Broadcast News Writing, Reporting, and Producing Fourth Edition Broadcast News Writing, Reporting, and Producing Fourth Edition Ted White Amsterdam • Boston • Heidelberg • London New York • Oxford • Paris • San Diego San Francisco • Singapore • Sydney • Tokyo Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier 200 Wheeler Road, Burlington, MA 01803, USA Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP, UK Copyright © 2005, Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier’s Science & Technology Rights Department in Oxford, UK: phone: (+44) 1865 843830, fax: (+44) 1865 853333, e-mail: [email protected]. You may also complete your request online via the Elsevier homepage (http://elsevier.com), by selecting “Customer Support” and then “Obtaining Permissions.” Recognizing the importance of preserving what has been written, Elsevier prints its books on acid-free paper whenever possible. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data APPLICATION SUBMITTED British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN: 0-240-80659-X For information on all Focal Press publications visit our website at www.books.elsevier.com 050607080910987654321 Printed in the United States of America Contents Foreword . xvii Preface . xix Acknowledgments . xxvii Introduction . xxix A Changing Industry . xxx Is Journalism for You? . xxxi What Role to Play? . xxxi Your College Education . xxxii Internships . xxxiii Your First Job . xxxiii Responsibility and Accuracy . xxxiii 1 Broadcast News Writing Mechanics . 1 Some Basics . 1 Correcting Copy . 1 Slugs . 2 The Split Page . 3 Avoiding Abbreviations . 3 Avoiding Split Words and Sentences . 3 Punctuation . 4 Names and Titles . 4 Middle Names and Initials . 6 Foreign Names . 6 Ages . 7 Marital Status . 7 Race . 7 Numbers . 8 Timing Stories . 9 Review Questions . 9 Exercises . 10 2 Broadcast News Writing Style . 11 Rewriting Wire Copy . 11 Conversational Style . 12 Contractions . 12 Reading Your Copy Aloud . 13 Avoiding Information Overload . 13 Avoiding Relative Clauses . 15 v vi Contents Eliminating Long Words . 16 Conjunctions . 17 Prepositions . 17 Pronouns . 17 Modifying Phrases . 18 Avoiding Clichés . 18 Writing What You Mean . 20 Good Grammar and Some Exceptions . 20 Summary . 21 Review Questions . 21 Exercises . 22 3 More Style Rules . 23 Verbs . 23 Present Tense . 23 Present Perfect Tense . 24 Mixing Tenses . 24 Active Verbs . 24 Says Is a Good Verb . 25 Strong Verbs . 25 Limiting Use of Adverbs and Adjectives . 25 Attribution . 26 Using Quotes . 26 Expressing Time . 27 Looking Ahead . 28 Transitions . 29 People, Not Persons . 30 Summary . 30 Review Questions . 30 Exercises . 31 4 Writing Broadcast Copy . 32 Leads . 32 The “Five W’s and H Rule” . 32 Hard and Soft Leads . 33 The “Right” Emotion . 34 The Quote Lead . 35 The Shotgun Lead . 36 The Suspense Lead . 36 The Delayed Lead . 38 Negative Leads . 39 Updating and Reworking the Lead . 39 Constructing the Rest of the Story . 40 Summary . 41 Review Questions . 41 Exercises . 41 5 Color: The Key to Good Writing . 43 Color Should Be Natural . 43 Emulate the Best . 45 Kuralt on the Road . 46 Contents vii “A Postcard from Nebraska” . 49 Crisp and Clear . ..