Writing Broadcast News Stories

1
Writing Broadcast News Stories

• The Beginning (lead)
• The Middle (body)
• The End
• (Pages 33-38 in our textbook)

2
The Lead, the Body, the End

• There are thoughts that should go into each of
  these three parts of any story, no matter the
  subject and length
• You have a lot of choices with your lead how you
  choose to start the story
• Better broadcast leads are concise 12 words of
  so, not much more

3
Leads

• You have a variety of types of leads from which
  to choose
• Summary/hard news leadsstress key newsworthiness
  of the story
• Soft feature leads using irony, color, humor,
  anecdote, questions, quotes

4
The Body of the Story

• After the lead, the story needs to continue in a
  natural, logical manner
• Think of organizing the story as a series of main
  points and supporting evidence
• Newspaper-style inverted pyramid can be
  employed follow lead with facts in descending
  order of importance
• No holes! Be sure to answer most obvious
  questions (often covered by the 5 Ws of
  journalism who, what, when, where, and, if
  possible, why)
• Always try to include the most unique, unusual
  and surprising elements of a story

5
Endings are Important Too!

• Ending a story or report can be as difficult as
  starting one
• Most of the time you simply finish with the last
  bit of supporting evidence for your final main
  point
• You can also end by providing a piece of
  background information about someone or
  something in the story
• Or end with what is next going to happen or is
  likely to happen next
• Or end by telling viewers/listeners how to obtain
  more information
• Or use the circle technique to tie the story
  up by making a clear connection to something
  mentioned at the beginning of the story