Broadcast News and Writing Stylebook is the go-to resource for writing broadcast news, offering readers the know-how to write excellent stories for television, radio, podcasts and online media.
Through clear and concise chapters, this text provides the fundamental rules of broadcast news writing, teaching readers how to craft stories on government, crime, weather, education, health, sports and more. It covers the necessary mechanics news writers need to know, including the nuances of reporting, grammar, style and usage. This new seventh edition is updated with the latest on how stations incorporate online and social media strategies, as well as insights into the directions local news is headed. Author Robert A. Papper has over a quarter century of broadcast news and industry research experience and once again updates this vital text with the information necessary for being a successful news writer today. Also available for this edition is an Instructor’s Guide, found on the book’s webpage.
Whether you’re a student seeking to learn the mechanics of successful broadcast news writing or a working professional looking for a definitive reference for your desk, Broadcast News and Writing Stylebook offers a comprehensive guide to writing for television, audio and beyond.
1 Ethics, Legality and the RTDNA and SPJ Codes of Ethics
Ethics
Fake News and the Question of Whether Facts Are Facts
Trust in the Media
Ethical Decision-Making Starts at the Top
Issues in Media Law
The Radio-Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct
The Sosiety of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics
Summary
Exercises
2 The Business of News
The Big Picture
Newspapers * Radio * Online * TV
The Scope of Media Use
Media Use Is More Complex Than It Used to Be
It’s Hard to Measure Media Use
Ratings
Where the Programs Come From
Where the Money Comes From
The Predicted Demise of TV
A New Model for News?
The New TV Newsroom
So Where Are We Going?
Summary
Key Words and Phrases
Exercises
3 News
What Is News?
Balancing News Values
Types of Stories
Breaking News * Planned Event Reporting * Enterprise Reporting * Investigative Reporting * Special Segment Reporting * Features
Where Story Ideas Come From
The Assignment Desk
Morning and Afternoon Meetings
Innovation in TV News
Following the News
Summary
Key Words and Phrases
Exercises
4 Digital First
Why Social Media?
Measuring Engagement and Driving Traffic
What It Means on the Ground
Think Mobile
Apps
OTT (Over the Top)
A Final Note
Summary
Key Words and Phrases
Exercises
5 Research, Collecting Information and Bites
Some Basic Terms and Concerns
Research and the Web
Interviewing
Conducting Successful Interviews
Understanding what makes good bites Plan * Listen * Technical Concerns * Make the Interviewee Comfortable * Ask Questions That Deliver What You’re After * Use Silence * Maintain Strong Eye Contact * Learn to Respond Inaudibly * Follow up and Clarify * Maintain Control * Ask for More ... Twice * Make Notes Afterward * Examples of Questions that Work … to Produce Bites
Beyond the Interview
Being Human * A Closing Thought
Summary
Key Words and Phrases
Exercises
6 Readability
Broadcast News Writing
Writing for the Ear vs. Writing for the Eye
Rules of Readability
Newsroom Computer System * The Slug * The Printed Word * Hyphenation Abbreviation * Symbols * Initials and Acronyms * Names * Numbers * Ages * Emphasis n Pronouncers * Spelling
Summary
Key Words and Phrases
Exercises
7 Words
Keep It Simple
Keep It Conversational
Informal Words * Contractions * Formal Terminology People ... Not Persons
Keep It Clear
Common Usage * Technical Terms * Definite and Indefinite Articles
Keep It Tight
Make It Powerful
Use Strong Nouns and Verbs * Avoid Weak Qualifiers
Get It Right
Grammar Says * Saying Too Much * Think
Common Problems
Summary
Key Words and Phrases
Exercises
8 Phrases and Phrasing
How to Say It
Voice * Tense * Clarity * Conciseness * Clauses and Phrases * Positive Phrasing * Pronouns * That * Time and Space Problems
What to Say
Title and Identifiers * Attribution * Quotations * Numbers * Race
What You Didn’t Mean to Say
Dates * Unintended Meanings * Editorials n Clichés * Sexism * Personalization
Last Note
Summary
Key Words and Phrases
Exercises
9 Sentences
Keep It Short
One Important Idea * Put People First * Keep It Simple: Subject-Verb-Object * Use Some Variety for Interest * Split Up Complex Sentences
Make It Clean, Clear and Concise
Make Every Sentence Count * Avoid Repetition n Stay Positive * Make Sense * End Strong
Last Note
Summary
Key Words and Phrases
Exercises
10 Leads and Endings
Types of Leads
Hard Main Point Lead * Soft Main Point Lead * Throwaway Lead * Umbrella Lead * Delayed or Suspense Lead * Question Lead
Figuring Out the Lead
What’s the Story About? * Say Something Meaningful n Keep It Simple * Start with New News * Focus on People * Focus on Local * Put Location in the Lead n Be Direct and to the Point * Save the Name for Later n Save the Day and Date for Later * Update Leads n Responsibility n Above All … Get It Right
Types of Endings
Future Ramification Close * Summary Point Close n Information Close * Opposition Point of View Close n Punch Line
Summary
Key Words and Phrases
Exercises
11 Stories
Stories Are Like Music
Plan and Focus
Why Run the Story? * Do You Understand? * What’s the Story About?2 * What’s the Lead? * In What Order Do You Tell the Story?
Story Logic
Handling the Basics * Will It Stand on Its Own? n Answer the Logical Questions
Story Structure
Make the Writing Structure Interesting
Transitions
Within Stories * Between Stories
Before You’re Done
Does the Story Support the Lead? * Will the Audience Understand? * Use Humor Sparingly * Read the Story Aloud
Summary
Key Words and Phrases
Exercises
12 Working With Bites, Actualities and Natural Sound
The Feel of Natural Sound
Natural Sound as Pacing and Punctuation
Key Rules
Don’t Stop the Story * Don’t Repeat * Watch out for Partial Lead-Ins * Making the Story Flow * Finding the Lead-In * Television Lead-Ins * Writing out of Bites An Alternative to Traditional Bites
Packages
Writing into Packages * Introducing a Package That Starts with a Bite * Understand Where the Story Begins * Package Tags
Summary
Key Words and Phrases
Exercises
13 TV: Story Forms
Story Forms
Readers * Voiceovers * VO/SOT * Packages * Live
Putting Packages Together
Pacing * Don’t Outdate Packages
MMJ … VJ … One-Man-Band
Live Reporting
Planning * Crosstalk * Live Look
Golden Rules
Summary
Key Words and Phrases
Exercises
14 TV: Working With Pictures
The Power of the Visual Image
Working with Strong Pictures * Working without Strong Pictures
The TV Balancing Act
Use Pictures and Words for What They Do Best * Use Natural Sound and SOT * Write TV Loosely * Coordinate Words and Pictures * Visualizing the Story
Picture Cautions
Use Meaningful Pictures * Today’s Pictures * Watch Your Supers
Drones
Strong Stories Have Central Characters and a Plot
Prove Your Story
The Element of Surprise
Connecting With Truths
Care About the Story
Summary
Key Words and Phrases
Exercises
15 Producing News on TV
Overview
Audience
Audience Flow
Newscast Structure
News, Weather and Sports * Special Segments, Franchises and Features Story Repetition
Building a Local Newscast
Teases and Promos
Promotion
Tease … Don’t Tell
Make Them Care
Going Too Far
Summary
Key Words and Phrases
Exercises
16 Radio … Audio … Podcasts
Radio Story Forms
Drawing Radio Pictures
The Words * Using Nat Sound * Listen to the Sound Quality * Putting It All Together
Podcasts
Summary
Key Words and Phrases
Exercises
17 Social Media and News
Social Media, Branding and the Reporter Workday
Do Everything
Be Everywhere … But Not Indiscriminately
Amy Wood
Use Each Social Medium for What It Does Best
Facebook Live
Beyond Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
Crowdsourcing
Blogging
MMJ, Backpack Journalists and One-Man-Bands
Twenty Survival and Growth Tips
Taking Better Pictures
The Bottom Line
Summary
Key Words and Phrases
Exercises
The Radio-Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) Social Media and Blogging Guidelines
18 Online News
The Information Website
Content Management System
Colleen Seitz
Constructing Web News
News on the Web * Web Design * Online Headlines * Online Stories * Online Writing Style
Beyond Text and Pictures
Data Visualization * Charts & Graphs * Maps * Pictures * Audio * Other * Tips
Multimedia
Mobile
Video
Podcasts
Hyperlocal News
SEO & Keywords
Other Issues
Summary
Key Words and Phrases
Exercises
19 News, Weather and Sports
Why News, Weather and Sports?
Reporting Weather
Severe Weather * Careers in Weather
Defining Weather Terms
Reporting Sports
Reporting Sports Stories * Reporting Scores * Play by Play n Local Sports n Common Mistakes
Sports and Teams
Auto Racing * Baseball--Major Leagues * Basketball--National Basketball Association * Basketball--Women’s National Basketball Association * Boxing * Football--National Football League * Football--Canadian Football League * Golf * Hockey--National Hockey League * Soccer-- Major League Soccer Ultimate Fighting Championship--UFC
20 Reporting: Seasonal Coverage and the Calendar
Seasonal Reporting
Solar and Lunar and the World’s Major Religions
Calendar Holidays
Buddhist Holidays * Hindu Holidays * Muslim Holidays
State Holidays
21 Reporting: The GA and Specialized Coverage
The General Assignment Reporter
Business, Economy and Taxes
Top Money Terms
Crime and Legal
Attribution * Alleged * Misplaced Attribution * Cautions * Get the Terms Right * Top Crime and Legal Terms
Education
Top Education Terms
The Environment
Top Environment Terms
Geography
Major U.S. Geographic Terms * Voice of America Pronunciation Guide * Major World Geographic Terms
Government
Top Government Terms
Heath and Medicine
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 * HIPAA * Hospital Conditions * Top Health and Medical Terms
22 TV Script Form, Supers and Glossary
Abbreviations
Script Form
Standard Anchor Read * Standard 2-Shot * Standard Anchor Read with Gfx * Anchor with Voiceover * Anchor with VO/SOT * Anchor VO/SOT with Package Intro
Supers
Names * Location, Date and Miscellaneous
Glossary of Broadcast and Online Terms
Biography
Robert A. Papper is Adjunct Professor at the Newhouse School at Syracuse University. A graduate of Columbia College and the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, he has worked as a producer, writer and manager at television stations in Minneapolis, Washington, DC, San Francisco, Columbus, Ohio and radio stations in Maine and Indiana. He has won both the top award in broadcast journalism (duPont-Columbia) and the top award in broadcast journalism education (Ed Bliss Award).
PRAISE FOR PREVIOUS EDITIONS
"This book will teach you how to tell a visual story well, using all the tools. The new edition of Bob Papper's classic shines a light for the digital age and will show you the way."
Bob Dotson, former NBC News National Correspondent and New York Times best selling author
"Papper’s text has long earned accolades as a comprehensive and engaging guide to broadcast reporting, covering everything from interviewing to ethics, from writing for the ear to writing for the eye, from effective narrative techniques to the basics of proper usage and grammar. For those of us teaching Broadcast Journalism during these rapidly changing times in news, this new edition is a terrific addition to our teaching toolkit."
Judy Muller, Professor, USC Annenberg School, USA
"This edition has excellent tips for writing sound broadcast news copy and has now been updated with information from Papper’s outstanding surveys of the news industry, advice from professional journalists, as well as ideas on the best practices for using new technology such as drones."
G. Stuart Smith, Professor, Hofstra University, USA
"This latest edition of Papper's well-respected style manual for broadcast news comes only two years after the previous release. Papper restructured the manual to forefront fundamentals of broadcast journalism, beginning with a chapter on ethics. Modest revisions follow....The manual is strongest when it remains focused on the details of style and usage elaborated by real-world examples....While the title suggests an audience limited to students of broadcast news, the style and usage sections of the manual have value for writers of any discipline composing podcasts or other new media work."
G. Wilsbacher, University of South Carolina