The 12 Commandments of Radio News Broadcasting
- Write short, clear
sentences, using short, easy words.
- Write in the present
tense. If you MUST use a time phrase, don’t put it at the end of the
sentence.
- Leave out superfluous
words. Especially beware of clichés, un-named sources and unnecessary
attributions.
- Pursue actuality.
Follow up a news release, a newspaper article or breaking story and ask questions
that take the subject further. Seek an opposing viewpoint.
- Rewrite copy as often
as possible. The aim should be to have everything fresh for every bulletin.
In any case, no copy should be used unchanged more than three times.
- Don’t write anything
you don’t understand or could be defamatory. If in doubt, ASK. You will
never be told off for ringing the news director or news editor at home.
- Be wary of news
releases. 90 percent are crap. In the other ten percent, the best angle is
usually in the last paragraph.
- No actuality should be
longer than 30 seconds. No voice report should be longer than 45 seconds.
The ideal story has a one paragraph intro and a 40 second wrap containing two cuts
of actuality, both under ten seconds.
- Actuality must be clearly
understood, even coming out of a $2.99 transistor radio.
- Do not report
suicides of bomb hoaxes, unless they have clear news value.
- If any piece of
equipment fails to work properly, report it to a technician or leave a
message for them right away. If you postpone it for five minutes you’ll forget.
- It’s good to be
first, but it’s better to be right.
