SPECIAL PROGRAM – JOURNALISM 9

3rd Quarter Reviewer

By Erik Lenon

RADIO JARGONS
 Script – written version of radio news story
 Anchor – person hosting a newscast.
 Reporter – person delivering news on-air.
 Slug – title of a news story.
 Actuality – recorded voice of someone in the news, or sound from news
event. (sound bite, bite, cut)
 Natural Sound – recorded to capture the flavor of a news scene
 Voicer – news reporter who reports news without actualities
 Reader – an anchor who delivers news story without actualities.
 Lead-In – introduces some elements in the news story, the sound bite, for
an instance
 Lead-Out – sentence that immediately follows the sound bite
 In-Cue – first words of a cut
 Out-Cue – last words of a cut
 Live – not prerecorded
 Wrap – story that begins
 Intro – lead to reporter’s wrap; read by the anchor.
 Tag – standard out-cue/lockout/sign-off/sign-out
 Talent – those who are paid to appear on-air (as opposed to staffs)
 Teaser – brief headline or promo for a coming story
 Bumper – separates news from commercial breaks.
 Billboard – product sponsors of the news

6Cs
 Clear
 Concise
 Current
 Complete
 Conversational
 Correct

WRITING HEADLINES
 Do not make it long.
 Use present tense and active voice.
 Use infinitive form of verb for future actions.
 Do not start with articles.
 Headline must be a complete sentence or imply a complete sentence.
 We don’t replace “and” with comma in radio headlines, unlike in print.
 Make sure that the grammar is correct.

BROADCAST WRITING GUIDELINES

 Follow the 6Cs
 Spoken lines should be written in upper and lowercase letters.
 Make each sentence a paragraph.
 Break down long sentences.
 Do not string ideas with “and”.
 Avoid “this”, ”that”, ”former”, and ”latter”.
 Avoid sibilants.
 Use present tense and active voice.
 Do not use quotes.
 Put attribution first.
 Avoid unfamiliar words. If can’t be avoided, just provide a phonetic
spelling for it.
 Round-off large numbers.
 Write-out symbols and fractions as a reference.
 Avoid unfamiliar abbreviations.
NEWS
 something new
 need/want to know
 must be curious to make one
 possible sources:
o other journalists, newspapers, news websites, audience, SNS, press
releases, expert opinions, witnesses, contacts

GATHERING NEWS
 collect all ingredients for a report
 gather facts (5Ws 1H)
o facts are building blocks of news
o gather your own facts and statistics and check very carefully
o interview people to gather opinions
 Fact is beyond dispute; opinion is someone’s view.
 Interview affected people or who knows a lot about that
certain topic.
 Get as much background information as well before you set off
for an interview so you can ask the right question
 Try to balance the different opinions in your report, it’s
important to be impartial.

INTERVIEW
 Check any previous news stories about them and their social media.
 If you don’t know the facts, it can be embarrassing and they might think
you don’t care about them or what they have to say.
 Try to make it conversational rather than firing questions.
 Ask open questions because close questions can only give a yes or no.
 Ask how they feel about something so you can get a fuller response.
 Think about how you work your questions.
 Listen to what the person you’re interviewing has to say.
 You might hear something you didn’t know about. You can pick up on that
and ask about it.
 Doing your research makes your job of interviewing easier.
 Be polite, introduce yourself, remind them why, and thank them when it’s
finished.
 Relax.
 It’s fine to ask them to repeat it so you can get it right.

WRITING NEWS
 main point of the story first
 add content (interviews, etc.)
 final paragraph
 3Cs
o clear - understandable
o concise – not too long or not too short; just enough
o correct – get the facts right

BROADCASTING NEWS
 it can be live or prerecorded
 in putting a live broadcast, put news in order
 have a final check on everything (technical, grammar, queue of news)
before having a live broadcast

MEDIA LAW
 Child Protection
o only use children’s first names
o it minimizes the risk of stranger identifying and locating a child
o obtain parental consent for all children
 Taste and Decency
o do not report anything which makes you uncomfortable
 Defamation
o report facts, not rumors (unless you can prove it true)
o treat “celeb gossips” with care
 o report controversial issues with balance
o express you opinion in reviews, not on news
 Criminal Law
o avoid crime stories
o laws around reporting crimes is complicated:
 avoid prejudicing member of a jury
 protect children’s identities appearing in court
 protect identities of victims of sexual offenses
 Copyright
o only use your own photos, music, etc.
 Privacy
o ask yourself: If that were me would I want it recorded?
o law says that everyone has the right to have privacy
o do not film in someone’s home, record phone conversations, and
publish emails without permission