SAM HIGGINBOTTOM UNIVERSITY OF

AGRICULTURE TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCES

PRAYAGRAJ-211007

Topic: Techniques of writing for TV and

Radio
Presented by:
Anurag Shankar Singh
Introduction
Practical application of audio and visual
technologies.
Production and transmission of education,
entertainment and news related programming.
Flow of information between the journalist and the
reader, listener or viewer.
The reporter through the newsreader actually
speaks to the audience.
Writing for the “Eye and Ear”
Different from writing for print media.
Prioritize and summarize the information carefully.
Keep writing simple and clear.
When a listener hears the story, it has to read well to
‘the ear’.
Use verbal descriptions for radio.
Attributes for News Stories
Writing style should be conversational.
Each sentence should be brief and contain only one
idea; concisely and logically.
Be simple and direct
Read the story out loud.
Contents of News
What? What happened? What is the event?
When? When it occurred, at what time it took place?
Where? The place where the incident occurred.
Who? The persons involved at that occasion.
Why? The reason of that particular issue.
How? The sequence of the event.
Story Structure
Dynamic Structure- most common structure for
broadcast news; it has three parts:
Climax- gives the listener the point of the story.
Cause- tells why the story happened.
Effect- gives the listener the context of the story and
possibly some insight about what the story means.
The Inverted Pyramid in
Journalism
 Structure of writing
Be brief- You have to condense a lot of information into the most
important points for broadcast writing.
Use correct grammar- A broadcast news script should be
grammatically correct.
Put the important information first- include the important
information first and condense the information presented.
Write good leads- Broadcast stories have to fit into 30, 60, or 90
seconds.
Stick to short sentences of 20 words or less-  Long sentences
make it difficult for the person voicing the script to take a breath.
Write the way people talk- Sentences should make sense.
Use contractions- Use don’t instead of do not. But be
careful of contractions ending in -ve (e.g., would’ve,
could’ve), because they sound like “would of” and “could
of.”
Use simple subject-verb-object sentence structures
Use the active voice and active verbs- It is better to say
“He hit the ball” than “The ball was hit by him.”
Use present-tense verbs, except when past-tense verbs
are necessary- Present tense expresses the sense of
immediacy.
For radio news stories, write with visual imagery- Make
your listeners “see” what you are saying. Help them
visualize the situation you are describing.
Characteristics of Writing
There are four Cs to broadcast journalism:
Correctness- or accuracy.
Clarity- clear, precise language that contains no
ambiguity; viewers cannot re-hear broadcast news-
they must understand it the first time.
Conversational- broadcast news must sound more
conversational.
Colour- writing that allows the listener/viewer to paint
a picture of the story or event being reported.
Techniques of Writing
 Where necessary split a long and involved sentence
into two or more clearer sentences.

RIGHT:  WRONG:
Japanese boats have returned Japanese fishing boats,
to fish in Fijian waters. which were banned from
               Fijian waters during an
international row over net
They were banned last year sizes last year, returned to
because of an international fish in the waters off Vanua
row over net sizes.        Levu on Monday.

Now they are back in the

waters off Vanu
• Use present-tense verbs, except when past
tense verbs are necessary
RIGHT:  WRONG:              
The Prime Minister says he The Prime Minister said he
expects an increase in expected an increase in
imports this year.   imports this year.

RIGHT: WRONG:              
Leaders of the main Leaders of the main
opposition parties in Fiji have opposition parties in
been meeting.     Fiji met over the
weekend
Do not use quotes

RIGHT: WRONG:
The chairman said it was a The chairman said: "It is a
crying shame. crying shame." 
WRONG:
The chairman said, quote: It
is a crying shame - unquote.

• Put attribution first

RIGHT:  WRONG:
A senior government People are paid too much in
economist says that people in Papua New Guinea, a senior
Papua New Guinea are paid too government economist said
much. last night.  
Avoid unfamiliar words

RIGHT: WRONG:
In Mexico, a volcano has Popocatepetl, a volcano in Mexico,
erupted again.            erupted again yesterday, showering
lava and ash on the ground over a
It showered lava and ash for 50 radius of 50 km.
kilometres around.  

 People's names can cause problems too, unless they are familiar.

RIGHT: WRONG:
A school inspector in the East Mr Arianthis Koloaloa, a
Sepik says teachers don't listen school inspector in the East
enough to their students. Sepik, has criticised teachers
The inspector, Mr Arianthis for not listening to their
Koloaloa, says ...  students.
Repeat important words

In the following example, the words Korean, Madang, Lae and road are

repeated:

A Korean company is to build a new road between Madang and Lae.

They estimate it will cost more than one-hundred-million kina.
Work on the new Madang to Lae road should begin in August.
The Prime Minister, Mr Rabbie Namaliu, says the Koreans were awarded
the road contract because of their years of experience.

• Keep punctuation simple

In general, the only punctuation marks you need are the full stop, comma,
question mark and dash. Some writers like to use a series of dots to denote a
pause, as in the following example:

The Prime Minister... speaking at a business lunch... said the economy is

looking brighter.
Simplify numbers

RIGHT: WRONG:
two-million, nine-hundred- 2,980,002
and-eighty thousand, and two.

RIGHT: WRONG:
The 1st of March, 2007.        March 1, 2007.

Avoid abbreviations

RIGHT: WRONG:
The rocket was launched at The rocket was launched at 3
three this morning.    a.m. today.
Avoid symbols
For example, the dollar sign ($) should never be used in broadcast writing.
Always spell out the word “dollar.” 

Use a person’s complete name in the first

reference, then the person’s last name thereafter.

• Use phonetic spellings for unfamiliar words and

words that are difficult to pronounce.
Nunavut [nū'nə-vūt'], the part in blue which tells how to pronounce
the word.
Television and Radio News Story Format
Broadcast news stories are typed, double-spaced, and in
uppercase/lowercase.
Make the sentence at the bottom of a page a complete
sentence. Do not split a sentence between pages.
Never split words or hyphenated phrases from one line to
the next.
Do not use copyediting symbols. Cross out the entire
word and write the corrected word above it. This is one
reason why broadcast news scripts are double-spaced.
Narrating Television and Radio News Stories
Position the microphone properly: Position the
microphone 6 to 10 inches from your mouth and at a 45-
degree angle to the direct line of speech.
Remove noise-making distractions. Remove all paper
clips, pens, and other items that you would be tempted to
play with as you read the story. 
Narrate the news story. After you hit the “record” button
on the video camera or audio recorder, wait approximately
10 seconds before speaking. 
Articulate words correctly. Speak clearly. Do not run your
words together.
Think the thought. Think about what you are going to
say.
Talk at a natural speed. But change the rate
occasionally to avoid sounding monotonous. 
Breathe properly. Control your breathing to take
breaths between units of thought. 
Use your body. A relaxed body helps produce a
relaxed-sounding voice.
Listen to the final product. Listen to how it sounds.
Listen to what you said as if you were an audience
member.
Picture showing the students of journalism receiving
training on how to write radio scripts
Conclusion
The techniques listed above do not change the
language, but do slightly alter how we use it. The
techniques are to make the copy easier to read and,
therefore, easier to listen to. The key in broadcast
writing is to not make viewers or listeners work to get
their information. As a writer, you should do all the
work so the audience members do not have to do any.