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Writing broadcast news. Jack Zibluk Professor of journalism Arkansas State University jzibuk@astate.edu. Broadcast writing MAKES the news. From the movie, Broadcast News, 1987 http://movieclips.com/74V3-broadcast-news-movie-she-is-this-good/. Broadcast writing.
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Writing broadcast news Jack Zibluk Professor of journalism Arkansas State University jzibuk@astate.edu
Broadcast writing MAKES the news From the movie, Broadcast News, 1987 http://movieclips.com/74V3-broadcast-news-movie-she-is-this-good/
Broadcast writing • Is short, even shorter than news print writing. About 150-180 words a minute, and three minutes is a LONG story. • Is conversational, natural and informal. • Uses present tense. • Uses contractions • Attributes sources at the beginning, not the end.
Broadcast writing • Includes phonetic pronunciations AH-ma-DEEN-a-zhahd (or “I am a dinner jacket”) or ZIB-lick • Uses. Punctuation. LIB-erally. to help pace ….. and pronunciation. • Writes out abbreviations, and some acronyms. • Rounds off numbers or spells them out.
Broadcast organization • Short pieces may use modified inverted pyramid, or diamond; starts with intro paragraph and then goes to the nut graf or lead and then information in descending order of importance. • Longer pieces use ABCE: Action, start or lead. Background, or explanation Climax, turning point. End, takeout.
Radio • Still among the most ubiquitous world-wide media. • NPR’s “All Things considered” has as many 26 million listeners, as many as a top TV show. It has doubled listenership from 1999-2101. • Focuses on sound bites or clips as print does quotes. Use voiceover to explain content of bits. • Make every word count. • Talk about people • Use ambient, background sound. • Be descriptive; use word pictures • Read stories aloud; practice. Speak slowly and deliberately.
Sample scripts(note some variations in format) • http://www.usanewsnetwork.com/radio.html • http://www.journalism.wisc.edu/~kbculver/coursesites/j202/materials/wk9_sample_script.pdf
TV news • Used on many webcasts as well as broadcasts • Forms expanding on the web. • Explains, relates to the pictures • Reporter talks to the audience through the camera • Integrates video and log/time into the script. • Written in ALL CAPS to be able to tell words from directions.
Sample TV news scripts • http://www.wchstv.com/newsroom/showscripts/6fri.shtml#2 • http://www.cybercollege.com/fire.htm
OK, let’s try it… • Write a short script on today’s presentation.