Informative Media Writing
Radio, TV, and Internet News
The first time I was issued a press pass to cover a political event as a television news reporter, I remember feeling a surge of self-importance. I was a young woman, still in college, still naive, but allowed access to powerful people who were making important decisions about my community. These people were paying attention to me, were answering my questions, accommodating my needs. This sense of self-importance was quickly followed by a tremendous sense of responsibility. With a press pass around my neck I had become an un-elected representative, the eyes and ears for other individuals who did not have the same entry to events or people that I had as a journalist.
What my audience would know about the incidents, subjects, and people I covered would depend on my ability to understand what was happening and decide what was most relevant or important or interesting for them to hear. I was a television news reporter sitting in the press pool with other journalists. There was a sense of comradeship; whether we were working for a radio station, television station, newspaper or magazine, we all had this sense of responsibility to our audiences.
In 1985, My radio colleagues had their sense of importance deflated when the Federal Communications Commission jettisoned the requirement that stations had to air a certain amount of news and public affairs programming, abolishing guidelines for minimal amounts of non-entertainment programming. Many local radio stations downsized their news departments following deregulation. With no news requirement, station managers found it more profitable to play recorded music than to pay salaries and benefits necessary to staff full-time news departments. This was particularly true for FM stations, which had become the bastions of music format programming in the 1970s. There appeared among FM station managers a philosophy that most of their audiences were “bored by the news,” which cost more money for them to deliver than the music programming their audiences truly wanted to hear. With the blessings of deregulation, station managers began to cut back or discard news departments altogether.
As many of my colleagues in radio lost their jobs in the 1980s and 1990s, I understood the bitter lesson that news departments were only as important as the boss decided they were. The radio news departments that survived deregulation tended to be small and relied more heavily on news services than original reporting. A radio news reporter at the local level was often little more than a staff announcer, who would “rip and read” reports offered by a news service like the Associated Press. Some stations -often those in larger markets- did offer local coverage, in response to the needs of listeners who wanted some traffic, weather, and news in the drive-time to or from work.
The champions of deregulation did not recognize station licensees as "public trustees" of the public airwaves that should be required to provide the service of keeping the public informed and the electorate knowledgeable. Instead, broadcasting has become just another business in the commercial marketplace, a business that does not want its management decisions questioned by government overseers. Opponents believe deregulation violates key parts of The Communications Act of 1934--especially the requirement to operate in the public interest--and allows broadcasters to put business profits on a higher priority than the public good.
While deregulation of the 1980s and downsizing of news departments doomed radio news at many local stations, the 1987 repeal of the Fairness Doctrine allowed talk radio to thrive, especially on the AM station. Many of the journalists who wanted to stay in radio gravitated toward these stations or toward public radio (NPR). Talk radio, which offers news, opinion, and call-in programming, weathered deregulation to become a fortress for radio news, beating out music programming in some markets [1]. No longer required to provide fair coverage of both sides of a controversial issue, broadcasters could allow contentious, attention-getting voices to dominate programming and provoke listeners. Though critics argued that what survived on talk radio was misinformation and the rude opinions of a raucous minority rather than news, nationally syndicated talk programs and locally produced shows offered audiences discourse on current events that was missing on the music format station. As the use of cellular phones increased, so did call-in audience participation with radio talk shows, providing disaffected listeners with a sense of empowerment. The number of stations that described their programming as "talk" more than tripled from 1987 to 1992, with some syndicated talk programming even invading music stations [2]. By the end of 2001, the number of listeners tuning in to all-news radio stations had hit its highest total in ten years, a demonstration that some radio 
audiences wanted more than music. More recently, broadcasters realized that listeners might even be willing to pay for radio programming that can be broadcast from more than 22,000 miles away with complete clarity. Satellite radio, also called digital radio, offers continuous, high quality music beamed to a radio receiver from space. One of the earliest big name programs to move to satellite radio was “shock jock” Howard Stern’s talk show, Stern (pictured left) moved his shock jock programming from commercial radio to Sirius Satellite Radio in 2006. This gave Stern a nationwide reach, no FCC oversight, no commercial interruption, and no danger of FCC fines for indecency.
The “talk” format not only provided a home for talk programming, it provided a home for radio writer-reporters who continued to deliver traditional news. This trend back to radio news was noticed in the late1990s, when media moguls began to pay closer attention to the popularity of news with reports that radio was still the medium where most Americans hear a breaking news story [3]. Audience demand for radio news only caused a slight increase in jobs, however. The cutbacks of the 1980s and 90s are still evident in most local newsrooms and the technologies of the new millennium help to keep the radio newsroom small. Computer and satellite technology lets a skeleton staff deliver news to a large number of sister stations, which may have a one-person news staff or none at all. What may seem to audiences like a local newscast originating with locally based reporters may not be.
Some writers in 1990s became more optimistic about radio journalism, especially for freelancers. In an article for The Writer (1997) Janie J.C. O’Neal argued that writing copy for radio news programs could be lucrative, especially if the freelancer lived in one of those rural areas difficult for the local radio station to cover. Stations not willing to hire full-time reporters might be willing to pay part-time stringers or freelancers on a part-time basis, especially when big stories hit the local area. Because of a demand for news that was unforeseen in the 1980s, some station managers began to rely on freelance reporters who not only can supply the station with news quickly, but can write clean, “ready-for-broadcast” copy. O’Neal claimed that radio is a “seldom-considered market” for writers that offers “freelance writers a steady paycheck” but warns, “you will receive no byline and no credit, and most of the work produced will be read in thirty seconds or less. Though many small market, rural stations can’t afford large news departments, these stations often broadcast news several times a day.
The Radio News Story
On commercial radio there is no time to waste. The standard story length is five or six sentences with ten or 20 seconds for soundbites or “sound bites”; making the average about 45 seconds for a full story. The copy must be terse; words chosen must be precise. In addition, radio journalists are always on deadline. Unlike print, the copy doesn’t “go to bed,” but can “make air” anytime the news director or station manager believes it is necessary, interrupting the regular broadcast or waiting for the usual newscast at the top of the hour. The person who is the writer of these news stories often “produces and performs” them as well. The broadcast journalist at the small market station is frequently her own announcer and producer; she investigates, interviews, writes, records, and assembles material into compact stories. Since news breaks happen on radio several times throughout the day, a radio reporter covering an event doesn’t stop with one story, but writes two or three versions, updating for consecutive newscasts.
For years broadcast journalists have heard complaints that we are a headline service, that we provide scanty coverage, that we lack depth. Writing for The Quill, print and broadcast journalist Bernard Adelsberger says, “the strength or weakness of one medium over another should not be measured by how much space [or time] they have to fill, but by how they fill it.” [4]. The realities of writing for radio are rugged. My own experiences and the anecdotes of my radio news colleagues agree. 
The radio news reporter may do as many as four stories, updating each throughout the day. The radio reporter “may drive from a press conference to police station to county board meeting, picking up sound, jotting notes, rushing back to the office to file for an upcoming broadcast, the returning to the road for more of the same. Between events for that day’s broadcasts, he picks up bits, snips for longer feature pieces. Rarely will a radio reporter get weeks or months to do an enterprise piece.” [5] And while stories are much shorter on the radio, getting them takes the same effort, ingenuity, and word skill-- regardless of medium. Although television is perceived as the medium of immediacy, it is through radio (on in the car, at the office, in the home) that most people first hear the important news of the day. If it’s serious, audiences may turn to television for pictures or the newspaper or Internet for details, but radio is often first. The job of researching, writing and reporting news for radio remains a meaningful one even if the stations managers of the 1990s could not foresee or grasp the significance of this job. The portability of radio makes it an ideal medium for news delivery, particularly important to people for breaking stories. For example, research on media audiences learning about the September 11th attacks found that attending to radio and television news was a prime pursuit for American audiences during the period of crisis. “Radio coverage was especially important during this first hour [of the 9/11 crisis], with more than a fourth of our respondents indicating that radio was their initial source of information. It is likely that drive-time listening can be credited here; many respondents in our sample commute by car and were likely listening to morning radio.” [6]
News Values: What Stories Get Selected
Someone must determine which events or concerns are important, which events merit the usual 30 to 45 seconds of coverage time allotted to a typical radio news story. To choose among all the events happening in a day, this person applies “news values,” examining the relative worth of the events and their story possibilities. These values become internalized as reporters become more familiar with the practice of evaluating events for news-worthiness.
In deciding whether a story belongs in the newscast, a reporter may ask herself several questions. Do I know enough about this event to report it accurately? Is this event a safety issue that can directly impact my audience? Are important, famous, or consequential personalities involved? Will the event effect a lot of people in my audience in a direct or indirect way? Is the event unusual? Does the event involve a clash of ideas or a physical conflict? Is the event close to home? Do elements surrounding the event just arouse our human curiosity? Answering “yes” to one or more of these questions means this event deserves consideration in the newscast.
News stories come from various sources. Many stations subscribe to a news service such as the Associated Press (AP). Some of the stations I worked for subscribed to the AP, which delivered stories via Teletype. Reporters could “rip and read” stories directly from the teletype or rewrite to fit their own delivery style. Contemporary news services deliver stories via computer and reporters print out the ones they want to use. Because stations in local markets carefully monitor each other, one station may become the story source for another. The same is true for the newspapers. If the local newspaper runs a story about a particular issue, the broadcast stations may decide to make that issue the topic of stories in their own newscasts. Tips for news stories may also come from local residents, who may call about something that disturbs or interests them. Letters to the editor in the newspaper may suggest story ideas. Local businesses or branches of government may call press conferences or send out news releases that lead reporters to cover an event or issue.
Structures for News Stories
Radio news stories begin with a lead that signals to audiences what the following story is about. Unlike newspaper stories that often follow an “inverted pyramid” story structure, with important information packed at the head of the story, radio stories are more conversational, limiting details to those elements that have relevance for an audience. Unlike an inverted pyramid, radio news stories cannot be cut from the bottom without the piece seeming interrupted or incomplete.
Broadcast news stories are often structured with the climax of the event first (the lead), followed by its cause, followed by the influence of the event on a community’s health, emotions, economy, etc. Consider the climax of the story the lead portion, revealing what and where. The cause explains why the event happened and the circumstances surrounding it. The effect portion of the story puts the story in context, possibly providing some insight to what the story means. Other structural forms include a chronological pattern, with reporting following the elements or events as they occurred through time. Chronological patterns also include reverse chronology, though this structure is not as common. As in conversation, some things in a radio story may be repeated to be sure they are understood. Audiences tune in and out to radio news stories, either with their attention or the actual dial, so some repetition may be useful, though annoying redundancy should be avoided.
The actual scripts for radio news are often less complicated than writing ad copy for radio, because production requirements are few. Commercial radio news is written quickly with emphasis on timeliness as opposed to production elements like music or sound effects. Radio news reports rarely include elements other than the announcer’s voice, soundbites (sometimes writer as two words “sound bite”) are recorded statements from authorities, bystanders, or participants of a news event. The “bite” is a short phrase or sentence that adroitly captures the essence of and entire speech or a major point. These soundbites also sometimes referred to as actualities, however “actualities” can also any sound or image recorded on the scene. For example, a reporter might include the sounds and images of protesters shouting in a story about an angry political demonstration. This audio/video clip might also be referred to as an “actuality.”
Radio reporters will often develop their pieces as a “wrap,” or “wraparound,” in which the story opens with the reporter’s comments, followed by a soundbite or actuality, and ending with the reporter’s closing statements. The news report is “wrapped” around the actuality. A “voicer” is a story from a field reporter covering a breaking news story. A reporter delivers the “voicer” over the phone, where it can be inserted into the newscast. Wraps and voicers are also common structures for television news reports.
Some of the most highly produced radio news comes from National Public Radio (NPR) http://www.npr.org/ where field reports will include natural sound to give listeners a sense of place. NPR stories have even used music or sound effects to create audio “graphics” and “charts.” Unlike much of commercial radio, NPR’s trademark is long-form storytelling on programs like “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered.” The network’s survey of listeners suggests NPR fills a void for audiences who want more from radio news than top-of-the-hour headlines [7]. NPR shows that radio news doesn’t have to be limited to what is conventional for commercial stations, but can be long pieces with multiple soundbites, ambient sound, audio charts, and in-depth coverage of a subject.
The News Lead
The news lead is that first sentence that initiates the "dialogue" between a newscaster and her audience. The traditional newspaper lead will attempt to answer the five “Ws”: Who, What, Why, Where, When. Sometimes newspaper leads will even answer “How.” Because radio leads are the beginning of a one-way conversation, they are much shorter and pack in less information. "What" and "Where" are the two questions most often answered in the broadcast news lead. Example: The City of Greensboro will soon put the finishing touches on its new central library. Telling "what" in a lead will often focus on the effect of the event you are reporting. For example, "It will cost more to fill your gas tank next month" answers the "what" question and is more engaging than "The cost of gasoline is going up next month."
- "When," "how" "why" and "how much" are questions usually reserved for the body of the news story in broadcast copy.
- Answering “Who” in a broadcast lead may be useful when the “who” in question is well-known.
- Avoid question leads.
- Reserve non-specific leads for features or sports stories.
- Maintain the active voice in the lead, and in the story generally.
Radio News Stylistic Considerations
Radio news copy should be as clean and clear as possible. If an announcer is confused, you can be sure her audience will be as well. Some older news rooms use all upper case for announcer copy, though this practice seseems to be changing. Many announcers find upper and lower case copy appears more natural, more typical of material they usually read and feel comfortable with than material written in all caps as though every word of the newscast must be emphasized. You should never use all caps to indicate emphasis. Broadcast copy usually reserves all caps style for production or control booth cues. Find out the preferences in your newsroom -whether all cap or standard upper and lower case- and stick to that style.
Radio copy is generally printed on one side of standard size paper. Stories are not stapled together. Using one side and not stapling stories together keeps down paper rattle in the announcer booth. One line of radio copy should be about 65 (sixty five) characters long. This should take about four seconds for most announcers to read. Double-space all copy. (Some stations triple space copy.) Use type size that is comfortable, 12 point or higher without jeopardizing the character length per line. Put only one story on a page. This allows an announcer to edit and rearrange the newscast right up to airtime.
All radio copy should be branded with a slug in the top left hand corner. A slug is identifying material: a two or three word story title or identification, the writer’s name, date, time and length. Begin the story several spaces below the slug, indented paragraph style. Never hyphen words at the end or a line or split sentences between pages. Multiple page copy should have the word “MORE” in parenthesis at the bottom of the page. Subsequent pages should have identifying material in the upper left and a page number in the upper right. Radio news stories will usually have an end mark such as ### or -30- below the last line of copy.
Names and titles: give full title of an individual on the first mention. Titles or attribution should precede the name.
Symbols and Abbreviations: same as for commercial copy --write out all symbols. Write "2 plus 4," rather than "2 + 4." Write "number 5" not "#5." Write "10 percent" not "10%."
Numbers: Simplify numbers. Make them easy to say and easy to hear. Spell out numbers one through twelve. Translate other amounts into digits and words. Round complex numbers so they are easy to deliver and to hear and understand. Dates prior to the twenty-first century or in the distant future should be hyphenated as in: 19-21 or 20-50. Contemporary dates are best understood in their usual form –2008, 2009, 2010.
Telephone numbers are not ordinarily a part of news copy (How does this compare to commercial ad copy?). If you need to give a telephone number (what situations?) then give the number three times. Example: That number is 5-5-5- 1-2-3-4. (The second reference might group numbers of change delivery slightly.) Again, that number is 5-55-12-34.
Use addresses and phone numbers only if they are essential to the story. There are several accepted styles for dealing with numbers. Use digits for numbers up to 99. (Some newsrooms go up to 999.) Some newsrooms write out numbers up to twelve. Write out fractions. Write "one-third" rather than "1/3." Write out "June 6th" not "June 6." Avoid using the word "a" where you mean "one" -- write "one hundred" not "a hundred." Where possible, round or give estimates rather than specific numbers.
Timing the Radio News Story
The average speed at which an announcer reads a news story is about 150 words per minute, a bit faster than the same announcer might read a straight “wall-to-wall” commercial spot. Estimate about 15 lines of copy for one minute in radio news or about 4 seconds per line of copy that is about 65 characters per line. Because this method of timing is so widely used, many stations will pencil the number of copy lines in the upper right hand side of the page and draw a circle around it.