Broadcast News and Writing Stylebook

Bob Papper is Research 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 TV stations in Minneapolis, San Francisco, Washington, DC and Columbus, OH and radio stations in New York, Maine and Indiana. He has won more than a hundred awards including the top honors in broadcast journalism (duPont-Columbia) and in broadcast journalism education (Ed Bliss Award). Prof. Janet Kolodzy teaches multimedia and broadcast journalism at Emerson College in Boston. A Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism graduate, she has worked as a writer, copyeditor and producer at CNN and CNN International. She was the education reporter and an editor at the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Arkansas Democrat. She is the author of Practicing Convergence Journalism.

Acknowledgments

1 News Now, News Next

What Is News?

Types of Stories

Finding Stories

Summary

Ethics

Key Words and Phrases

Exercises

2 Challenges in News Today

Financial Challenges

Ratings

Misinformation, Disinformation and Fake News

Artificial Intelligence

Journalists, Trust in the Media Under Attack

Summary

Ethics

Key Words and Phrases

Exercises

3 Challenges Bring Opportunities

Why Social Media?

Why Mobile?

Measuring Engagement and Driving Traffic

Streaming/OTT (Over the Top)

Artificial Intelligence … AI

Other Opportunities

Summary

Ethics

Key Words and Phrases

Exercises

4 Research, Collecting Information and Bites

The Assignment Desk

Online

On Social Media

Morning and Afternoon Meetings

Artificial Intelligence

What Makes a Good Bite

Conducting Successful Interviews

Beyond the Interview

Summary

Ethics

Key Words and Phrases

Exercises

5 Readability

Broadcast News Writing

Writing for the Ear vs. Writing for the Eye

Rules of Readability

Summary

Ethics

Key Words and Phrases

Exercises

6 Words

Keep It Simple

Keep It Conversational

Keep It Clear

Keep It Tight

Make It Powerful

Get It Right

Common Problems

Summary

Ethics

Key Words and Phrases

Exercises

7 Phrases and Phrasing

How to Say It

What to Say

What You Didn’t Mean to Say

Last Note

Summary

Ethics

Key Words and Phrases

Exercises

8 Sentences

Keep It Short

Make It Clean, Clear and Concise

Last Note

Summary

Ethics

Key Words and Phrases

Exercises

9 Leads and Endings

Types of Leads

Figuring Out the Lead

Types of Endings

Summary

Ethics

Key Words and Phrases

Exercises

10 Stories

Plan and Focus

Story Logic

Story Structure

Transitions

Before You’re Done

Summary

Ethics

Key Words and Phrases

Exercises

11 Working with Bites, Actualities and Natural Sound

The Feel of Natural Sound

Working with Bites, Actualities and Natural Sound

Packages

Summary

Ethics

Key Words and Phrases

Exercises

12 TV: Story Forms

Story Forms

Putting Packages Together

MMJ … VJ … One-Man Band

Live Reporting

Golden Rules

Summary

Ethics

Key Words and Phrases

Exercises

13 TV: Working with Pictures

The Power of the Visual Image

The TV Balancing Act

Picture Cautions

Drones

Strong Stories Have Central Characters and a Plot

Prove Your Story

The Element of Surprise

Connecting with Truths

Care About the Story

Summary

Ethics

Key Words and Phrases

Exercises

14 Producing News on TV

Overview

Audience

Newscast Structure

Building a Local Newscast

Teases and Promos

Promotion

Tease … Don’t Tell

Make Them Care

Don’t Ever Do This

Summary

Ethics

Key Words and Phrases

Exercises

15 Producing News on Social Media

Branding

Do Everything, Distribute the Most Engaging

Be Everywhere

Taking Better Pictures

20 Survival and Growth Tips

Summary

Ethics

Key Words and Phrases

Exercises

16 Producing News on Websites and Mobile

Streaming Video

Constructing Web News

Beyond Text, Pictures and Video

Multimedia

Constructing Mobile News

SEO, SMO and Keywords

Summary

Ethics

Key Words and Phrases

Exercises

17 Radio, Audio, Podcasts: Story Forms and Working with Sound

Radio Story Forms

Drawing Radio Pictures

Podcasts

Audio and Social Media

The Business of Radio

Summary

Ethics

Key Words and Phrases

Exercises

18 News, Weather and Sports

Why News, Weather and Sports?

Reporting Weather

Defining Weather Terms

Reporting Sports

Sports and Teams

19 Reporting: Seasonal Coverage and the Calendar

Seasonal Reporting

Solar and Lunar and the World’s Major Religions

Calendar Holidays

State Holidays

20 Reporting: The GA and Specialized Coverage

The General Assignment Reporter

Business, Economy and Taxes

Crime and Legal

Education

The Environment

Geography

Government

Heath and Medicine

21 Ethics, Legality and the RTDNA and SPJ Codes of Ethics

Ethics

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 Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Code of Ethics

Summary

Exercises

22 TV Script Form, Supers and Glossary

Abbreviations

Script Form

Glossary of Broadcast and Online Terms

Index