2 CBBJ3203: TOPIC 5 STYLE AND TECHNIQUES OF WRITING.

2 CBBJ3203: TOPIC 5 STYLE AND TECHNIQUES OF WRITING.

1. Discuss three ways on how to produce broadcast news reports which affect the audience; and

2. Discuss the technique, form and style of effective broadcast news.

One of the main challenges to journalists is how to process the materials obtained to create news that can attract audience’s attention. In Topic 4, you learnt about important aspects that need to be understood before you start writing broadcast news.

Like the news writing in the printed media, broadcast news writing also has guidelines in terms of style and technique. In Topic 5, we will discuss the style and technique of broadcast news writing.

5.1 BASICS OF BROADCAST NEWS WRITING

One of the main challenges to journalists is writing a conventional news report. The ability to write clear, short and compact news is important in broadcast news writing. Every word must have a clear meaning and subject. However, every station has its own approach and method in reporting news to the audience.

The writing of television news emphasises “new” event that has just happened. The thing stressed is the freshness and recentness of news prepared by broadcast journalists. News should be written in a compact but clear language. In preparing a script (sometimes quoted as text), it has to be easy to be read by the newsreader (radio or television) and understood by the listeners and viewers.

White (1996) lists down several basic guidelines in broadcast news writing.

  

Figure 5.1: Basic guidelines in broadcast news writing

  

5.1.1 Write for the Ears Not the Eyes

Broadcast news writing takes on a talking and story telling style. Thus, the form is more informal, but has its rules. Journalists have to remember that the news written is for the ears not the eyes. Therefore, the language used should be natural to maintain the audience’s attention towards the news reports.

5.1.2 Short, Clear and Comprehensible

Avoid writing a lot and in lengthy form. Do not present too fast. Stories and elements must be presented one at a time, in a logical manner with clear and consistent flow. Do not forget to use language that is easily understood by the audience.

  

Please refer to an article titled “Broadcast Sentence-Structure” in

http://www.newscript.com/sentence.html to know about writing effective sentences for broadcast news reports.

5.1.3 Space and Time Factor

Besides the informality element between the printed media writing and broadcast media writing, the space and time factor are also different. The printed media prioritises space, while the writing of electronic news (broadcast) on the other hand prioritises time.

Therefore, journalists have to remember that elements in broadcasting are measured in terms of time such as airtime, when it is aired, when it ends, the timeframe and many more.

5.1.4 Focus on the Story

In preparing news, journalists have to focus on one of the important ideas, that is to tell the real problem, why it needs solution, and how it affects them (the audience) and what are the available solutions.

As a journalist, you can use the following tips to write your news report:

Figure 5.2:

SELF-CHECK 5.1

You were exposed to the ways of news reports writing. Using the elements listed in Figure 5.2 as guidance, write a news report about an important incident at your place. Remember! Good news is the news that can draw interest.

5.2       TECHNIQUES OF WRITING BROADCAST

NEWS.

Basically, broadcast news writing is similar to other types of writings; it has its own technique to produce an effective report for the audience. There are two main techniques in broadcast news writing as shown in Figure 5.3.

Figure 5.3: Techniques of broadcast news writing

5.2.1 Rewriting Techniques

The following are tips you need to produce an effective news report. Please refer to Figure 5.4.

Figure 5.4: Rewriting techniques

Active sentences are used in broadcast news writing to show the timelines of news reported. For English news on the other hand, the news is written in present tense.

Things that need to be taken into consideration when rewriting:

Figure 5.5: Tips to rewrite.

5.2.2 Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing means to clarify with other suitable words in reporting speeches and statements made by the source. Good writers (journalists) can make reports short and clear by using sentences that are short and easy to understand.

ACTIVITY 5.1

After you have read the broadcast news writing techniques, explain briefly the techniques of broadcast news writing.

5.3 BROADCAST NEWS WRITING STYLE

There are several styles of writing broadcast news. Nonetheless, as explained in the discussion earlier, different stations use different styles and formats in their newscast. Therefore, there is no standard format.  

Figure 5.6: Broadcast news writing style

5.3.1 Format

The script format is divided into two, that is (1) Written by a location journalist.

(2) The script prepared by the editorial staff to be presented by the newsreader.

The following are the basic formats that need to be taken into consideration by broadcast journalists.

(a) Paper Used

Write the news on paper measuring 8.5 inches x 11.5 inches or A4 size.

However, there are certain stations that use copy book; a type of paper that contains carbon copy, that is the copy of important news. Normally, each news must be prepared in three copies for three people concerned:

(i) Newsreader

(ii) Producer

(iii) Assistant Producer

(b) Line Spacing

In general, the script must be typed with two lines spacing. There are media stations (radio and TV) that use three lines spacing.

In current editorial context, script is typed using a computer with 2 or 1.5 line spacing and sent straight to the teleprompter.

(c) Alphabets and Paragraphs

Use CAPITAL LETTERS. All sentences for news reporting must be written and typed in capital letters with font size 12.

For television news script, two words fit into one second. It takes 10 seconds to read one paragraph with three lines.

Do not bring an unfinished paragraph to a new page. Thus, news has to be short. Do not ignore these tips:

(i) For papers, which normally have 65 spaces for typing and computer paper with one inch at the right/left while top and bottom margin of two inches, journalists are advised to write only about 15 to 16 lines

(150 to 160 words only).

(ii) With that margin, 15 lines are reading standard for a one minute news, eight lines for 30 seconds and four lines for 15 seconds.

It is the same for sentences. Do not bring to a new page. Use the correct symbol, that is:

(d) Do Not Forget to Write the “Initial”, Date and News Slug at the Left Side of Your News

This method is similar to news in the newspaper. It is important to simplify news arrangement before it is aired.

(e) One News, One Page

Write one story/incident on one page. Do not mix news up on one page. If there are two news in the same page, they will confuse the reader.

Therefore, write the story/incident on another page. If one news is written on more than a page, write “MORE” at the bottom right of the page, indicating there is a continuation.

(f) Editing Symbol

News editing symbols are different from other symbols usually used in the printed media news writing. It has to be easy for the convenience of the newsreader.

5.3.2 Name and Position/Title

Broadcast news should not start with the name of unknown source (not popular in the society). Keep in mind that the audience of broadcast news may be doing something while watching the news; cooking, chatting, and talking. At that time, they may not be concentrating on the news yet.

Thus, as a journalist, you have to do set-up before any news subject is broadcasted.

A good example is to mention the position or the reason “why” the subject is in the news.

In the example above, the journalist made a set-up by mentioning Amizan Karim could be at the location before his name was mentioned.

Nonetheless, for famous personalities, their names can be written in the first sentence. The name of the person, the place or thing, must be fully mentioned and the title usually comes before the name, for instance Universiti Utara Malaysia’s Deputy Chancellor, Datuk Dr. Othman Yeop Abdullah.

However, there are people who are only famous within certain groups.

In this matter, the position of the subject is added probably because he is known only when the position is mentioned.

The determinant of whether you want to insert the name of the subject or not, depends on certain factors:

(a) The locality (location of incident).

(b) Whether the incident happens in the country or overseas.

(c) Whether the statement given by the subject has its importance or not.

If the news is aired on local stations, probably the name is not an important factor. Your news could be written like this:

In this matter, if the news written is also broadcasted in Hong Kong, the name becomes important because the public is curious about “who the victim” is compared to the Malaysians (local).

EXERCISE 5.1

Assume that you run into a horrific incident at your place. Write a news broadcast about the incident.

Sometimes, POSITION is more important than NAME.

Look at the example below:

In this report, the audience will be happier with - THE CONSUMER ASSOCIATIONS’ effort as compared to knowing “who is” the president who fights for the consumers’ right. Therefore, the name need not be mentioned as the source here.

There is another thing that you should remember. As a broadcast journalist, you also write NAMES differently from the printed media journalist.

In the broadcast news writing, names will be shortened as much as possible. This is to make the text/news script be easily readable by the newsreader.

However, there is also a weakness such as confusion. In the above example, a journalist has to know which is important. It has to answer the following questions.

ACTIVITY 5.2

For a DR. of medical and DR. of Philosophy, how can journalist differentiate both to avoid confusion?

5.3.3 Punctuation

In broadcast news writing, the use of punctuation is easy. The usage only makes it easy for the newsreader to read.

Thus, journalists usually use comma (,), full stop (.), three full stops (Ú), or three hyphens (_ _ _) in broadcast news writing. Journalists are advised to be careful with these types of punctuation in writing. It is because each punctuation has its own different roles and functions.

In the meantime, three full stops (Ú) are used to replace:

(a) (,) or comma as a pause when reading the news report.

(b) As a transition symbol

5.3.4 Number/Statistics/Symbol

In a broadcast news report, the more statistics utilised, the more difficult it is for a newsreader to read it. There are many rules to take into consideration when news involves numbers.

(a) To avoid confusion and mistake, numbers MUST be spelt in full.

(b) Numbers 1 to 9 must be SPELT OUT

(c) Numbers 10 to 999, sports results, time, dates, must be written in DIGITS.

(d) After 999, write thousand, billion, trillion.

  

(e) Numbers must be used and not spelt for dates, age, house address.

(f) For English news, write (th) for dates.

(g) Fractions and decimals must also be spelt out.

(h) Do not write &, %, $, + and other symbols. You have to spell them out in full so that newsreaders can easily read words instead of memorising the symbol.

5.3.5 Hyphenation

Hyphenation can ease newsreaders. Therefore, the use is encouraged in broadcast news writing because its function is a guide to the reader. It is another aspect that differentiates the grammar style between news in the printed media and broadcast media.

F-B-I

8 HUNDRD 6-7-7… 6-3-2-1

However, the words are not hyphenated but spelt out in full. Every sentence must finish at the end of page. Put the date on the first page of your script, and your name on the top left corner of the page.

5.3.6 Contractions

In broadcast news writing, the use of contractions is usually used in the English news writing. The reason of using contractions in broadcast news writing is because broadcast news is supposed to sound natural and conversational; like a conversation.

5.3.7 Names that are Difficult to Pronounce

In the broadcast news writing, the name of people and places that are difficult to pronounce should be spelt according to the actual pronunciation. To make the pronunciation easier, write the name in phonetics according to the sound in the content. Ask for someone’s assistance if you are not sure of the correct pronunciation.

5.3.8 Abbreviation

If possible, do not use abbreviation unless it is indeed read in short form.

  

As a journalist, you can use the following guidelines while writing your news report:

You have to be careful with what you should not write in broadcast journalism:

   

If the sentence starts with a number, the basic rule that should be followed is to spell the number. To be clearer, round off the number to the closest total.

  

For the purpose of testing your understanding, answer the following question.

EXERCISE 5.2

Get news from the newspaper that you usually read. Get the same issue from the TV broadcast news. Identify the differences between the two forms of news.

􀁸 This topic has discussed the basics of broadcast news writing.

􀁸 Every journalist should have a writing skill that encompasses technique and writing style that are neat and strong.

􀁸 It is vital in strengthening the news report produced and affect the credibility of the audience towards the broadcast news report.

􀁸 The following topic will deal with the titles of leads, that is the technique to introduce an issue and broadcast newscast.