Bulletins are designed to collect all the news that’s relevant into one specific broadcast, usually a few minutes long.

Each bulletin will have a variety of stories reflecting the latest information your listeners are interested in. They are not comprehensive. They should give a flavour of the main points of the stories.

If you are working for a small radio station you will probably be gathering and editing the material for the bulletins and reading them yourself. If you work for a large broadcaster you might be editing the bulletin for a presenter to read.

Stories will consist of the following types: a straight read by the presenter; sections of text followed by a clip or clips of audio; an introduction followed by a piece by a reporter.

Work backwards from the on-air time and give yourself enough time for preparation. For example, you need time to print off scripts, brief your presenter if necessary and to get to the studios.

If you are the bulletin editor you need to give journalists clear instructions about what they are expected to deliver, the length of the item they are producing, the format it is expected to take and when it is meant to be ready.

Give yourself time to look at the story and check it for grammatical and factual errors. Read it out loud to make sure it makes sense and can be easily understood by listeners.

When you have collected all the stories you will use for the bulletin, always add a couple of extra items if possible. This is to allow for technical errors with audio and so on.

Try to rank the stories in your bulletin in order of importance and give each story a weight.

For example, a story which impacts on everyone in the community will usually be stronger than one which only affects a handful of people. An outbreak of Covid-19 in town is more important than one about plans to upgrade a road in two years’ time. A story about a football result will carry less weight than one about deaths arising from a traffic accident.

Try to place connected stories together in the bulletin. For example, it would make sense to place a story about malaria next to one about health facilities.

Once you have ordered the stories, write your headlines. You don’t have to write one for each story, just the most interesting ones. Most bulletins will end with closing headlines as well.

Brief your presenter about the running order, when to expect soundbites and so on. Give them time to read the text through before they go live on air.

If you have a number of bulletins during the day, try to refresh the stories from bulletin to bulletin so they sound different each time. Stories have a shelf-life, but this can be extended by finding new angles, rewriting the introductions and so on.

Keep your listeners in mind at all times. They expect to hear the latest news in one place. It has to be accurate, timely, balanced, and interesting. Following these guidelines will help you to achieve this.

The post Editing radio news bulletins 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.

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

How to create a great radio bulletin

Putting together a radio news bulletin is like preparing a satisfying meal that leaves your audience nourished and prepared for the day; what you produce has to be balanced and digestible.

1: Think of who is listening and broadcast for them

You need to know who is tuning in for the information you are delivering and what they need to know. A local, region or national audience is not the same as an international audience. Each will have different needs, although all will require a mix of information. Your job is to focus on the news that is relevant to your regular listeners.

Your top stories are not necessarily the biggest international stories of the day, although they could be. Your job, and the task of the news team you work with, is to focus on covering the issues that have the most impact on the lives of your target audience. These top stories will define how close your news organisation is to that audience.

The audience will be listening for information that they can use. The stories you include in your bulletin must make up their staple diet of “must know” information. This story choice will reinforce your credibility as a relevant information provider in the minds of your audience. Ideally you should be stimulating a daily conversation about the issues that matter to your listeners.

Putting the most important stories first guarantees that listeners who tune in for the start of your bulletin catch the most relevant news, even if they cannot listen to your entire bulletin.

2: Variety is the spice of life

Offer an information mix. Life is multi-coloured and multi-faceted, and so is news.

If you are covering politics you must highlight how the issue affect the lives of your audience and not dwell on the politics alone. Always find someone affected by the issue and don’t just feature those in positions of power who are talking about the issue.

If you are covering a corruption story it’s important that you talk to either the victims or carry out a vox pop in the street to try to find out what the general feeling is about the issue. Ideally, you should always try to include the voice of those affected by whatever the story is highlighting.

Your audience will have a wide range of interests and concerns including health, education, jobs, homes, science and technology, culture, social developments, sports etc. Most of the time this means that you have to provide a mix of news, current affairs and other information items.

3: Would you want to listen to yourself?

A voice that pleases is important for ensuring that the audience returns. Record a few of your bulletins and listen to them. Would you like to listen to that voice every day? If not, do something about it.

Audio creates emotions. An attractive voice that catches the attention of the audience is important. The last thing you want is a grating voice that makes people switch off.

Avoid the sing-song voice that plays the same tune for every sentence, going up in tone at the beginning of the sentence and then dropping down at the end regardless of what is being said.

And never give the impression that you think you know more than the audience. There will be someone listening who knows far more than you. Never patronise.

4: Small may be beautiful

Longer is not necessarily better. A seven-minute news bulletin is not going to be an improvement on five minutes if the extra two minutes are merely filler material.

Try to imagine yourself in the place of the audience and think through what pressures they may be under. They will probably be doing other things as they listen. You are asking for their time and attention.

5: Slow down, it’s not a race

Don’t rush. Make sure that your audience can understand what you are saying. Reading too quickly could result in your audience not being able to absorb the information you are sharing. You could end up becoming background noise.

News readers often read fast when they are nervous or when they know that they are about to pronounce a name about which they are uncertain. If you know there is a foreign name coming up in the bulletin, highlight it and practice it until you are sure. Then approach it slowly, pause, and pronounce it clearly.

A handy tip is to make a mark in your script where you need to take a breath and pause. These can help you when you come to reading the information.

6: Don’t serve up stale news

Is your bulletin fresh, dynamic, and stimulating? Rewriting is essential. Many people will listen to several bulletins during the day.

It’s important they are not served stale news that hasn’t been reworked. If you don’t refresh, your audience might think you are either not doing your journalistic job properly or you are being lazy.

When you come out of the studio after reading the latest bulletin, rewrite all the top stories. Don’t just put the bulletin down and expect to pick it up again an hour later untouched and unchanged.

If you have a news bulletin at the top of the hour and headlines on the half-hour, the headlines can’t just be shorter versions of the main bulletin. You will have to rework them and create a new headline that conveys the main point of the story and encourages people to stay tuned for the next bulletin.

You can also use the half-hour bulletin to add stories that you could not include in the main bulletin. However, if you choose that kind of presentation format, make sure that you stick to this pattern so that your audience knows what to expect.

Some stories could run in different formats in different bulletins. For example you could do a straight read of the information in one bulletin followed by a voice report and or an audio clip in another. Having several ways of telling the same story adds variety to your bulletin and gives you options and flexibility when constructing it.

7: Radio is about sounds, not just your voice

Sound bites are important. A longer news bulletin becomes a lot more attractive for the audience if you include short sound bites. This can be a five- or 10-second audio clip inserted in a voice report or a stand-alone 20- or 25-second clip.

Such sound bites can make your bulletin easier to listen to, more authoritative (because you are including first-hand evidence) and, therefore, more credible. It’s also more interesting for the listener.

However, all sounds have to have an editorial reason for being there. You should not fill with sound clips that distract because they don’t relate to the thrust of the information you are delivering.

8: Tell a short story

Write news stories as if you were telling the story to a friend. This means: short, simple and straightforward sentences.

The audience cannot go back and check what you said 10 seconds ago. (Well, they can if they record it or are listening online, but the majority will be listening on the move and won’t be able to rewind the bulletin.)

You need to be clear, focused and memorable. Crafting complex information into simple sentences is a skill. Don’t obscure the essential facts with verbiage.

9: Small and effective packaging

The bulletin should be a compilation of short but powerful stories. This format makes it easy for people to grasp the information.

Writing for radio is one of the most challenging journalistic disciplines. The simple editorial rule about creating short, clear sentences with a subject, verb, and an object is essential.

Don’t try to be clever with words. Use words that make the most sense and can be understood by all.

Read through your bulletin several times. Shorten the sentences and replace complex concepts with simple terms that avoid any ambiguity or any possible misunderstanding.

10: Some final points

If you are putting together a longer bulletin (e.g. seven minutes or more), you may want to end the bulletin with a brief recap of the main stories. This can help audiences recall the top stories and/or other relevant information.

If you don’t believe what you have written and what you are saying your audience won’t either; and what is more, they will not respect you for broadcasting information that anyone with average intelligence would not swallow.

Make sure you are honest in how you describe situations and events, don’t over sensationalise. Your audience will know when you are going over the top and your credibility and integrity will be damaged if you do.

Related training modules

How to write a radio news script

20 tips for TV and radio packaging

The post How to produce a radio news bulletin 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 news features for radio. Many of those attending the course had no previous journalism experience or training.

How to make great TV and radio packages

Structure, timing, and letting the interview breathe are all essential elements for ensuring a general TV or radio news package works.

These are the packages where you introduce the audience to an issue and explore multiple elements of the story through interviewing different people.

It’s also important not to cram too much into an item, perhaps just three points.

And try to avoid noddies (shots where you, the interviewer, nod and which are edited in later) and walking shots for TV, they are overused and boring.

Try to think of original shots and sounds that will capture the attention of the audience.

1: Clarity

Before you start, have a clear idea of how long your finished item is likely to be and roughly how much footage of your interviewees you are likely to use.

2: Format

Map out a structure for the piece and try to work out a likely order for the interview clips and which points they will address.

3: Main points

Try to limit yourself to three main points for one item.

4: Use of interviewees

Make sure each of these three points is addressed by a different interviewee.

5: Review

Listen or watch the interview in full from start to finish at least once in order to ensure you haven’t missed anything. Take notes of the time on the recording of each potential interview clip, the words that begin the clip and the words that end it.

6: Coherence

When you have repeated the process for all the interviews in your piece, return to the structure you have mapped out and see if it is still coherent or if the order of interviewees needs to change.

7: Strength

Try to put the strongest interview near the start of the piece.

8: Selection

When you are selecting interview clips, choose ones which give opinion over ones which relay only information; information which is not controversial can easily be summarised by you in your linking commentary.

9: Pace

Try to leave a pause at the start and end of each clip. Life isn’t breathless; neither should a radio or television package be.

10: Clichés

In television avoid using noddies and walking shots to illustrate your material. They are the mind-numbingly boring to look at and do not make best use of the medium.

11: Editing

Avoid cutting excessively from the answer (such as taking one part of three seconds from the start of an answer, three seconds from the middle, and five from the end). This sounds and looks unnatural, misrepresents the interviewee, and is excessively difficult to process for television interviews.

12: Context

Never take an answer from one question and use it in response to another. This is gross misrepresentation.

13: Commentary

When you are writing commentary to link the clips together, try to avoid using the same words at the end of your text as the interviewee says in the beginning of the clip ie. : John Smith said he was delighted.. [John Smith] “I am delighted …”

14: Summaries

In TV and radio journalism, your package may often be mentioned in a news bulletin in the form of a clip before its broadcast slot. When writing the introduction for that clip, avoid summarising everything that is going to feature in the clip.

15: Positioning

In television reports, try to stick to the convention of alternate interviewees being on opposite sides of the screen. (First interviewee looking left to right, second right to left, third left to right etc.)

16: Voices

Try to avoid running two clips back to back without a commentary in between. Where this is unavoidable, for example in the case of vox pops, try to alternate between male and female voices. The reason for this is to avoid confusion.

17: Titles

Always make sure that you have the correct title for your interviewee and the correct spelling of their name. This is particularly important for TV captions. If they have a particularly long job title, agree a shortened version before you return from the interview.

18: Ending

Try to avoid ending a report with a clip of one of the interviewees. In TV this looks untidy. In radio, it complicates life for the studio presenter. It also gives one side or another of an argument the last word.

19: Answers

If you are editing an interview as a stand-alone item, try to put as much of the non-controversial information in the intro or lead-in to the item, and always make sure the intro ends with a question and the piece begins with an answer to that question.

20: Options

For stand-alone interviews, always give an option of an early ending, with a shorter duration and the right out-words. This will help the production team in case more urgent news breaks or they need to cut back your item.

Related training module

Preparing for and carrying out an interview

The post How to create a broadcast news package first appeared on Media Helping Media.

If the editor-in-chief of your news organisation is out of the country, she or he should be able to browse your news website and, by looking at your story choice and treatment, have a good idea about the news priorities of the entire news organisation.

Your website will probably share the same news schedule as your broadcast or print colleagues. You may share reporters and correspondents. Some have a combined planning team.

When stories are discussed for TV, radio or print, someone from the online team needs to be present. They need to sit in on news meetings and suggest interactive elements for all the big stories. Their role is to come up with ideas for presenting information in ways that can engage the audience.

The duty editor needs to ensure that the material that appears on the news website cross-promotes other news output areas. If the website is part of a broadcasting organisation with TV and radio news output, it will be expected to display the best of the material produced by the broadcasters, along with supporting in-depth background information.

The news website should include details of when that item can next be seen on TV or radio. This is particularly true where your news operation has uncovered valuable, exclusive information and has a special programme, or a special report, running on TV or radio.

The cross-promotion can be shown as a text link signifying when the next opportunity for watching or listening to the news item is scheduled, or it can be a box offering some or all of the material from the TV and radio output. For news websites offering video and audio on-demand, cross-promotion is essential.

Managing all these resources so that they enhance the news website and the stories that appear on it, is one of the main functions of the online duty editor. It is also important that the audience finds the same facts online as they hear or see on air or read in print. They must not be given mixed messages.

Liaising with other departments

It is important that the duty editor has a system for letting other departments know which stories the online team is investing time and resources covering. This usually begins with the daily news meetings. The chances for cross-promotion on air, on screen, and in print, will be far greater if the person in charge of the editorial content on the website lets the editors of other news outlets know what the online team is creating.

Some news operations have a shared folder on the organisation’s computer system where the various elements of a story are added so that all are aware of what is being created and what is available. Some have a superdesk system where representatives of all outlets sit together and share knowledge. Whatever the system, the duty editor in charge of the news website should tap into this resource regularly.

TV and radio producers will need to know when an interactive element is likely to be ready so that they can promote it in their programmes. They will want to know when the interactive team is in place to take feedback from users online. They will need to know when a guest is being lined up for an online interview.

All these elements need to be brought together by the duty editor and offered to all outlets in good time for them to include a mention in their output. It is pointless for a news website to organise a talking point on an issue if the duty editor hasn’t told his or her counterparts about it.

As you inform these outlets, be ready to consider their suggestions. The other editors might have excellent ideas about what should be created online. Keep an open mind. Be prepared to try new ideas if they will enhance the output.

News agenda

The duty editor of a news website must check every decision to ensure that it is in the best interest of the news brand and its users. Examining motives is essential. There have been hand-over meetings where the incoming duty editor has decided to change the front page completely.

This is justified if the previous front page was an inadequate reflection of the news, but it is not justified if it is to try to make the incoming duty editor look good. There have been stories that have taken hours to create, removed from the front page after appearing there for less than an hour. It may be, however, that there is so much breaking news that there is no room for everything.

The news agenda must:

• include all the main stories being covered by the rest of the news operation.
• exploit all resources and effort being committed to covering the news.
• reflect the strengths of your organisation’s newsgathering effort.

The news agenda is not:

• the chance for the in-coming duty editor to look good.
• an opportunity to play with news to appear clever.
• an excuse to deploy inappropriate interactive elements.
• a news product isolated from the rest of the news operation.

The duty editor of a news website has an enormous responsibility. She or he needs to be clear about why news items appear, and why changes are made.

The post How to set online news priorities first appeared on Media Helping Media.