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Writing for broadcast
Jour 203, Fall 2012

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Writing for broadcast – a few rules
 Don’t start a story like this: “On (day of week)
the (character) does (whatever they do) at
(time and place).” You’ve just told your entire
story in the most boring way possible, and
you’ve given too much information for
broadcast. Your audience has gone home or
gone to bed.

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Writing for broadcast – a few rules
 Take these tips from news writing coach
Mervin Block. They apply to feature writing
for broadcast as much as they do to news
writing for broadcast:
 Writethe way you talk.
 Have the courage to write simply.
 Use short words and short sentences.

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Writing for broadcast – a few more tips
from Mervin Block
 Humanize your copy. Don’t just talk about an event:
focus on a person’s or several people’s experience
at the event.
 Localize
your copy. Take us to wherever the event is
happening by being descriptive and using natural
sound.
 Inthis report from Radio New Zealand, natural
sound and the script work together to take you to the
river bank with the reporter.

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Writing for broadcast – a few more tips
from Mervin Block
 Use active voice and action verbs.
 Use the present tense when possible – but
not all broadcast pieces work best in present
tense.
 Read your copy aloud. If it sounds like
writing, rewrite it.
 All of Block’s tips are here.

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Writing for broadcast
 Why should you focus your broadcast script?
 Because audio (i.e. broadcast) stories have fewer
words than print pieces. “Breaking-news stories in
radio can be allotted anywhere from 30 seconds to
two minutes ― that’s roughly 75 to 300 words.”* A
breaking news story in a newspaper will be
covered in much greater depth.
 *From Poynter’s “Writing for the ear” online course

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Writing for broadcast
 Because you have fewer words in a broadcast story
than you do in print, the focus of your audio story will
be narrower than it would be in print.
 Audio stories “tend to drill down on a particular
character, a specific angle or a limited theme…
Audio stories, from initial conception to final
execution, are about selection… not simply about
word selection. It’s about story conception and a
ruthless eye for the telling detail.”*
 *From Poynter’s “Writing for the ear” online course

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The best way to learn to write to
broadcast…
… is to listen to good audio stories. This was
on Morning Edition on NPR this morning.
While you’re listening, note down how many
times you hear actuality (interviews); nat
sound; the narrator’s track.

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Choosing the right story
 Some stories work better in audio form than others. What
makes a good audio story?
 It tells a story.
 You are able to identify the main characters
(humanize).
 You establish a sense of time and place (localize).
 The story is timely.
 It’s possible to tell your story in a limited time frame.
 Your story will involve interesting sounds, not just
talking heads.
 There’s a conflict. Doesn’t have to be fisticuffs, but
someone should want/aspire to something but face
obstacles in getting/achieving it.
 (From Poynter’s “Writing for the ear”)

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Reporting your story
 Onceyou know what you want to cover and your pitch
has been accepted by your editor(s), it’s time to go out
and gather material for the story. This will include:
 Actuality/interviews
 Natural sound/scene-setters
If you’re lucky, you’ll capture a live event as it unfolds in
front of you. You can’t just air that in isolation; you will
need to have the scene-setting sounds that describe
where the event happened, what led up to it.

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ALERT: Don’t record too much
 Remember: your piece will be short and
focussed. The more tape you have to go
through, the more time you’ll spend in the
edit suite, dumping a lot of stuff on the
cutting room floor.
 But sometimes, you’ll just have to let your
recorder roll while you take pictures or
interview an official after a town hall meeting.
If you can, mark the good quotes and
interesting bits on your recorder. If you can’t,
mark them as you log your tape.

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Deadly sins of broadcast writing
 Don’t use newspaper writing style when you’re
writing for broadcast. In other words, leave out the
who, what, when, where, why and how in the lead.
You’re presenting too much information to an
audience that cannot go back and reread what
you’ve just said.
 Don’t cram as much information into your story as
I’ve crammed onto this slide.
 Block has a list of 12 deadly sins for broadcast
writers. The two above are key for journalists who
are just getting into broadcast writing.