Broadcast News Writing

RTV 440 -- NOT FROM OUR TEXT --take good notes

Writing the News Story

Goals for this lesson: Review news elements and how they are applied How to write a broadcast news lead How to organize a news story To learn how to collect all the relevant facts

related to a TV news story and put the most important facts into a conversational, well-organized, report

Writing the News Storyas noted previously

Elements of News Timeliness Proximity Significance Conflict Prominence Human Interest

What’s in a story?FactsWho, What, When, Where, Why, HowDescribe the details that connect with the

viewerCreatively draw images and descriptions

– paint the picture that allows the viewer to ‘be there’

Story focus – ‘ commitment’

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.

Start with the most important news element that will capture the most attention from your audience.

--timeliness, proximity, etc.

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 spring roses if the Commerce City Council doesn’t reschedule its meeting.”

Writing the Lead Other Lead types: (handout)

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

There’s gold in them thar hills

“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

Wendy’s restaurants used to ask ‘Where’s the Beef?’ Well, food inspectors are also asking that, as they investigate claims that Taco Bell taco meat is 30% filler material …

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 story

Broadcast 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, driven by what has the best video for TV

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 are on their regularly scheduled routes today with a retroactive pay increase of 50 cents per hour. The air smells 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 single column – read aloud 10 pound bag

:30 / :15 / :20 for a VSV Balance Lead main point 1, support Reaction and comment Main point 2, support and close

1:30 for a PKG Lead and main point 1 Reaction and comment Main point 2 Reaction and comment Main point 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

Never first person

Take-home Challenge

Think of a “newsworthy” story from your own life – focus: ‘the time I almost died’ (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, along with one other

Write the full story for a one-minute VSV news report. Make up a person’s SB comments

Bring to class Wednesday

ComparisonThat would be based on facts you know

and are experienced withSome stories require research top

gather factsThe Norris Community ReunionThe next School Board or City Council

meeting

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 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 pictures,

reportorial editing Incues and outcues -- see sample scripts Some issues about good writing, some about

production, like padding, cues, etc. ###