Learning how to write a news story for broadcast

Broadcast News Writing

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National News Stations

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Some things to keep in mind to write creatively for the news:

Write like you would talk

Tell a good story - the news is more than information it also has to be interesting

Capture the attention of the audience through mental images and interesting stories and statistics

Tongue twisters cause the newscaster to stumble, hiss or pop, and this can be distracting to the listener

Don´t use:

Consecutive words that start with "S" sounds make a hissing noise

Consecutive words that start with "P" or "B" sounds make exploding noises in the mic

Remember that in broadcast, words should be written the way they are to be said to make it easier for the announcer to read:

Symbols, Numbers, and abbreviations need to be written out:

Gov. should be Governor

Ave. should be Avenue

1 should be written one

UF should be written U-F

With Web sites, put in the dashes so the announcer can read it correctly. So it is w-w-w-dot-facebook-dot-com

There are many more that you will learn but think about how it looks and if it looks like how you would say it

Some more quick writing tips

Words underlined signal to the announcer to read with emphasis

Ellipses show a pause

Commas are good for newspapers, but you aren´t writing for a newspaper so leave them out

Contact me by Email at: aselepak@ufl.edu