Documentaries are in-depth stories told in a more interesting way. They can range in length from 10 minutes to an hour for one episode although sometimes they can stretch to a series or podcast. A great documentary engages listeners and puts them at the heart of the storytelling.

So, what elements make for a superior documentary?

First of all, the story you tell must be compelling enough to sustain telling at length. That means there must be a number of connected strands in it which must be examined and then tied up at the end.

There must be a significant increase in understanding on the part of listeners. The documentary will have shed light on an issue and offered a signpost to the way ahead.

A great documentary is based on sound research in order to construct the central thesis or argument. Good research involves exploring not just who might speak but also what they might say. It will explore all the aspects of a story even though some might lead to dead ends or blind alleys.

Every line of script in the documentary will need to be based on evidence. Every assertion made in the script must be based in reality and accuracy. Even when interviewees are making a point of view, their opinion must be backed by facts you can independently verify.

If your documentary is based on a theory which requires an answer from a relevant organisation or authority make sure that interview is the last in the sequence. That way you can make sure every relevant question can be put.

When you are recording natural sound or a reporter piece into the microphone make sure you record from the heart of the action, so listeners feel they are embedded in the item. So if you are recording a market scene, stand right next to the customer and the trader, not 15 metres away.

Unlike a radio feature, the documentary medium allows listeners to breathe and take in the atmosphere. You should aim for a roughly one third split between script, interviews, and sound effects (including music and natural sound).

Separate out your recordings into one folder for interviews, one for natural sound effects, and one for music. Listen through to all the interviews and select strong clips of your interviewees. Factual information can go into your script. The interview clip is where you can let your subjects speak powerfully and with emotion.

Arrange the clips in the order you would like them to appear in the programme. When you’ve identified the clips, start writing the script.

Use natural sound and music to create the mood and atmosphere.

The programme should flow along at a reasonable pace, but remember to give time for the listener to breathe in the atmosphere.

When you’ve assembled the script, clips, music and natural sound in the order you would like, try reading out the script in relation to everything else.

When you’re happy it works well together, record your voice pieces.

Enjoy making documentaries!

The post Making documentaries for radio first appeared on Media Helping Media.

TV and radio steal something from you as you try to present news, features, and documentaries.

Part of who you are is diminished and there’s a serious risk of coming across flat, possibly a bit lifeless, and certainly without your usual, real-life character.

This is because you are being transmitted, on-screen in the case of television or online video, and through a speaker or headphones when listened to on radio or in an audio/podcast.

The way I describe it when training people how to broadcast, is to say that if, on a scale of 1 to 10, your personality is 7 (fairly engaging, expressive, and communicative), transmitted media will take you down to a 5, possibly even 4. You become a “flatter” version of yourself.

Let’s look at some practical tips to help overcome this when on-screen or on a microphone.

Television and video

Body language

The most obvious problem with being on-screen is that your three-dimensional personality is now being transmitted in two dimensions. This is especially notable when presenting in a studio behind a desk, where you have limited options when it comes to movement.

Framing for video makes it unnatural for a person to be moving notably side-to-side or up and down – it would be very odd for a presenter to be bouncing up and down to any degree!

With those two dimensions restricted, you have to try to steal back some of the third dimension, the forward-backward axis. Again, it’s not natural for a presenter to lurch back and forth, however, subtly leaning forward or leaning back, and straightening up, can give the sense to the viewer that you are engaging them in a more personal manner.

In my case, when reading news bulletins or hosting talk shows, I combine subtle leaning forward and straightening up again with head tilting and positioning.

There is nothing wrong with looking down at the papers on the desk, even if you’re not specifically reading from them. In fact, it’s natural to look down and take a quick glance at notes.

This prevents the problem many presenters have of being transfixed to the autocue/teleprompter, staring like a deer in headlights, worried that looking away will cause the words on the prompter to disappear.

Try leaning forward a little while looking down at notes, then from the leaning forward position, just tilt your head up to look back into the camera for a couple of moments as you continue reading the bulletin. You can then gently straighten up your body as you continue to read.

These subtle moves in the third dimension – that forward-backward axis – will make it feel to the viewer that you are coming a little closer to them from time-to-time.

To take it to the next level, feel free to put subtle expression into your face. Use a slight raising of the eyebrows to emphasise something (this works especially well when leaning forward a little).

A face should never be rigid with no expression so feel free to add some facial movement.

The key is not to look like you are locked in a box, even though technically you are because you are limited to the two-dimensional parameters of a flat screen.

Also, don’t be afraid to move your notes across the desk. This helps to keep your scripts in line with what is on the teleprompter, and that is useful if, for some reason, the prompter fails.

Do, however, pay attention to moving the notes quietly and gently so the audio of papers being shuffled is not picked up on your microphone.

A trick I learned many years ago while working in radio was to “crumple” my script papers. This involved me grabbing each sheet of paper and squeezing it on the side of the hand with which I move the scripts in order to crunch it up a bit. This prevents the papers from feeling like they are stuck together. It’s a useful little trick.

I had watched a veteran radio news reader doing this before he went live, on-air and, later, when I asked why he had done this he said that it helps him gently lift the sheets of paper to put them to one side rather than struggling to get a grip on the edge of very flat papers lying on top of each other.

Initially I received funny comments from the studio director and others in the newsroom, however they did appreciate it when I was able to move papers silently.

Appearance

Some of this might sound obvious but it is surprising how many people are not aware of the need to pay attention to one’s appearance when on screen.

For example, bright or oversized jewellery can be distracting. This can include earrings, bracelets, broaches, etc., or even rings and watches in the case of men. These should be avoided so viewers don’t spend their time and attention on those rather than on you and what you’re saying.

In the case of outfits, loud, over-colourful or excessively flamboyant clothing can be distracting. Also patterns and designs, especially in the case of men’s suits, jackets or even shirts lines, strips, chequered designs or squares – and particularly herringbone – can play havoc with the camera, causing what is often called “moire” (pronounced “mwhar” or sometimes “mwah-ray”).

When using chroma key for creating a studio background there are further considerations.

Chroma key is often called “green screen” because that is the most commonly used colour as a backdrop, although, in theory, many colours work and weather presenters often perform in front of a blue screen.

When using chroma key it is, of course, important not to wear anything that matches the colour of the chroma key background (green, blue, etc.), otherwise it will cause a major problem to the integrity of your image.

Chroma key offers remarkable options but needs to be done properly to avoid the final result looking fake or inconsistent.

Make-up

This should look natural and not exaggerated whether for men or for women. Just something to note, it is always good to learn some basic make-up application yourself because it could be useful if needed at short notice, for example, while reporting on location, etc.. Even some basic, “studio fix” powder can work well to reduce the shiny areas most of us have under video/studio lighting. Learn your skin colour and find a powder to match. If you use the wrong colour it can look exaggerated and unappealing. Be proud of who you are and be the best you!

Voice

This applies to working in radio or recording a podcast as well as with on-screen work. Much of the “stolen character” is the result of how your voice comes across when broadcasting.

For many people, as soon as a microphone or camera is involved, there is a tendency to become “flatter” in terms of expressiveness. Sometimes this is because of the effort of focussing on the content, and sometimes it’s simply because of nervousness. It can even just be the result of being naturally soft or low-key when speaking normally.

The outcome is that your voice will have relatively less volume and expressiveness in terms of inflection, emphasis, and variation in tone.

During training sessions, I usually start by telling people to raise the volume of their voice, as if they are talking to someone who is farther away. The reaction I usually get is that they are worried they will sound like they are shouting. However, when I record the before and after, they are usually surprised at how they come across with more presence.

The next step is then to get them to start emphasising certain words. This can be done not only by putting more stress on the word, as we all tend to do when emphasising something, but also to add a very short pause before the word, or adding an inflection.

It might feel strange to you at first, almost like you are faking the way you are speaking, but with practice, it can come across not only as natural but with more character and authority.

I compare this to actors having to project when on stage in the theatre and those being recorded with microphones when filming movies. Theatre work requires more projection – a “larger” version of one’s self in order to connect with the audience.

One thing to try to be aware of is how audible your breaths are as you speak. There are many broadcasters who suck in air between sentences in a very noticeable way and, unfortunately, once you notice it, it becomes harder not to be a bit distracted by it.

Try not to be in a rush. I have always had the bad habit of speaking very quickly. This is not a good thing, especially when broadcasting internationally to an audience where many people would have English as a second language. It has taken me time and conscious effort to slow myself down – and even then, I could do more.

Take your time and focus on delivering the content in a measured way at a good pace. The BBC used to have a rough guide of three words per second, but I think things have sped up a bit since then. Still, it’s in your interest to make sure that people get to hear everything you have to say, so, as well as the tone, emphasis, inflection (and, hopefully well-written content), you need to control the pace of delivery.

Don’t be afraid to pause. A second is only a second, even though it might feel like a lifetime when live on air. Good pacing will also reduce the chance of mistakes.

Remain relaxed, remember to breathe evenly, and not so audibly that it’s distracting! As much as possible try to enjoy the job of broadcasting.

Yes, it does involve a certain amount of “acting”, but, done well, it can significantly improve your presence and authority as a broadcaster.

Radio

I have already covered how to improve the use of your voice in the section above, but there are a couple of extra considerations that apply to radio in particular.

Microphones for on-screen broadcasting are usually discreet, fitted to the lapel of a man or woman’s jacket or hidden as much as possible on any other outfit so that the cable is not dangling and distracting.

These lapel mics, often called lavaliers, are in a fixed position on one’s body. As a result they are fairly consistent in how they record your voice. You should also be aware that their position on your body will affect the tone and depth of your voice, as well as how prone they might be to picking up background noise.

In the case of audio-only recording, you have much more flexibility in how you control the “feel” of your voice. This is one of the reasons I’m such a big fan of radio. It’s possible to change the mood of one’s voice simply by positioning the proximity of one’s mouth with the microphone. It takes practice but can add a great feel to the audio content, such as a warmer tone with more bass notes when speaking up close to the mic.

Any time you are reading from script papers on radio, where teleprompters generally don’t exist, the “crumpling” of the papers and notes is even more useful in avoiding extraneous and distracting noise, so use that trick to separate the sheets for more easy handling.

Writing content for audio as opposed to video is a whole learning session in itself, but needless to say, the mood, feel, and expression in your voice is all the more important in radio or on a podcast, where there are no pictures to guide the story.

Conclusion

There is quite a lot to consider when maximising your potential as a broadcaster in order to best engage with your audience.

Many of the tips I have shared may seem obvious but are often overlooked. The main point is to be as natural as you can so that you can come across as the best version of you as a broadcaster, you don’t have to mimic anyone else.

Being relaxed, feeling in control, and actually trying to enjoy the job of being a broadcaster is central to coming across as a good, engaging communicator.

It may be somewhat subconscious but viewers and listeners can actually “feel” the mood of those to whom they listen and watch so try to put the most positive energy you can into your work.

Good luck!

Below are some interviewing techniques that might help presenters who conduct live interviews.

The post The art of engaging viewers and listeners first appeared on Media Helping Media.

This is a short training module setting out the basics for creating a news package for radio. It’s been created for those starting out in radio journalism. We have embedded a pdf of our training presentation at the bottom of this module. You have the option to open it in full screen or download and print it. We hope you find it helpful. Let us know if you have any questions by using the contact form.

Technique – using sound to tell a story

• Imagine your voice going into a listener’s ear
• Use your voice expressively – plenty of variation
• The tone should be sympathetic to the story

Actuality – enriches your script

• Find good people to interview
• Look for complementary sounds which are relevant to the story
• If it’s a story about dogs, you need barking

Chronology – the evolution of the story

• Find out what has happened
• Uncover the who, why, when, where, and how of the story
• Ensure you understand fully all the elements

Atmosphere – sound effects

• Record enough wild track at the scene
• Wild track is background noise
• It’s useful because you may need it later in the editing process

Sensing – being there

• At the scene, explain what you are sensing
• Describe what can you see, hear, smell and touch
• Avoid explaining how YOU are feeling

Feeling – emotional impact

• Ask your interviewees what they feel
• Find out if they are afraid, sad, hopeful, happy
• What YOU feel doesn’t matter

Perspectives – what people think

• Seek out multiple perspectives
• Look for diverse voices
• Never ignore conflicting opinions

The so what factor – what happens next

• Find out what are the next steps
• Explain why those steps are important
• Note any future events & meetings for follow up purposes

Putting it together – sounds in harmony

• Use short clips from your wild track and interview
• Use your script to bind them together in a logical way
• Keep your links short

The post Constructing a news package for radio first appeared on Media Helping Media.

In this article we look at the steps involved in creating a news and current affairs programme for a national radio station. The information below is taken from a series of modules created for a training course delivered in Africa by one of the Media Helping Media team.

The following sets out some of the important steps involved in creating a radio news and current affairs programme.

All the elements listed below are taken from training modules on Media Helping Media (MHM), which in turn represent training courses delivered by MHM trainers worldwide.

Identifying the audience

The first step is to identify the audience and its information needs.

Advertisers use a tool called ‘audience segmentation’ in order to identify existing and potential customers. They then ‘target’ that group in order to sell their products.

They gather information about segments of society based on likes, dislikes, lifestyle, current product usage, interests, aspirations, and media habits.

A smart media organisation needs to do the same. It needs to know who it is creating content for and understand the interests and concerns of that audience.

Advertisers use segmentation to ‘superserve’ several audience groups in order to focus effort to achieve maximum return.

Journalists can adapt this strategy to ‘superserve’ clearly defined target audience groups whose information needs reflect those of the whole audience. Consider the diagram below.

Think of it like peeling an orange. Inside you’ll find nine segments. Each segment represents an audience group.

One segment might be farmers, another youth, and a third businessmen and women.

If you examine the information needs of each group you will find that there will be considerable overlap at the centre. This is your unique editorial proposition.

See our training module ‘Identifying the target audience and its information needs’.

Unique editorial proposition

The overlap in the segments shows about a number of issues that affect the majority of the audience.

Covering these issues will set you apart from the competition. It tells the audience that your station is where they will find the news and information that is most relevant to their lives.

You do this by planning editorial coverage that addresses those issues. This is about producing original pro-active in-depth journalism that digs deep and asks searching questions.

Gather your team and list the issues that impact the lives of your three main target audience groups.

Try to find at least 10 issues. Then try to find at least 10 topics on each issue, and finally try to find three original stories to illustrate each topic.

By the end of the exercise you will have 300 original stories. Revisit those stories twice a year and you have 600 stories, which is almost a dozen exclusive stories a week.

These stories are managed by your forward planning editor.

The graphic below shows this exercise carried out by MHM working with a media house in Africa.

See our training modules ‘Establishing a market differential with original journalism’ and ‘Strategic forward planning for media organisations’.

Themed weeks

Now you have a list of the issues, topics and stories you will be covering during the year you can introduce ‘themed weeks’.

Once a month you should consider tackling an important issue in depth with original journalism that explores angles ignored by others.

For March you might want to do Transport week, for April, Health week, etc. Below is a suggested year plan for monthly themed weeks starting March 2022.

Forward planning

In order to maintain a structured programme format, and to ensure a steady flow of original issue-led journalism that continues to inform the public, detailed and meticulous planning is required.

And that planning needs to be long-term planning, as opposed to planning for tomorrow’s programme or next week’s programme. This is often referred to as forward planning.

Your planning editor should have:

• A wall chart setting out the stories to be covered for the entire year.
• A list of all the agreed issues, topics, and stories the programme editors have decided to cover.
• A clear plan, agreed with senior editors, of what in-depth stories will be prepared for certain months – ideally following the model of a themed week examining a particular issue during one week of each month.

The planning editor is also responsible for keeping a log of follow-up dates.

This means that when stories are covered, a date is automatically put in the shared forward planning calendar setting out when that story should be followed up to find out what happened next. Questions will be asked about whether promises made by politicians etc were met.

Following up is essential because, otherwise, the audience is not fully informed. They will be looking to you to keep on top of a story – particularly if it affects their lives – and cover the story’s development.

Guest bookings

Working with the planning editor will be a news producer or researcher who is in charge of guest bookings. They are responsible for keeping a record of who is invited on to the programme. They need to ensure the best possible contributors, with a diversity of voices and views in an attempt to represent all strands of opinion across the country.

They need to keep a record of who was invited on to the programme, what was discussed, and their contribution.

The planning editor must attend all news meetings and must have a say in what is covered.

The person in charge of the day’s output – the editor of the day (EiC) – needs to be able to rely on the planning editor to supply at least one original story a day.

Shared planning calendar

A useful tool for the planning editor, and the whole team, is a shared online calendar. You can use any of the free options that are available. Google calendar works fine for this, but there are others.

The planning editor needs to set up the newsroom planning calendar and plot all the events that have been agreed so that everyone is aware.

News and current affairs meetings

A radio news and current affairs programme will typically have several news meetings a day.

The first will be immediately after the morning programme has been broadcast. This is the main meeting of the day. It’s a disciplined time-limited meeting led by the EiC. It’s business-like and follows a set pattern.

Five minutes – review

The first five minutes will be spent considering the programme that has just been broadcast.

In this section of the meeting the EiC will encourage discussion around what went well and what didn’t go well. Analysing your failings is the most important and useful part of the learning process, so that the news team, and the output it is creating, continually improves.

In this section of the meeting the EiC also attempts to draw out ideas about how to follow up any important developments or leads in the next morning’s programme.

Twenty minutes – planning

After the review the EiC will pass round a list of the stories she or he wants to be covered along with a list of the current stories covered by print, broadcast, online, and social media.

At this point participation is encouraged. This list will have been produced in advance by a newsroom researcher or producer working with the EiC. Everyone will be given a copy.

Presenters, producers, reporters and researchers are then invited to share their ideas about fresh angles to take on the topics set out by the EiC.

The team will also discuss story treatment such as whether a package, interview, or vox pop needs to be produced.

The EiC will then agree the story hierarchy in terms of importance to the audience.

At this point everyone involved in the production process will have a clear idea of what is expected for the next morning’s programme.

Twenty minutes – pitching

The EiC then goes round the room giving those gathered the chance to suggest story ideas.

Every journalist involved is expected to have a story idea. At first, people may find this challenging and uncomfortable, but the EiC needs to encourage collaboration and draw on the experiences and contacts of their team.

A journalist might not have a specific story idea to put forward, but they might have a point of view that is worth exploring. They might have read something hidden in a newspaper report that is worthy of following up. They might have a personal experience relevant to a current news story.

Five minutes – summing up

The EiC will then sum up what has been discussed and make clear what each member of the team is expected to do.

The entire meeting should last no longer than 50 minutes. Discipline and a sense of urgency is essential.

Minor update meetings

Three more minor update meetings take place over the following 24 hours. These should total no more than 45 minutes.

The afternoon meeting (15 mins maximum) follows the lunchtime TV and radio bulletins when the production team gather to check on the progress of the stories being produced for the morning and also consider whether any changes need to be made to the running order in light of news developments during the first part of the day. The EiC might be involved in person or via phone, video link, or instant messenger.

The next meeting (15 mins maximum) follows the evening news bulletins when the production team considers whether any adjustments need to be made in light of any breaking or developing news. Again the EiC will need to be consulted and informed.

The final news meeting will be early in the morning immediately before the programme is broadcast. The production team and anchors will meet briefly (15 mins max) to check the running order, assess any overnight developments, and go through the morning newspaper and website editions.

Planning meetings

As well as the daily meeting format suggested above, weekly forward planning meetings must be held. This is where the planning editor presents an update on the items being produced.

Broadcasting formats

Essentially, a radio news and current affairs programme has four main format types. These are:

The interview

This is where the presenter interviews someone in the news. It could be about the main story of the day. If it is the most important story this interview would take place immediately after the main news bulletin. It should be between around five minutes long, although this could be stretched to 10 depending on the seriousness of the topic. There will also be shorter interviews throughout the programme.

The reporter package

A package will be put together by a reporter or correspondent and will include a number of clips of people the journalist has interviewed. A package will typically be about three and a half minutes long and contain three or four clips. Each clip will be about 20 to 30 seconds long. The package can be pre-recorded or live.

The two-way

This is where the presenter interviews a reporter or correspondent covering a story. It is designed to tap into the journalist’s background knowledge of the story being covered and is sometimes used before a main interview. A two-way can vary from between 90 seconds to five minutes depending on the importance of the subject matter.

It is different in tone from interviews with outside contributors. When the presenter is interviewing someone from outside on a big story, the tone will often be adversarial, pressing the interviewee on important points. In a two-way with a reporter, the presenter is simply trying to draw out the most important facts in a neutral tone.

The vox pop

This is a mix of clips from members of the public who are giving their reactions/opinions on a news story. This should be no longer than three minutes long.

Structure of a current affairs programme

The main purpose of the show is to cover the news and get reaction to it. So the main ingredients are news bulletins, with interviews and longer reports about the individual news items.

There is more to it than that.

There will also be other information vital to the listener, including weather forecasts and sports news, plus perhaps business news, summaries of what is in the newspapers, programme trails for the rest of the network and so on.

These all need to fit together in a regular pattern, so that with familiarity, the listener gets to understand how the programme works. You can think of this as arranging the furniture of the show.

You will probably want your main news bulletins to happen on the hour, perhaps with summaries on the half hour. These are the first fixed points.

The weather and the sports news should also happen at exactly the same time each morning – just as they appear in the same place every day in a newspaper.

The audience likes predictability in the way the content is presented, so that they know when to tune in for the information in which they are most interested.

When you are happy with your programme structure, the task for the production team every day is to think about how the news stories and interviews fit in.

Running order

Every edition of the show works to a running order. A rough running order is produced at the very first programme meeting and then modified and updated as the day and the night develop.

The following is a rough outline for a two-hour-long radio news and current affairs programme.

Exploiting content for maximum impact

Your production team should include at least one person monitoring the live output being produced by the programme.

This person is looking for newsworthy clips to package for the news summaries on the half hour and the main bulletins on the hour, and to illustrate live studio debates.

Your programme needs to be a breaking news production line, continually delivering original newsworthy clips.

This production role should also share all the breaking news clips from across all output and on all appropriate social media channels.

Creating a programme trailer

In order to attract new listeners, you need to create compelling programme trailers to advertise the material to be broadcast in the following morning’s programme.

This is essential, and has to be factored into the daily work pattern. The trailer must promote the main story of the day; the one in which you are planning to invest most resources.

Creating the sort of trailer that will stop people in their tracks and make them pay attention can help win over new listeners, introduce them to the subject matter to be covered on your programme, and, hopefully, encourage them to spread the word by mouth and social media.

A promo trailer should be around 30 seconds maximum, the shorter the better. You want to grab attention. Give the audience a snippet of what is coming up. You don’t want to give them too much, but just enough that they think “I must tune in tomorrow to hear more about that”.

And you want your trailer to be shareable on social media, so the better it is, the more chance it has of going viral. Ask yourself would you share the trailer with your friends? If not, work on it some more. And keep working on it until you think it has the quality to go viral.

Recipe for a good trailer

So how do you create an attention-grabbing radio trailer? Here are a few suggestions.

Encourage your reporter and producers to always be alert to an audio clip that sets out the scale of the issue, but doesn’t give the solution.

For example, you might be doing a story about the rural economy and how people are struggling to survive.

You will have interviewed farmers and villagers. One might say something along the lines of “I didn’t know how I would survive”. Such a quote will make the audience want to know what happened next. What did the interviewee do to survive? Could it be relevant to the listener’s own predicament?

That clip is less than five seconds long, yet it is likely to resonate with thousands of people in a similar position. Of course your piece will no doubt have examined the issues the farmers and villagers face, and you will probably have covered how they coped. But save that for the programme.

The next trick is to package that clip, and perhaps another, with a carefully crafted text that explains WHY people MUST tune in to your programme in order to learn more.

The wording is important.

You could use ‘calls to action’ where your trailer invites the audience to ‘listen’, ‘take part’, and ‘assess’.

Words that suggest drama work well, such as ‘revealed’, ‘for the first time’, ‘life and death decision’.

But you must remain honest. You are in the business of facts not fiction. Never exaggerate.

Another benefit of trailers is that it could encourage your competition, both broadcast and print, to tune in so they can follow up your story. And that’s a good thing. You want them to be following your lead, you want to be known as the station that sets the news agenda. Because by the time they have heard your news item you will have already moved the topic by inviting guests to respond live on-air.

Because trailers should be part of your daily output, you should probably consider creating a template so that it can be used every day.

Something like:

“In tomorrow’s morning programme we will be looking at (here you can mention up to three items), and we will be talking to xxxx about xxxx (insert short clip here).”

The post How to create a news and current affairs programme first appeared on Media Helping Media.

This training module was written for journalism students in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. They were studying broadcast journalism, and in particular creating radio news programmes. Many of those attending the course had previously had no journalism experience or training.

Writing a script for a radio news package

Radio journalists need to be able to pick the best, most newsworthy audio clips, and write clear and informative scripts that introduce the material they have collected.

The script is what makes sense of the sounds. It is the framework for your story. It brings together the most important elements, and helps your audience understand the significance of the points made by the people you have interviewed.

It’s not just about sounds; it’s about words, too. The script should be written in simple, short sentences. Try to use everyday language and terms your audience will understand. It should not contain any complicated concepts that could confuse and distract.

Use the script to introduce the audio

The script should offer the audience introductions to the audio you are including. It should tell the listener what’s coming up without repeating the words they are about to hear. Don’t summarise too much; you should not take away from the power of the clips in your piece.

Grab the attention of the audience

You are crafting a tease to material that is designed to make people stop and listen. The language should be in the active tense. The most important information must feature in the first few sentences. However, the quality should be consistent throughout, and the script must not tail off at the end.

Your opinions don’t matter

Your script should be factual, without comment or descriptive words. Don’t try to attract listeners by including your own emotions. That’s not your job. Those who listen to your radio package will make their own decisions about the power of the information you are broadcasting.

Deliver a complete and fair report

Your script should weave together all the elements you have gathered for your story without suggesting that any one is more important than the other; that’s for the audience to decide, not you. You have a responsibility to set out the information in a way that doesn’t lead or mislead.

Scripting before interviewing

Some journalists choose to draft a script before they have conducted the interview. That’s fine as long as the journalist retains an open mind and does not orchestrate or stage-manage the interviews to fit into the structure they have planned.

Scripting after interviewing

Some journalists prefer to listen to the material before they write their script. This approach can lead to a fresher sounding piece. However, it can also lead to confusion if you have too much material and no idea how it is going to be edited and put together.

Fact-checking

Check every fact that you are including in your script. Also check what has been said by those you have interviewed. Just because somebody seems to know what they are talking about doesn’t mean that they are telling you the truth. Decide whether your fact-checking has raised any issues that need to be covered in the script.

Editorial ethics

Check your script against the editorial ethics of objectivity, impartiality and fairness. Do not give undue weight to one point of view. Most of the people you interview will have strong points of view – you wouldn’t be interviewing them if that were not the case. However, your script needs to be fair to all.

The beginning

Start the script by addressing the main point made in your introduction. Later in the script you can add context and analysis to try to help the audience understand the issues raised by those you are interviewing. But start with a crisp and sharp introduction that highlights the main points.

The ending

Always end your script with a fact and not a vague line such as “we will have to wait to see”. Your audience wants information, not clichés. Consider asking your interviewees what’s likely to happen next and summarise their expectations in your last paragraph.

Does it make sense?

Read the script back to yourself. Have you left any gaps? Do you need to do any further research? Check it with a colleague. A second pair of eyes works for radio scripts as well as print – of course, a second pair of ears helps, too, so check your choice of audio as well – you might have missed a more important clip.

Radio script writing question

Which of these statements is true:

a) radio is all about sounds. Make sure you have the best clips and sound effects and don’t worry too much about the words. People don’t read your material they listen to it. The words are not that important. Of course they have to be accurate, but they are only there to support the audio

b) words are essential for a good radio piece. Work hard on ensuring that your script is tightly written and in a language that people understand. No matter how good the audio clips are, your radio piece will fail to inform if the script is poor.

Related training modules

10 tips for producing radio bulletins

20 tips for TV and radio packaging

The post How to write a radio news script first appeared on Media Helping Media.

The importance of updating and rewriting

Journalism is an ongoing commitment to update and rework the material we are producing.

As soon as we commit anything to print, press the save button for online journalism, or produce a broadcast news item, the news we are publishing is likely to be out of date.

As journalists we all face the challenge of ensuring the material we produce remains relevant.

Only lazy journalists stand still, news keeps moving

I started my career in journalism as a newspaper reporter. In the corner of the newsroom there was a desk with a pair of scissors and a pot of glue.

You can see the sort of set up in the image above. The photograph was taken in the newsroom of The Chronicle in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, where I was doing some journalism training in 2010.

The scissors are for cutting out articles from the day’s newspaper. The glue is for sticking them on a sheet of paper with the date and key words at the top. They were then filed in boxes stored on massive shelves. This was the newspaper’s archive. Every new story covered would involve a visit to the archive for background and context.

The same was true at my first newspaper, The Southport Visiter. We had a ‘diary-and-file’ area where our cuttings were kept. There was a line of metal filing cabinets with alphabetically-labelled drawers. Then there was the diary, a shared book where all important follow-up dates had to be recorded.

It was every reporter’s responsibility to ‘diary-and-file’ their work.

This indicates two things. The daily newspaper is – as soon as it comes off the printing press – archive material. But it’s also essential material for background information. It’s a document of record that will provide valuable information in the future.

At the BBC we had department called News Information where journalists could order background information from a huge archive. All was old news, but it was also valuable news when it came to piecing together an update or covering a breaking or developing story about a topic that had been in the news previously. It was essential for adding context.

My first job at the BBC was on the local radio station in my hometown of Liverpool, England. A few weeks after working as a reporter, getting out and about covering news stories and interviewing locals, I was asked to compile and read my first news bulletin.

I thought it went well and returned to the newsroom feeling quite proud of myself. I was about to make a cup of tea, sit down and put my feet up when the news editor came over and told me to rewrite everything.

“We don’t deal in old news,” he said.

Even wonderfully-crafted parts of my script that I felt couldn’t be improved had to be refreshed. I was struggling to think of any ways to update the material as the next hourly news bulletin approach.

My news editor told me to get up. He sat in my chair, took over my typewriter, and, with a cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth, refreshed the whole five-minute news script in what seemed like seconds.

I was told to put in fresh calls to find out new information. It wasn’t as big a deal as I thought. But it was essential work. The next bulletin was fresh, relevant, and, most importantly updated.

The lesson forced me to think through all the elements in the story and how they could be developed. It forced me to be a journalist and not just a news reader.

Radio bulletin checklist 1981

There was a checklist for tasks at Liverpool’s Radio Merseyside in 1981.

• Write bulletin and underline any facts in the story that need to be checked for updates
• Rewrite the bulletin immediately after leaving the studio and before thinking about making a cup of tea
• The rewriting should include both the introduction script and the piece itself
• If necessary, get any audio reports re-voiced if the information is out-of-date
• If you are using an audio clip of someone in the news always have a selection of at least three alternatives available, one talking about what has happened, another about what they intend to do about it, and the third about what will happen next
• Never run a voiced report or an audio clip more than twice
• Realise that all those mentioned in the news bulletin may have fresh information to share after having heard your bulletin. It would be amazing if they didn’t. Call them and see what’s changed
• Make a note of all the times and dates mentioned in the bulletin to ensure the newscast is not dated
• Put in another round of calls to police, fire, ambulance and any notable personalities in a developing news story, such as union leaders, bosses, councillors, activists, sports personalities etc

In other words, never repeat a bulletin hour after hour. It’s almost certain that, if you do, you will be delivering old news and the motto was that old news is no news.

Discipline of updating stands test of time

We had a similar philosophy when we launched BBC News Online in 1997. We were continually checking for new developments, updating stories, and republishing the site.

The early training in print and broadcast that most of us had gone through in that BBC online newsroom had prepared us well for the BBC’s first move into 24-hour rolling news.

It’s interesting how some of those basic principles of journalism best practice appear to be timeless.

And now we have the luxury of a steady stream of updates online via social media and on news sites that provide live coverage of events with story formats that see the coverage grown chronologically.

The problem with that format is that the longer the update grows, the further the reader is from the original source of the material making it harder to read the context behind the development/event.

This is particularly true with social media where emotional and subjective reactions to the original news take on a life of their own.

With rolling updated stories on the main news sites there is a need to continually provide links back to the original story so those following events can better understand where, why, and how the news item first broke.

Otherwise we can easily fall into the post-truth trap where emotional responses to events take over the events themselves. Facts get lost in the quick fire responses, and the chatter and noise of ill-informed reaction takes on a life of its own and eventually becomes more amplified than the original incident that began the news process.

Which means that journalists have a responsibility to continually rework and update our news so that all the new elements (reactions and new perspectives) are included while also ensuring that the essential facts that began the news flow are not forgotten but are also included and updated where necessary.

The post Old news is no news, updates are essential first appeared on Media Helping Media.