RADIO NEWS

BULLETIN
Presentation By- Riya Singh
 AGENDA
1 2 3 4 5
Introduction Principles of Essential Structure of Importance
Bulletin Factors News Bulletin of Timing
Preparation

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 Introduction
A bulletin is a brief radio news broadcast, giving
the bare facts of news stories before more depth
is added in a full programme. A bulletin (also
called a summary) is usually broadcast on the
hour or half hour. The news bulletin is the
showcase of the radio journalist. It is the
chance to give the listener a good idea of what is
happening in just a few minutes.

3
 • Keep it short and simple.
• Try to avoid quotes on radio scripts.

• Avoid unfamiliar words.

Principles to • Repeat important words.

keep in
• Keep punctuation simple.
mind while • Simplify numbers.

preparing a
• Avoid abbreviations .
bulletin • Avoid “He/She” ambiguity.

• Downplay unconfirmed facts or information.

• Avoid sound clashes.
Essential Factors
The main factors you have to consider while preparing a news bulletin are:

You must also get the right pace of stories through your
bulletin. By pace we mean the length and tone of a story as it
appears to the listeners. The report of a fire, for example, will
usually be written in short sentences, using short snappy
words to convey simple ideas. It will have a fast pace. By
PACE: comparison, a story explaining some involved political
controversy may need slightly longer sentences with words
expressing more complicated ideas. The story itself may need
to be slightly longer. The whole effect is one of a slower pace.

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Along with Pace another important factor to consider:

Try to avoid seeing the bulletin simply as a collection

of individual, self-contained stories. If you put a
string of economic stories (however important) at the
start of the bulletin, you risk losing your listeners'
interest. Serious national broadcasters tend to use
BALANCE: more serious stories, delivered in a more deliberate
style whereas youth-oriented music station bulletins
might be lighter and brighter with more stories about
popular culture. They expect a balance of items,
some heavy and some light.

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 STRUCTURE OF THE
NEWS BULLETIN

STARTING THE HEADLINES BODY OF THE

BULLETIN
The start is the most
important part of any radio
bulletin. It helps to determine
whether or not your listeners
will stay tuned. Just as the
intro is the most important
part of a news story, the lead
item is the most important
one in the bulletin. If your
listeners find this boring, they
will assume that there is
nothing better to come and go
out to dig the garden.
BULLETIN
Once you have decided on the This part of the bulletin
order of stories, you should consists of the different news
write some headlines for the items. It contains the stories
bulletin. It is usual to start a covered in more detail and
long bulletin by headlining the depth.
major stories. Your listeners
will use the headlines to judge
whether or not the bulletin is
worth listening to, so write
your headlines to promote the
stories in the most powerful
way possible.

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 STRUCTURE OF THE
NEWS BULLETIN
:After the body of the bulletin the sequence goes on as given below:

MID BREAK: CLOSING CLOSING

STORIES: HEADLINES:
The break occurs midway, Sometimes called tail- With longer bulletins, you can
roughly after the first half or enders, closing stories are use closing headlines to
bunch of the bulletin, or the almost as important as lead remind your listeners of
first five minutes of a ten stories. They are the last stories they may or may not
minute bulletin. This enables stories your listeners will hear have heard 10 minutes earlier.
the newsreader to identify the and remember from the Again they should be the
broadcasting station which is bulletin. You need to choose major stories of the bulletin,
a requirement since several them carefully. However, excluding the tail-ender, which
stations are on the air on because many listeners do not they should have just heard
frequencies close to one maintain their attention anyway.
another. “This is All India throughout the whole bulletin,
Radio giving you the news” is you should not keep your best
the usual form. stories to the end.

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 TIMING OF THE BULLETIN
There is never enough time on radio for all the stories a journalist
would like to include, so the timing of your bulletin is very important.
By careful timing you will be able to include all your important stories,
giving adequate details of each.

The exact time of each item depends upon:

• How long the whole bulletin is?
• How many items you need to include?
• How many grabs of actuality you want to use?

Some important stories can be told briefly and some less important
stories need lots of explanation, you cannot set a fixed time for each
story.

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THANK YOU