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’s short attention span and the need to write for the eyes/ears make a broadcast journalist’s job challenging.
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.
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:
Wrong: 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.
Revised: The chair of the House Ways and Means Committee says she wants to abolish our current tax structure.
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 “today,” “this morning” and “earlier today indicate immediacy.
And use “yesterday” and “tomorrow” 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.
Verbs should be in the present tense to show regency: “says,” not “said”; “is presenting” not “presented.” If the present tense does not work, then try the present perfect tense:
A heat wave that has baked the Plains for four straight days has caused at least six deaths.
If past tense is used, try to include the time element to reflect immediacy:
A federal advisory board voted unanimously this morning to officially list second hand tobacco smoke as a human carcinogen.
Here are a few more hints on writing for a listening audience:
- Round numbers: It is difficult for someone to remember the exact figure of 3,984. It is easier to remember “almost 4- thousand.”
- Give numbers meaning: What does it mean to the audience that people in Greenetown will be taxed an extra $100,000 for an improved fire department? Saying the tax is only “an additional 5 cents per person” gives audiences a personal context and clearer understanding.
- Shorten long titles: Titles do not always describe the position or job that people occupy. Also, long titles make people forget what else the story has to say. For example, Andrea Maye is the supervisor of the Pharmacy Program of the Health Regulation Division in the Office of Health Services of the Bureau of Occupational and Professional Regulation in the Michigan Department of Commerce. This long title would use most of the time allotted to the story. Shorten the title to a word or two, such as “a supervisor,” or to a brief description of the person’s job, such as “a state health official.”
- Never put an unfamiliar name first in a story because an audience might miss it. Delay it until the story has captured the audience’s attention: The president of the American Medical Association says the organization has compiled overwhelming evidence showing tobacco company scientists knew the dangers of their product. President Tyler Reeves says that.
- Contrary to newspaper style, omit a person’s middle initial, unless it is commonly recognized as part of that person’s name. Remember that broadcast writing uses a conversational style, and speakers rarely refer to others by their initials in conversation.
- Place the description, age or identification before a person’s name. Newspaper style, with description often placed after the name, is not conversational. Instead, describe the person beforehand to keep the subject, verb and object together:
- Wrong: Gordon Elliott, 16, a Friendswood high school student, has received the state’s Good Citizenship Award.
- Revised: A Friendswood teen-ager is the center of attention today at the governor’s mansion. Sixteen-year-old Gordon Elliott has received the state’s Good Citizenship Award for saving two children from drowning in Grand River last fall. . . .
- Place the attribution before what is said. The broadcast formula “Who Said What” is the opposite of newspaper style (“What, Said Who”). In broadcast news, reporters need to prepare audiences for the quote or paraphrase coming next, to allow them to concentrate on what is being said:
- White House representative Joe Lockhart says that the move toward an impeachment vote against President Clinton is based more on politics than constitutional seriousness.
- Avoid direct quotes: In context of the radio, audiences cannot see a quotation mark, so a journalist needs to paraphrase what someone said. If a direct quote is necessary, then special language is sometimes inserted: And quoting directly here, “. . . Her exact words were, “. . . In her own words,
- Avoid homonyms: Words that sound alike but have different meanings and spellings can confuse audiences. (“She censured/censored the group.”) Audience members may miss the rest of the story if they spend time wrestling with a confusing sentence.
- Try to avoid pronouns. With several women in a story, it is often difficult for a audience/audience to figure out to whom the announcer is referring: “Sarah, Delta and Annie gave her dog a bath.”
- Use descriptive language, but sparingly. Again in the context of radio, some descriptive words help a audience to better visualize an event (e.g., “slammed into” instead of “hit”). However, too much description can take away from the rest of the story by confusing the audience or using precious seconds needed elsewhere.
