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Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
Region V (Bicol)
Division of Catanduanes
CATANDUANES NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
Virac, Catanduanes
Broadcast Journalism
(TV Broadcasting)
Quarter 1 – Module 5
GUIDELINES AND RULES
IN WRITING HEADLINES
AND NEWS FOR TV
Journalism 10 (TV Broadcasting)
Quarter 1– GUIDELINES AND RULES FOR WRITING
MODULE 5 HEADLINES AND NEWS FOR TV
I. LEARNING SKILLS
A. Most Essential Learning Competency
SPJ10NEW-Ig-9
Observe guidelines and rules in writing headlines and news for TV
II. INTRODUCTORY CONCEPT
Throughout your journalism journey in Junior High school you were tasked to
master the craft of news writing. Basically, you were exposed to the most important
part of the news – headline. As headline is the window to the entire news story, you
were made to understand that this essential title should bring readers to the gist of
the material.
No journalism student should leave the realm of this discipline without having to
attain the fullest competency in writing news.
In this module, you will take a refresher course back to the where you started
writing for journalism. Though this module will not discuss in full blown the nitty-gritty of
news writing, it will help you rebuild your competence as it will guide you to the core of
writing news.
HEADLINE WRITING
Here are the things to remember in writing headlines:
1. The headline is just like a sentence with a SUBJECT and VERB (predicate), but it does
away with non-essential words to make it direct and concise.
Example: Army troop volunteers
to repair library roofing
In usual sentence construction the headline will be written this way: The army troop
volunteers to repair the library roofing.
2. Present tense of the verb is used for past stories to suggest immediacy of the event.
For future stories, the infinitive is used.
Examples: Ukraine seeks to join
Nato to counter Russia
Ukraine to join Nato
to counter Russia
3. The headline should summarize the lead, the first paragraph of the news story.
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Army troop volunteers
to repair library roofing
Military personnel of the Bravo Company 565 Engineering Battalion
volunteered to repair the library roofing after it was damaged by
TyphoonNina in December 2016.
There are instances when you do not have to use the same verb in the lead and in
the headline. You can choose a shorter word to substitute for the longer one.
ONLINE PUB TILT CHAMPION
Synchro widens audience
on socmed
After winning the championship in the first-ever Online Publishing
contest during NSPC ’17, The Synchronizer continues to
intensify its campus journalism breadth through social media via
Facebook.
NOTE also that the headline above made use of contracted words such as Synchro
for The Synchronizer, and socmed for social media.
4. Use special vocabulary in the headline. Although the intent of writing is to be
understood, the use of jargons in writing headline may be hinder the understanding of
readers.
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5. The active verb is preferable than the passive, but when the doer is not prominent, use
the passive head.
Examples: Enrile wants new book
published only after death Active
voice
Overseas job seekers
warned vs Web offers Passive voice
Here are other dos and don’ts in writing headlines.
Make the head answer as many W’s as possible.
Positive heads are preferable to negative ones.
Omit articles (a, an, the).
Do not use all caps. The trend is down style (lower case except for first word and
proper nouns) and flush left
Avoid label, wooden and mandatory heads.
Avoid editorializing.
Don’t end a line with a preposition, but don’t confuse a hanging prep. with a two-word
verb.
Don’t break off words, verb phrase, preposition and object
Don’t abbreviate months/ days unless figures follow.
Use a comma in place of the conjunction and.
In a two-line head, separate two independent clauses with a semi-colon (;)
In using direct quotations as head use the following:
Colon – if the source comes before the statement
Dash – if the source comes after the statement
Comma – if the source comes after the statement, but with the verb as in
Back off, tells Juan
NEWS WRITING
In writing the whole news story, we follow the inverted pyramid structure. This
means that we start from the most important details down to the least important.
The first paragraph is the lead. There are two types of lead: conventional and the
novelty lead. The conventional lead focuses on the 5Ws and one H. You can choose to
write the lead by focusing at least on the who, what, when and where, especially for
incident reports.
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For special stories, you must consider putting the best angle in your story. Most
stories capitalize on the what as the most essential. The what here does not necessarily
mean the event or the activity, but the particular what in the event itself. Say for example,
the event is the President’s visit to Catanduanes, and during his speech he vows to
allocate fund for the rehabilitation of abaca farming. The vow of the President becomes
the angle of the story (the what in the what), more than just mere visit in Catanduanes.
Each paragraph should be written in one sentence. This will enable you to capsulize
one idea within a sentence without cluttering the details. Avoid too long sentences as
the anchor or reporter may struggle reading the lines during broadcast.
Always consider logic in proceeding from one sentence to another. Make sure that
you are going down to the smallest details smoothly and comprehensibly.
For TV news writing, quoted statements is not possible, as they can be presented
through SOT (sound-on-tape) or soundbite. In your script, make sure you write an
introductory part before the SOT or an indirect quotation from the interview. This indirect
quote can be a summary or a paraphrase of the statements from the interviewee.
Television news stories must have these attributes:
The writing style should be conversational. Write the way you talk.
Each sentence should be brief and contain only one idea. We do not always
talk in long sentences. Shorter sentences are better in broadcast news
writing. Each sentence should focus on one particular idea.
Be simple and direct. If you give your audience too much information, your
audience cannot take it in. Choose words that are familiar to everyone.
Read the story out loud. The most important attribute for writing for “the ear” is
to read the story aloud. This will give you a feeling for timing, transitions,
information flow, and conversation style. Your audience will hear your
television or radio news story, so the story has to be appealing to the ear.
Television News Writing Structure
Be brief. A good newspaper story ranges from hundreds to thousands of
words. The same story on television or radio may have to fit into 30 seconds
—perhaps no more than 100 words. If it is an important story, it may be 90
seconds or two minutes. You have to condense a lot of information into the
most important points for broadcast writing.
Use correct grammar. A broadcast news script with grammatical errors will
embarrass the person reading it aloud if the person stumbles over mistakes.
Put the important information first. Writing a broadcast news story is similar to
writing a news story for print in that you have to include the important
information first. The only difference is that you have to condense the
information presented.
Write good leads. Begin the story with clear, precise information. Because
broadcast stories have to fit into 30, 60, or 90 seconds, broadcast stories are
sometimes little more than the equivalent of newspaper headlines and the
lead paragraph.
Stick to short sentences of 20 words or less. The announcer has to breathe.
Long sentences make it difficult for the person voicing the script to take a
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breath.
Write the way people talk. Sentence fragments—as long as they make sense
—are acceptable.
Use contractions. Use don’t instead of do not. But be careful of contractions
ending in -ve (e.g., would’ve, could’ve), because they sound like “would of”
and “could of.”
Use simple subject-verb-object sentence structures.
Use the active voice and active verbs. It is better to say “He hit the ball” than
“The ball was hit by him.”
Use present-tense verbs, except when past-tense verbs are
necessary. Present tense expresses the sense of immediacy. Use past tense
when something happened long ago. For example, do not say, “There were
forty people taken to the hospital following a train derailment that occurred
early this morning.” Instead, say, “Forty people are in the hospital as a result
of an early morning train accident.”
III. ACTIVITIES
Practice Test 1
Directions: Use the correct verb form in each given headline. The verb is enclosed in
(parenthesis).
1. COVID-19 death toll at PNP (hit)108
2. Metrobank (laud) 4 teachers, 3 soldiers, 3 cops
3. ACT (urge) Duterte’s nod on pilot in-person classes
4. National Anti-Corruption Coordinating Council (form)
5. Philippines (lift) travel ban on 10 countries on Sept. 6
6. Alternatives to scarce COVID-19 treatment drug (seek)
7. Senate body (vow) to complete probe on COVID-19 deals
8. Audit of Duterte’s P8.6-billion election year intel funds (press)
9. DBM (release) additional P888 million for special risk allowances
10. Pursuit of intruding aircraft by PH jets (spark) socmed speculations
Practice Test 2
Directions: Write an appropriate headline for each of the given leads.
1. The appeals panel has ruled in favor of Maynilad Water Services Inc. in its row
with the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), paving the way
for the west zone concessionaire to raise base rates.
2. The municipality of San Mateo in Rizal has been placed under a state of calamity
due to the destruction brought about by the heavy monsoon rains and floods over
the weekend
3. A Nueva Ecija court has junked the murder charges and revoked the warrants of
arrest against former Gabriela Women’s party-list representative and current
National Anti-Poverty Commission lead convenor Liza Maza, former Anakpawis
representative and former agrarian reform secretary Rafael Mariano and former
Bayan Muna representatives Satur Ocampo and Teddy Casiño.
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4. Niliwanag ng pamunuan ng Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation
(Pagcor) na isang “isolated’ case lamang at nakagawian na ng kumpanya noon pa
ang usapin sa mga botelyang tubig na gamit sa mga casino branches nito.
5. Pansamantalang ipinagpaliban ng administrasyon ng UP ang pagpapatupad sa
credit card payment scheme sa pagbabayad ng matrikula ngayong semestre,
matapos mapag-alamang maniningil ng karagdagang 12 percent Value Added Tax
(VAT) ang bangkong hahawak sa mga transaksyon.
Practice Test III
Directions: Arrange the sentences to come up with a logical news article. Write number
(from 1 to 5) before the paragraph. Once the arrangement is done, write a headline
based from the lead of the story.
_______The costs are double the price of the PPEs worth P1,800 purchased by the
government last year, which is now being questioned by senators for
supposedly being overpriced.
_______At Thursday’s budget hearing, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said he
would order an investigation on the procurement of PPEs for P3,500 each in
2015 and P3,800 in 2016.
_______The DOH chief made the commitment during questioning by Iloilo City Rep.
Janette Garin, who was the health chief at the time of the procurement of the
PPEs in 2015 and 2016.
_______Under investigation by the Senate for alleged misuse of COVID-19 funds, the
Department of Health (DOH) said it would launch its own probe on the previous
administration’s procurement of allegedly overpriced personal protective
equipment (PPE).
_______Duque told congressmen that they would look into the issue and find all
necessary facts to ferret the truth behind.
IV. ASSESSMENT
I. Headline Writing.
A. Directions: Use the correct verb form in each given headline. The verb is enclosed in
(parenthesis).
1. Taliban, opposition (fight) for Afghan holdout province
2. PNP (order) intensified campaign against loose firearms
3. Robredo (hit) ‘lame attempt’ to divert PPE ‘overprice’ issue
4. No mass grave in Cebu’s Pinamungajan town, local execs (say)
5. 'Silent crisis' (loom) as US to end COVID aid for millions of jobless
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B. Directions: Write an appropriate headline for each of the given leads.
A veteran shoutcaster has shared his two cents about the impact of the
Collegiate Center of Esports (CCE), a campus-based Esports league.
Caisam "Wolf" Nopueto recently went on the record to laud the latest esports
venture as a gateway for elite esports athletes to hone their craft even more as
they enter colllege.
Isa na namang brand ng bakuna laban sa COVID-19 ang nabigyan ng
emergency use authorization (EUA) ng Philippine Food ng Administration (FDA)
para magamit sa mga menor de edad, sa gitna ng pagkalat ng mas
nakahahawang Delta variant sa mga "adolescents."
*Moderna ang pangalan ng vaccine
II. News Writing.
Directions: Write a short news article based from the given details. Provide for a
headline.
Below are the words from Bob Chapek, Disney Chief Executive during an interview
on Thursday.
Online streaming services have boomed while we grapple with how to release films
as the Delta coronavirus variant drives viewers from movie theaters. Disney+
subscriptions in the recently ended quarter more than doubled from the same period a
year earlier to 116 million, while its Hulu and ESPN offerings also attracted more
members. The priority is to tell great stories and win viewers by leveraging hit franchises
such as its Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars movies and shows, and Pixar animated
features and shorts. The pandemic prompted us to release some films on streaming
service when contracts and conditions allowed with a focus on remaining flexible. In light
of the prolonged and unpredictable nature of the pandemic we needed to find alternative
ways to bring our movies to consumers while theaters were closed. We will continue to
utilize all available options going forward, learn from insights gained from each release
and innovate accordingly.
NOTE: Disney is a US giant entertainment company
V. REFERENCES
(n.a) News writing for television and radio. Askifas.
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/WC193
https://www.philstar.com/headlines
https://www.inquirer.net/
https://news.abs-cbn.com/patrolph
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