Broadcast Jounalism Techniques of Radio and Television News Andrew Boyd English

Part One Broadcast Journalism
NEWS GATHERING
1 The best job in town
Personal qualities
Jobs in broadcasting
Radio
Television
The multi-skilled broadcast journalist
Freelancing
Industry training
Training courses
Degree, or not degree …?
Getting a foot in the door
A level playing field?
2 What is news?
Proximity
Relevance
Immediacy
Interest
Drama
Entertainment
Different types of news
Checklist
Fieldwork
3 News sources
Reporters
Contacts
Newsroom diary
Files
Check calls
Emergency services radio
Politicians
Pressure groups
Staged events
News releases
Syndicated recordings
Freelances
Tip-offs
Hoaxes
Wire services and news agencies
The network
Other news media
Shared material
Fieldwork
4 Getting the story
Newsroom conference
Copytasting
Balance of news
Visuals and actuality
The brief
The angle
Chasing the contact
Staged news conferences
Beating the clock
Work to sequence
Don't panic
Fieldwork
WRITING FOR BROADCAST
5 Conversational writing
Telling the story
Writing for a mass audience
No second chance
Confusing clauses
Inverted sentences
Plain English
Familiar words
Easy listening
Accurate English
Keep it concrete
Make it interesting
Contractions
Rhythm
Fieldwork
6 Newswriting
The news angle
Multi-angled stories
Hard news formula
The intro
Placing key words
Feature openers
Developing the story
Signposting
Last line
Last words
Accuracy
Fieldwork
7 Broadcast style book
Clichés
Journalese
Hyperbole
Adjectives
Quotations
Attribution
Contentious statements
Immediacy
Active
Positive
Redundancies
Repetition
Homonyms
Singular or plural?
Pronouns
Punctuation
Spelling
Abbreviations
Figures
Proof reading
Ambiguity
Fieldwork
INTERVIEWING
8 The interview
The interviewer's skill
Different types of interview
A disaster story?
The disaster story continues …
Fieldwork
9 Setting up the interview
Background
A plan of campaign – the questions
Get your facts right
Fit the brief
Check arrangements
Approach
The questions
Winding up the interview
Being interviewed yourself: the Q & A
Fieldwork
THE NEWS PROGRAMME
10 From 2-minute headlines to 24-hour news
The bulletin
News programmes
Documentary
Vérité
24-hour news
Who does what?
Fieldwork
11 Item selection and order
‘A fair picture …’
Second thoughts
Item order
Local considerations
Foreign coverage
Producing a running order
Fieldwork
12 Putting the show together
Winning an audience – the openers
Keeping an audience – headlines and promotions
Actuality
Pictures
Graphics
Programme balance – being all things to all people
Nightly News
And now the good news?
Fieldwork
13 Making the programme fit
Cutting
Filling
Backtiming
Fieldwork
PRESENTING THE NEWS
14 News anchors and presenters
The talent
Qualities of a newscaster
Women newscasters
More than just a newsreader …
Professionalism
Voice
Fieldwork
15 ÔOn-air!Õ
Performance
Presence
Getting through to the audience – rapport
Know your material
Ad-libs
The gate
Making a swift recovery
Corpsing
Relaxation
Fieldwork
16 Newsreading mechanics
Speed
Breathing
Projection
Emphasis
Pitch
Microphone technique
Using the prompter
Noise, noise, noise
Bringing the story to life
Fieldwork
DUTIES AND DILEMMAS
17 Power, freedom and responsibility
Power
The law
The regulators
‘Independence’
Censorship in developing nations
The myth of objectivity
Impartiality under fire
Responsible reporting
Internal pressures on reporting
National Union of Journalists’ Code of Professional Conduct
Fieldwork
Part Two Radio
INSIDE THE BBC WORLD SERVICE
18 The best of British
The newsroom
Foreign correspondents
Bi-media reporting
The news conference
The stories
Accuracy
The service
Newsdesk
Newsreaders
Independence
The way ahead?
Fieldwork
RADIO NEWS COVERAGE
19 Story treatment
Newsflash (bulletin, US)
Headline
Copy story
Voicer or voice report
Teaser or taster
Voice report from the scene
Interview
Newsclip
Package
Mini-wrap
Fieldwork
THE EQUIPMENT
20 Recording
Principles of recording
Using portable sound recorders
Before the interview
Fieldwork
21 Editing
‘You can't see the join’
Unethical editing
Digital audio editing
Multi-tracking
Analogue editing
Mixing
Types of fade
Fieldwork
22 The studio today and radio tomorrow
On-air studio
Talks studio
The contributions studio
Remote studios
Radio car
Outside broadcast vehicle
Portable telephones
Telephone reports
Obscenity button
Tomorrow today
Fieldwork
Part Three Television
INSIDE ITN
23 Independent Television News
Getting the news
The editors
The producers
Getting the programme on air
Fieldwork
24 A story is born
Fieldwork
TV NEWS COVERAGE
25 Gathering the news
ENG (electronic newsgathering)
The outside broadcast
Getting the story back
Master control room
Fieldwork
26 Camera shots
The shots
Camera positions
Grab action shots first
Shoot for impact
Shoot in sequences
Context
Sound
Cutaways
The line
Continuity
Pieces to camera
Planning – the full treatment
Fieldwork
TV SCRIPTWRITING
27 Writing the script
The cue (lead, or link)
Complement the pictures with the narrative
Writing to sound
Keep detail to a minimum
Script layout
Balancing words with pictures
Using the library
Fieldwork
COMPILING THE REPORT
28 Editing the image
Sequence of shots
Shot length
Digital editing
Editing videotape
Playing the tape on air
Fieldwork
29 Visuals
Stills
Film library
Electronic graphics
Titles and captions
Overlays
Fieldwork
THE NEWS STUDIO
30 ‘Standby for transmission …’
The set
Control room
Fieldwork
ONLINE JOURNALISM AND NEW MEDIA
31 Videojournalism
The VJ at work
Editing?
Fieldwork
32 Pushing back the frontiers
News online
Research
Qualities of an online journalist
Satellite and cable TV
Teletext
The computerized newsroom
And next?
Fieldwork
Appendix: Courses in journalism
Glossary
Further reading
Index