Tight, efficient- but thorough- story writing is imperative in broadcast news. CBS news announcer Walter Cronkite was “the most trusted man in America” for many years because of his concise, informational and complete 30-minute newscasts.
Local and national television newscasts are about 30 minutes long. Some public radio newscasts span a half-hour or more, but many commercial radio newscasts are only five minutes long, made up of mostly 15- to 30-second news stories.
Time for news stories becomes even shorter once the opening and closing for the newscast, a commercial break, teasers and promos, transitions between stories, weather and sports are deducted from the original time.
Reviewing Copy: A journalist or announcer should read all copy to become familiar with what has been prepared for the newscast. While reading each story, the announcer should confirm that his or her reading time matches the average number of lines per minute. The announcer should also mark-or personalize-the copy for word emphases or difficult pronunciations.
Timing the Newscast: Let’s say that five minutes are allotted every hour on the hour for a radio newscast. To figure out how much copy is needed, begin by subtracting one minute for a commercial break and 15 seconds each for opening and closing to the newscast. That leaves three and a half minutes, which is about 52 lines of copy. Weather and sports updates consume 20 seconds each, taking a total of 10 lines (five lines each). That leaves 42 lines for news copy. With this number in mind, review each story, find the important ones, and add the total lines of copy (by adding the number of lines in all the stories, which should be noted in the top right-hand comer of each copy page). Remember to add a few seconds for transitions between stories. In addition, always keep an extra story available in case it is needed to fill time.
A newscast’s length is called its “running time.” Some announcers combine running time with “back timing” the last two or three stories. For example, the announcer does a practice reading of the last few stories, in this case sports and weather, and notes the exact time it takes. Then the announcer subtracts that time from the end of five minutes-what the clock should say at this exact point. Thus, the announcer will know where in the newscast he or she should be at this exact time while on-air.
When the announcer reaches these stories on air, he or she compares the time with the run-through. If the announcer is under the allotted time, then the last stories should be read more slowly or another short story should be added. If the announcer is past the allotted time, he or she should speed up the last few stories to end exactly on time.
Organizing Stories: The order in which stories appear in a newscast often depends on a news organization’s policy. Some begin with local news, progress to state news and end with national or international news. Others use just the opposite order. Within each news category, start with the best stories to gain the audience’s attention at the beginning. If the first story-whether local, national or international-is an attention-grabber, then a audience is unlikely to change stations. Some broadcast journalists look for a “kicker” to run at the end of the newscast: a lighthearted story that leaves audiences feeling good. Some kickers are humorous; others emphasize human interest.
Adding Transitions: Transitions make newscasts more conversational. As you review each story before a newscast, think about the transitions needed to move from story to story, and pencil them on the copy. Transitions smooth out the potentially abrupt movement from one subject to another by tying different subjects together. In addition, transitions signal the end of one story and the beginning another. Some transitions include the following phrases: Meanwhile. Closer to home.
To make a transition from one story to another, try to find a commonality in both. Commonalities might include geographic proximity, time sequence or action:
You might think its hot today, but forecasters are predicting even hotter temperatures tomorrow. . . . Or, transitions can point out differences:
While southern Texas is experiencing heat waves, fierce thunder- storms are ravaging the northern part of the state.
