keep sound bites short
More...
TV News writing -- Chap. 1 Address the larger issue, make the report
memorable, writing the lead (handout) Provide visual proof -- butcher with his cleaver at Ft.
Worth meat market: inflation’s effects The close: so strong that nothing else can top it White space, nat sound, pacing, write to the picture,
reportorial editing Incues and outcues -- see sample script Producer: prompter file -- include outcue for every
VSV