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Writing for broadcast

Jour 203, Fall 2012

+Writing for broadcast – a few rules

Don’t start a story like this: “On (day of week) the (character) does (whatever they do) at (time and place).” You’ve just told your entire story in the most boring way possible, and you’ve given too much information for broadcast. Your audience has gone home or gone to bed.

+Writing for broadcast – a few rules

Take these tips from news writing coach Mervin Block. They apply to feature writing for broadcast as much as they do to news writing for broadcast:

Write the way you talk.Have the courage to write simply.Use short words and short sentences.

+Writing for broadcast – a few more tips from Mervin Block

Humanize your copy. Don’t just talk about an event: focus on a person’s or several people’s experience at the event.

Localize your copy. Take us to wherever the event is happening by being descriptive and using natural sound.

In this report from Radio New Zealand, natural sound and the script work together to take you to the river bank with the reporter.

+Writing for broadcast – a few more tips from Mervin Block

Use active voice and action verbs.

Use the present tense when possible – but not all broadcast pieces work best in present tense.

Read your copy aloud. If it sounds like writing, rewrite it.

All of Block’s tips are here.

+Writing for broadcast

Why should you focus your broadcast script?

Because audio (i.e. broadcast) stories have fewer words than print pieces. “Breaking-news stories in radio can be allotted anywhere from 30 seconds to two minutes ― that’s roughly 75 to 300 words.”* A breaking news story in a newspaper will be covered in much greater depth.

*From Poynter’s “Writing for the ear” online course

+Writing for broadcast

Because you have fewer words in a broadcast story than you do in print, the focus of your audio story will be narrower than it would be in print.

Audio stories “tend to drill down on a particular character, a specific angle or a limited theme… Audio stories, from initial conception to final execution, are about selection… not simply about word selection. It’s about story conception and a ruthless eye for the telling detail.”*

*From Poynter’s “Writing for the ear” online course

+The best way to learn to write to broadcast…

… is to listen to good audio stories. This was on Morning Edition on NPR this morning.

While you’re listening, note down how many times you hear actuality (interviews); nat sound; the narrator’s track.

+Choosing the right story Some stories work better in audio form than others.

What makes a good audio story? It tells a story. You are able to identify the main characters

(humanize). You establish a sense of time and place (localize). The story is timely. It’s possible to tell your story in a limited time

frame. Your story will involve interesting sounds, not just

talking heads. There’s a conflict. Doesn’t have to be fisticuffs, but

someone should want/aspire to something but face obstacles in getting/achieving it.

(From Poynter’s “Writing for the ear”)

+Reporting your story

Once you know what you want to cover and your pitch has been accepted by your editor(s), it’s time to go out and gather material for the story. This will include: Actuality/interviews Natural sound/scene-setters

If you’re lucky, you’ll capture a live event as it unfolds in front of you. You can’t just air that in isolation; you will need to have the scene-setting sounds that describe where the event happened, what led up to it.

+ALERT: Don’t record too muchRemember: your piece will be short and

focussed. The more tape you have to go through, the more time you’ll spend in the edit suite, dumping a lot of stuff on the cutting room floor.

But sometimes, you’ll just have to let your recorder roll while you take pictures or interview an official after a town hall meeting. If you can, mark the good quotes and interesting bits on your recorder. If you can’t, mark them as you log your tape.

+Deadly sins of broadcast writing

Don’t use newspaper writing style when you’re writing for broadcast. In other words, leave out the who, what, when, where, why and how in the lead. You’re presenting too much information to an audience that cannot go back and reread what you’ve just said.

Don’t cram as much information into your story as I’ve crammed onto this slide.

Block has a list of 12 deadly sins for broadcast writers. The two above are key for journalists who are just getting into broadcast writing.