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Chapter 4. Writing the News Story. What are some big recent news stories? What makes them newsworthy? Elements of news (Examples of stories that have these elements?) Timeliness … Proximity … significance … conflict … prominence .. human interest.
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Chapter 4 Writing the News Story
What are some big recent news stories? What makes them newsworthy? • Elements of news (Examples of stories that have these elements?) • Timeliness … Proximity … significance … conflict … prominence .. human interest. • Visual aspect … what sort of stories have good visual appeal? • How could you make a story about inflation (Say, high gas prices) visual? See p. 81.
Leads (p. 83) • Summary leads … alert viewers to what story is about and indicate why they should be interested (“Detroit may be without fire protection by six o’ clock tomorrow morning.”) • Hard-news lead … contains essential facts of the story. • Soft-news lead …. Used on feature stories. More literary, relaxed style of writing.
Freshening the story • How can you write stories so that they sound fresh, up to date? • Delay reference to past events (see example, p. 86) Updating your stories • Important to rewrite stories from newscast to newscast • As new information develops, where does it go in the story? (p. 87)
Localizing • How can you localize national or international stories? Communicating effectively • Broadcast news writing is conversational … use contractions. Sound like your TALKING to (or with) viewers/listeners, not READING to them. • Writing must relate to the listener/viewer … what does this mean? Answer the fundamental question, “What does this have to do with me?” • Avoid overusing the pronoun “you.”
Good (creative) writing requires writer to re-write extensively. • Writing has to make sense … viewer/listener must UNDERSTAND the story. Focus on essential details – who, what, when, where, why, how. • Of the above, which are the most impotant?
Writing must be technically correct – announcers must be able to read it without stumbling. • Writing must be accurate. • One of the best ways to test your copy is to READ IT OUT LOUD.