Broadcast Journalism: Techniques of Radio and Television News

Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Preface
	What This Book Is About
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1 What You Need
	An Interest in Words
	First Push
	Multi-tasking
	Interviews
	Factual Interview Questions and Initiative Testing
	Assessments and Tests
	Formal and Practical Training for Broadcast Journalism
Chapter 2 Ethics. Law. Fakes and Fabrications
	Regulation and Audience Attitudes
	Fakes and Fabrication
	Deep Fakes
	Copyright
	Script and Image Together
	Sexuality
	Media Lawyers
	Email
	Reporting From Court
	However – It Is Up to the Judge
	Being Web Wise
	Impartiality
	Police and Emergency Services
	Children
Chapter 3 Story Types for Broadcast Journalism
	Where?
	Relevance
	Immediacy
	General Interest
	Drama and Impact
	New, True and Interesting
	Different Types of News
		Emergencies
		Crime
		Government and Politics
		Planning and Developments
	Conflict and Controversy
		Industry and Business
		Health. Medicine. Science
		Soft Human Interest
		Sport
		Seasonal or Unseasonal Weather
		Local Special Interest
		Animals
		Cultural and Religious Periods
		Entertainment and Celebs
Chapter 4 News Channels, Programmes and Streams
	24-Hour News
	The Bulletin
	News Programmes
	Documentary
	Vérite
	Who Does What?
	The Future
Chapter 5 Where the News Comes From
	The Reporters
		What They’ve Seen and Heard
		Contacts and Sources
		Politicians
		Talk Shows
		Freedom of Information Requests
	Your Network Cross-Platform Material
		The Network
		Wire Services and News Agencies
		Freelancers and Stringers
		Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Stringers
		Syndicated Recordings
	Other News Media
		Monitoring
		Chasing and Checking
		Developing and Knocking
		Citizen Reporters
		Pressure Groups
	Hoaxes
	Planned Events
		The Newsroom Diary (US: ‘Daybook’)
		News Releases
	Staged Events
		The Protest
		The Announcement
		The Set-Piece
		Embargoes
	New News
		Emergency Services Radio
Chapter 6 Choosing and Chasing the Story
	Copytasting
	Newsroom Conference
	Balance of News
	The News Cycle
	Visuals and Actuality
	The Brief
	The Angle
	Cognitive Bias
	Chasing the Contact
	Staged News Conferences
	Tweeting Stories, Tip-Offs and Updates
	Beating the Clock
	Work to Sequence
	Don’t Panic
Chapter 7 Setting Up the Interview
	Setting Up the Interview
		Know the Story
		What Is the Background to the Story?
		Before Approaching a Guest
		Audition Prospective Guests On the Phone
		Ask for an Interview
		‘We’ll Send Over a Statement’
		Discussing the Questions
		Think What a Presenter or Reporter Will Need to Know
	Preparing for the Interview
		Do More Research
		The Questions
		Before You Set Off
	On Arrival
Chapter 8 The Interview
	The Interviewer’s Skill
	During the Interview
	Different Types of Interview
		Hard News
		Informational
		Investigative
		Adversarial
		Interpretative
		Personal
		Emotional
		Entertainment
		Actuality Only
		Vox Pop and Multiple
		Grabbed
	The Questions
		Using Notes
		Ask the Questions That Will Get Answers
		Yes/No Questions
		Avoid Questions That Call for Monologues
		Short, Single Idea Questions
		Progress From Point to Point
		Building Bridges
		Avoid Double Questions
		Keep the Questions Relevant
		Avoid Leading Questions
		Hypothetical Questions
		Mixing Statements With Questions
		Avoid Sounding Ignorant
		Play Devil’s Advocate
	Winding Up the Interview
		Finish Strongly
	Tough Talking
		Professionals’ Tactics
	Being Interviewed Yourself: The Q & A
		Introducing Actuality
Chapter 9 Writing Basics
	Telling the Story
	Writing for a Mass Audience
	No Second Chance
	Confusing Clauses
	Inverted Sentences
	Plain English
	Familiar Words
	Contractions
	Easy Listening
	Accurate English
	Keep It Concrete
	Make It Interesting
	Rhythm
Chapter 10 Writing for News
	The News Angle
	Multi-angled Stories
	Hard News Formula
	The Intro
	Placing Key Words
	Features Openers
	Developing the Story
		The WHAT Formula
	Signposting
	Last Line
	Last Words
	Accuracy
Chapter 11 Broadcast News Style Book
	Clichés
	Journalese
	Hyperbole
	Adjectives
	Quotations
	Attribution
	Contentious Statements
	Immediacy
	Active
	Positive
	Redundancies
	Repetition
	Homonyms
	Singular or Plural?
	Pronouns
	Punctuation
	Spelling
	Abbreviations
	Numbers
	Proof Reading
	Ambiguity
	More Key Tips
Chapter 12 Putting the Show Together
	Item Selection and Order
	‘A Fair Picture …’
	Item Order
		The Significance of the Story
		The Material Impact of the Story
		Audience Reaction (The Human Interest Factor)
		The Topicality of the Story
		The Immediacy Factor (The Yawn Factor)
		Sport/Specialisms
		Linking Items
		Actuality/Pictures
		‘And Finally …’
	Local Considerations
	Foreign Coverage
	Producing a Running Order (Or ‘Rundown’)
	The Openers
	Keeping an Audience – Headlines and Promotions
	Actuality
	Pictures
	Graphics
	Programme Balance – Being All Things to All People
		Groupings and Variety
		Rhythm and Pace
	Making the Programme Fit
	Cutting
	Filling
	Backtiming
	Second Thoughts
Chapter 13 News Anchors and Presenters
	The Talent
	Qualities of a Newscaster
	More Than Just a Newsreader …
	Professionalism
	Voice
	Looks, Age, Gender, Race and Disability
Chapter 14 ‘On Air!’
	Performance
	Presence
	Getting Through to the Audience – Rapport
	Know Your Material
	Ad-libs
	The Gate
	Making a Swift Recovery
	Corpsing
	Relaxation
Chapter 15 Newsreading Mechanics
	Pace
	Pause
	Breathing
	Projection
	Emphasis
	Pitch
	Microphone Technique
	Using the Prompter
	Noise, Noise, Noise
	Bringing the Story to Life
Chapter 16 Story Treatment
	Breaking News (or: Bulletin, Snap or Flash)
	Headline (or: Highlights)
	Teaser (or: Taster, Menu)
	Copy Story
	Voicer (or: Voice Report, Voice Piece)
	Cuts (or: Clip, Insert or Sound-Bite)
	Two-ways (or: Q & A, Head to Head)
	Live Report (or: Action Rants)
	On Location Production
	Package
Chapter 17 Recording
	Principles of Recording
		Sound
		How Recordings Are Made
		Types of Microphones
	Before the Interview
		Setting Up the Room
		Dealing With Distractions
		Lining Up the ‘Victim’
		Mic Handling
		The Level Check
		Automatic Level Control Versus Manual
	Audio Troubleshooting
	And Finally …
Chapter 18 Editing
	‘You Can’t See the Join’
		Editing a 30-Second Bulletin Clip
	Unethical Editing
	Basic Production
		Cut and Paste
	Multi-tracking
		Bells and Whistles
		Setting Levels
	Types of Fade
		Pre-fade
		Cross-fade
		Fading Down and Fading Up
		Pot-cut
		Fading In and Out
Chapter 19 The Studio
	On-air Studio
	Talks Studio
	The Contributions Studio
	Radio Car
	Obscenity Button
Chapter 20 Television Newsroom Production
	The TV News Story
	Advantages and Disadvantages
	Television Newsroom Technology
	Order From Chaos – the Journalist’s Most Basic Need-To-Know
	Live – the 24/7 Newsroom
	Organising Material From User Generated Content (UGC) and Citizen Journalism
	Types of Citizen Journalism in Television News
Chapter 21 Writing Television News
	Headlines
	Out of Vision Live Script (Also Called Underlay or Overlay)
	Presenter Plus Stills or Graphics
	Writing to Sound
		Links and Cues Need to Hold Hands With What the Viewer Sees
		Detail
	The Television News Package
	Using Archive
	What You See – What I Say
Chapter 22 Gathering Television News: Reporting and Video-Journalism
	The Video Journalist (VJ)
		The Video Journalist Checklist
	Pocket News
	A Crew/Cameraman/Camerawoman
	Audio for Television Interviews
	The Journalist as Advance Guard – a Recce
Chapter 23 Getting the Shots
	Hold the Shots
	Grab Action Shots First
	Shoot for Impact
	Shoot in Sequences
	Context
	Sound
	Interviewee Clips
	Cutaways and Bridge Shots
	Crossing the Line
	Continuity
	Buildings
	Piece to Camera (PTC) Also Known as Stand-Upper
	Special Film Equipment
		Basic Lighting
		Tripod and Tall Legs
		Small Cameras/Minicams
		Wheels
		Drones
	Television Microphone Techniques for VJs/Reporters
Chapter 24 Editing the Pictures and Sound
	Sequence of Shots
	Shot Length
	Telescoping the Action
	Desktop Editing
	The Craft Editor
	Recording the Commentary (Script/Track)
	Editing Shots for Interviews
		Two Shot
		Reverse Shot
		Set Up Shots
		Basic Interview Cutaways
	Editing Vox Pops
Chapter 25 Live TV Reporting
	What Works Well?
	What Works Less Well?
	Top Tips
	Public Hazards
	Fit In
Chapter 26 Data, Graphics and Visuals
	Still Pictures and Frame Grabs
	Writing to Still Pictures and Screen Insets
	Overlays/Chromakey/CSO
	Big Screen Video Wall
	Acronyms in Visuals
Chapter 27 The Television News Studio and Presentation
	Standby for Transmission
	Presenting Television News
	‘Fill For 90 Seconds!’
	The Set
	Control Room/Gallery
	Building the Programme
Appendix: Glossary of Terms
Index