Broadcast Journalism

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Broadcast Journalism
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Strengths of Broadcast Reporting

• Immediacy
• Ability to do field recordings
• The ability to portray emotion/feeling of the
  news event
• Personal Delivery

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Drawbacks of Broadcast Reporting

• When trying to do the story too quickly -
  especially when going live - a reporter looses
  the ability to check facts, and evaluate edit
  the information.
• When recording video in the field the reporter
  and photog must get a true representation of the
  event.
• When dealing with the emotional content of a
  story, the reporter must be careful not to
  sensationalize.
• A reporter must work on a personal delivery that
  has credibility, and doesnt slant the story.
• Inflexibility of formats/competition/performance
  based rather than news based.

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Researching a Story

• Is the information accurate? Have you checked
  more than one source? Single source stories can
  be a problem.
• Is the information fair? Have you represented
  all sides of the story? Who have you contacted -
  expertise and credibility are important.
• Is the research youve done comprehensive? Have
  you gotten as much information as you could in
  the time you have?
• Using the internet is great for basic research -
  dont be afraid of the telephone!!

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For Wednesday - 9/10

• Read Ch. 1- pages 12-17
• Ch. 2 pages 32-39
• Ethics workshop

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Writing in Script Format
STORY SLUG MICHAEL O/C The
Mayor of Northampton
announced today at a news
conference that
she will not
run for a fourth term.


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BANK REAX SARAH O/C Bank examiners
say theyll try
today to find out what happened at
Fleet Bank. VO BEGINS
(VO) Federal
Officials were at the bank TRT 10
this morning when the doors
opened SARAH O/C (LIVE)
Anyone needing information should CG
FULL
call 555-1212.
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Creating Readable Copy

• Double space your script copy so that you have
  room to make corrections.
• Use dark marker to cross out unwanted words.
• Hand print corrections carefully.
• If there are too many corrections - retype the
  story

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Review
1. SENTENCE LENGTH - in general, keep sentences
relatively short. You will run out of breath,
or loose track of what youre saying if the
sentence gets too long. (A very common
mistake) 2. CONTRACTIONS - Dont be afraid to use
them when appropriate. 3. DETAILS - WHATS
IMPORTANT/WHATS NOT A) middle initials -
leave out B) ages - generally leave out unless
it adds to the story C) addresses -
generally leave out D) Decimal places -
always round off numbers unless exact amount is
needed E) Unnecessary attribution -
judgment call F) Unnecessary full titles -
long titles will bog your story down, but be
careful when abbreviating them 4. NUMBERS AS
SPOKEN COPY - connect with hyphens(19-99
30-days) spell out one through twelve spell
out thousand/ million/ point/percent.(Two
cows 40-hens) except for dates, dont write out
four numbers(one-thousand-456-dollars)
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5. ROUNDING OFF - in broadcast it is hard to
follow a story filled with exact numbers, as
well as read them to the listener. Round off
large numbers like 495,873 to nearly
500-thousand. But, be careful - dont round
off 455, 623 to nearly 500-thousand(say
approximately 556-thousand dollars or just
over 455-thousand) 6. PARRALLEL STRUCTURE when
listing facts be careful of different
measurements like percentages fractions ratios.
Make sure your facts follow the same
structure(25-percent were freshmen 25-
percent were sophomores 35-percent were juniors
and 15-percent were seniors. 7. PRACTICE
READING YOUR COPY OUT LOUD!!
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Journalism and Ethics A Personal Choice

• Personal ethical decisions might involve
  protecting a source taking gifts whether to lie
  to get a story and distorting a news item for
  some kind of personal gain.
• Professional ethical decisions might include
  defamation or slander checkbook journalism
  being too friendly with news sources
  misrepresentation of yourself as a reporter
  invasion of privacy use of stolen documents and
  sensationalism.

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What to Consider When Facing a Tough Story

• Your own conscience - will you be able to sleep
  at night?
• Who is affected by your story? Will information
  from the story put anyone in danger? Cost someone
  their job?
• Will the company you work for be affected?
• Will your decision have a negative effect on the
  profession/institution?
• Will it effect your co-workers?
• How will your community react?