A broadcast journalist must think in terms of audience time. Where as a print reporter thinks in terms of newspaper space. People often listen to broadcast news while doing something else. These competing activities, a audience\u2019s short attention span and the need to write for the eyes\/ears make a broadcast journalist\u2019s job challenging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Broadcast news is written in a conversational, informal and relaxed style. It is written in the way that one friend would talk to another. Sometimes this style includes using contractions, in complete sentences and first and second person pronouns (I, me, us, we, you) to establish a rapport with audiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also, sentences need to be short, declarative and to the point. People cannot listen to a long sentence and always associate the end with the beginning. The sentences often have fewer than 15 words, and none should have more than 25 words. They should be simple sentences in the active voice, keeping the subject, verb and object together. And they need to be cleared of parenthetical information; instead, use a separate sentence:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wrong:<\/strong> Taxes, said Texas Republican Rachael Morgan, who is chair of the national House Ways and Means Committee and who may become a presidential candidate-a race in which there are three presidential hopefuls so far-should be abolished in their present form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Revised:<\/strong> The chair of the House Ways and Means Committee says she wants to abolish our current tax structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Texas Republican Rachael Morgan set that as her goal today as she opened hearings on our tax system. . . . Because broadcast news airs several times a day, information needs to be presented up-to-date format. News is happening NOW. Use \u201ctoday,\u201d \u201cthis morning\u201d and \u201cearlier today indicate immediacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And use \u201cyesterday\u201d and \u201ctomorrow\u201d instead of days of the week, Associated Press wire stories written for broadcast leave out the time altogether because audience assumes the stories will concern a recent event or a current issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Verbs should be in the present tense to show regency: \u201csays,\u201d not \u201csaid\u201d; \u201cis presenting\u201d not \u201cpresented.\u201d If the present tense does not work, then try the present perfect tense:<\/p>\n\n\n\n A heat wave that has baked the Plains for four straight days has caused at least six deaths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If past tense is used, try to include the time element to reflect immediacy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n A federal advisory board voted unanimously this morning to officially list second hand tobacco smoke as a human carcinogen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are a few more hints on writing for a listening audience:<\/p>\n\n\n\n A broadcast journalist must think in terms of audience time. Where as a print reporter thinks in terms of newspaper space. People often listen to broadcast news while doing something else. These competing activities, a audience\u2019s short attention span and the need to write for the eyes\/ears make a broadcast journalist\u2019s job challenging. Broadcast news…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-111446","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n