WRITING OF THE NEWS

•News is very important thing in today's media scenario

and there are a numbers of factors to modify the
importance of news in actual practice.
•The policy of news medium may increase or diminish
the importance of the story.The class of viewers and
listeners that dominates the audience of a channel
determines largely what is news for that medium.
•The amount of time available on television determines
whether is told briefly or in detail and thus time alters the
value of a news story.
•Repeating the same news also sometimes decreases the
importance of a news story.
 How to write the news?
• The news story is totally and radically different from all other kinds of
composition. A narrative, a short story, a novel, a play, a drama, book,
or a film script begins with a description of the background or with
the introduction of various characters and conditions. The story ends
soon after the climax is reached.On the contrary, a standard news
story starts with the climax and leaves the details for the closing
• sentence.
The story in all other cases opens gradually and major information is
given in middle of a story while innews it opens with a bang all
concrete things are mentioned at start and then the relevant detail is
described
 Contents of
news
What?What happened? What is the event?
When?When it occurred, at what time it
took place?
Where?The place, where the incident
occurred.
Who?The persons involved at that
occasion.
Why?The reason of that particular
issue.
 Characteristics of Writing
• There are four Cs to broadcast journalism:
– Correctness—or accuracy
– Clarity—clear, precise language that contains no
ambiguity; viewers cannot re-hear broadcast news—
they must understand it the first time
– Conversational—broadcast news must sound more
conversational b/c people will be reading it aloud
– Color—writing that allows the listener to paint a
picture of the story or event being reported.
 Characteristics of Writing
• News more than an hour or two old may be
considered stale.
• The maximum length for almost any story is two
minutes; normal length is 30 seconds.
• Slang and colorful phrasing is generally not
permitted in broadcast news.
• Should be written in the present tense.
• Omit the time element in most news stories.
• Broadcast writers have to produce in a highly
pressurized atmosphere: deadlines are imminent.
 Story Structure
• Dramatic Structure—most common structure for
broadcast news; it has three parts:
– Climax—gives the listener the point of the story in
about the same way the lead of a print news story does;
it tells the listener what happened.
– Cause—tells why the story happened—the
circumstance surrounding the event.
– Effect—gives the listener the context of the story and
possibly some insight about what the story means.
 Story Structure
• Broadcast journalists think of their stories as
completed circles, not inverted pyramids.
• Stories must be written to fit into the time
designated by the editor or news director.
• Getting the listener’s attention is of top
importance in broadcast news! The first broadcast
news story sentence should be an attention
getter!
• Broadcast news stories cannot go into the detail
and explanation that print or web stories can.
 Style of writing
• Conventions of Broadcast Writing:
– Titles usually come before names.
– Avoid abbreviations, even on the second reference—
except FBI and UN.
– Avoid direct quotations if possible.
– Attribution should come before a quotation, not after
it.
– Use as little punctuation as possible, but enough to help
the newscaster through the copy.
 Style of writing
• Numbers and statistics should be rounded off:
– Numbers one through nine should be spelled out;
numbers 10 through 999 should be written as numerals;
write out hundred, thousand, million, billion, and use a
combination of numerals w/these numbers where
appropriate (i.e. 15-hundred)
– Don’t write a million or a billion, but one million, one
billion
 Style of writing
• Personalize the news when possible and
appropriate (use the word “you”).
• Avoid external description—President and chief
executive office of the University of South
Alabama should just be stated: USA President…
• Avoid using symbols when you write.
• Use phonetic spelling for unfamiliar and hard to
pronounce names and words.
• Avoid pronouns whenever possible.
• Avoid apposition—a word or set of words that
renames a noun: ie: Tom Smith, Mayor of Mobile.
 Style of writing
• Use the present tense when it is
appropriate.
• Avoid dependent clauses at the beginning
of the sentences.
– Ex: Stopping at the first leg of his European
tour…
 Types of
formats
• Mini documentary—This format allows a
story to run more than a minute, and as long
as 15 minutes. It allows for a variety of
sound bites, interviews and even music to
be incorporated into the broadcast.
 Types of formats.
– Reader copy: Read by an anchor
– Voiceovers: Reporter speaks over video, with
original sound turned down, or off
– Voiceover to Soundbite: Reporter talks over
the video until time for the soundbite, then his
voice is turned down and the soundbite is
turned up
 Types of
formats
• Television newscasts can use any of the
following formats:
– Package Stories: Anchor introduces a prerecorded mix
of video, sound, voice and standup reporting
– Live Shots: An anchor will introduce the story and tell
the audience that the broadcast is going live to the
scene, then the reporter on the scene takes the story
from there, either with standup, or interview.
END