Broadcast news: writing, reporting, and producing / Ted White, Frank Barnas.

Includes index.

Introduction
A Changing Industry
Is Journalism for You?
What Role to Play?
Your College Education
Internships . .
Your First Job
Responsibility and Accuracy
1 Broadcast News Writing Mechanics
Some Basics ..
Correcting Copy
Slugs
The Split Page .
Avoid Abbreviations
Avoiding Split Words and Sentences ..
Punctuation
Names and Titles
Middle Names and Initials
Foreign Names
Ages ....
Marital Status
Race
Numbers
Timing Stories
Review Questions
Exercises
2 Broadcast News Writing Style
Rewriting VWre Copy
Conversational Style
Contractions
Reading Your Copy Aloud
Avoiding Information Overload
Avoiding Relative Clauses
VI
Contents
Elirninating Long Words 16
Conjunctions 17
Prepositions 17
Pronouns 17
Modifying Phrases 18
Avoiding Cliches 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
Summaiy 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 "Ri^t" 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 52
Use Your Senses 53
Color Comes in Many Shades 60
Colorful Obituaries 61
Frederick, EUerbee, and Aaron 64
Murrow and His "Boys" 70
"This Is London" 71
"Permit Me to Tell You" 74
"The Fault, Dear Brutus" 76
Eric Sevareid: Writing with Class 77
Ck)od Things from Local Stations 78
Summary 86
Review Questions 87
Exercises 87
6 Radio News 88
You Need A Scorecard 89
AU News Radio Stations 93
Good News Teams Are Also Found in Small Places 94
Your Audience 96
Organizing Material 96
Writing from the Back 97
The Lead Story 98
The Rest of the Newscast 99
Localizing the News 99
Story Length 100
Actualities 100
Wraparounds 100
Lead-Ins 101
Teases 102
Headlines 102
Pad Copy 103
Back Timing 103
Summary 103
Review Questions 104
Exercises 104
7 Writing for the Television Newscast 106
Combining Words and Pictures 106
Sound Bites 106
The Television News writer 107
Read Stories 107
Voice-overs 107
The Split Page . 109
Video Instructions . io9
Sound on Tape Ill
Lead-ins 112
Headlines and Teases 113
A Team Effort 114
Summary 115
VIII
Contents
Review Questions 115
Exercises 115
8 Delivering the News 117
Credibility 117
One-Way Communication 118
Getting Help with Your Delivery 119
Dialects 119
Listening to Yourself 120
Getting Pronunciation Help 121
Pacing 124
Marking Copy 126
Characteristics of Successful Anchors 128
Ratings Wars 128
Cosmetics 129
Summary 132
Review Questions 132
Exercises 133
9 Finding the News 134
The Wires 134
Television Satellite Feeds 135
The Internet 136
Newspapers 136
Monitoring Radios 137
Making Phone Calls 138
Stringers 138
Tipsters 138
Employee Input 139
Sounding the Alarm 140
Developing Story Ideas 142
Interaction 142
Insights 143
Assignment Boards 144
Summary 144
Review Questions 145
Exercises 145
10 Broadcast News Reporting 146
Basic Skills 146
Accuracy 147
Election 2000: It's Better to Be Right than First 147
New Problems in 2004 149
The O. J. Simpson Trial 150
News Judgment 152
Curiosity 154
Concern and Caring 154
Persistence 155
Aggressiveness 155
Fairness 155
Diversity ,50
Contents ir
Covering Stories about Gays and Lesbians 158
Sta3ang Well Informed 161
Research 161
Manners and Sensitivity 162
Working wdth CoUeagues 164
Summary 164
Review Questions 164
Exercises 165
11 Reporting Assignments 166
Fires 166
Accidents 169
Crime 170
Rape 171
Be a Watchdog 172
The Courts 173
Crirninal Courts 173
Reporter Access 174
Ci^^ Courts 174
Demonstrations 175
Riots 175
Disasters 176
The Terrorist Attacks of 9-11 177
Trying to Find a CBS Crew 182
Women Journalists at Ground Zero 183
How Not to Spend the Last Day of a Vacation 186
Just Go ... Go . .. Go! 187
Oklahoma City Bombing 188
The 2004 Tsunami 190
Tragedies 192
Violence 192
Schoolyard Shootings 193
Media Invade Small Community 194
Criticism of Media 195
Why Such Killings? 198
Don't Forget the Victims 199
Was the Reporting Excessive? 199
Violent Stories Also Cause Stress for Journalists 200
The Waco, Texas, Conflict 201
Was News Coverage Fair? 202
Government Control of Media 203
Could Media Involvement Have Changed the Outcome? .... 204
War Reporting: The Rules Have Changed 204
Embedded Journalists 205
The Private Lynch Fiasco 207
Are Reporters Acting too Much Like Soldiers? 209
Cheerleaders for the Military? 209
Journalist Deaths in Iraq . 210
The Tip of the Spear 213
Beats 220
Advancing the Story 222
Contents
Avoiding the Pack 222
Keeping in Touch 223
Establishing Rapport with the Camera person 223
One-Person Band 224
Convergence 225
Quality Suffers 227
Summary 228
Review Questions 228
Exercises 228
12 Covering Planned Events 229
News Conferences 229
Hard Questions 232
Local Government 233
Political Campaigns 236
Putting Comments into Perspective 239
Feature Stories 240
Summary 244
Review Questions 245
Exercises 245
13 Reporting Live 246
Organizing Thou^ts 246
Ad-Libbing 250
The Challenges of Electronic News Gathering 251
Keeping Cool 254
Memorizing and Delivering Live Reports 254
Changing Lens Shots 255
Summary 255
Review Questions 256
Exercises 256
14 Putting the Television Story Together 257
The Package 257
At the Scene 257
Taking Notes 258
Opening the Story 258
Good Pictures 258
Good Writing 259
Organizing the Story 264
Selecting Sound 265
Working with the Video Editor 266
The Voiceover 266
The Voiceover-Sound on Tape 267
Reporler Involvement 268
Summary 269
Review Questions 2(^9
Exercises 2
15 The Interview 2 1
Preparing for the Interview 271
Phrasing Questions Carefully 273
Contents ^
Avoiding Leading Questions 273
Listening Carefully 273
Warming Up the Head 274
The Tough Questions 274
The Surprise Questions 275
Questions to Ask Before the Interview 276
Keeping Control of the Interview 276
Asking Enough Questions 277
"Did I Forget Something?" 278
Off the Record 278
Curbing Nods and Smiles 279
The Phone Interview 279
Checking Facts 280
Some Other Tips 280
Check out Charlie 280
Summary 282
Review Questions 282
Exercises 283
16 Collecting Information from Documents 284
Public Records and the "Sunshine Laws" 284
Filing an FOIA Request 285
Supporting Wdeo 302
A Ne^ected Tool 304
The Privacy Act 305
Government Reports 305
Business Publications and Indexes 306
Trade Publications 306
Database Services 306
Great for Running Stories 307
Other Public Files 307
Police Records 308
Court Records 308
Birth and Death Records 308
Licenses 309
Land Records 309
Financial Records 309
Tax Records 310
City Directories 310
Summary 310
Review Questions 311
Exercises 311
17 Computer-Assisted Reporting for Broadcast 312
by Brant Houston
The Three Basic Tools 312
Online Resources 313
Search Engines and Guides 313
Finding People 314
Back grounding Businesses 315
on Disasters 316
Covering Beats 317
Downloading Databases 318
Spreadsheets 319
Using Downloaded Data 320
Database Managers 321
Searching 321
Summarizing 322
Comparing and Matching 324
Building Your Own Database 324
Acquiring Data 325
CAR Stories 325
Resources Needed 326
Summary 327
Review Questions 327
Exercises 327
18 Developing Sources 328
Tips 328
Confidentiality 328
Accuracy of Sources 329
Gaining Confidence 330
Making Friends 330
Leaks 331
The Clarence Thomas Case 332
Trial Balloons 334
Authoritative or Informed Sources 334
Background Briefings 334
Summary 335
Review Questions 335
Exercises 335
19 Specialty Reporting 336
Investigative Reporting 336
The Salt Lake City Scandal 337
Environmental Reporting 341
Business Reporting 350
Health and Medical Reporting 352
Consumer Reporting 355
Sports Reporting 357
Weather Reporting 361
Summary 366
Review Questions 366
Exercises 367
20 Ethics 368
Objectivity: Does the Media Have a Bias? 368
Is the Bias to the Left or the Right? 370
Gratuities 371
Conflict of Interest 372
Accuracy and Responsibility 372
Contents jciii
The Jason Blair Scandal 373
USA Today Also Has a Major Scandal 375
Libel 376
Defenses 377
False Li^t 377
Boundaries 378
Controversial Techniques 378
Hidden Cameras and Microphones 380
Case Studies Involving Ethical Issues 381
Case Study 1: A Mercy Killing on TV 381
Case Study 2: Food Lion Sues ABC 382
Case Study 3: ABC Stings the Cops 384
Case Study 4: CNN Retracts Its Stoiy 386
Case Study 5: CBS Nevus Also Retracts a Stoiy 387
Other Stories That Backfired 389
Ambush Interviews 390
Reenactments 391
Crime-Stoppers 392
Staging 392
Dateline Rigs a Truck 393
CBS Also Blows Up a Truck 393
"Unnatural" Soimd 394
Video Deception 394
Improper Editing 395
Avoiding Jump Cuts 395
Inflating the News 397
Will the Real Reporter Please Stand Up? 397
Summary 398
Review Questions 399
Exercises 399
21 More Ethical Issues 400
Cameras in the Courtroom 400
Pros and Cons 401
Do Cameras Influence Witnesses? 402
The Fourth Amendment 403
Don Hewitt Has Second Thoughts 405
Supreme Court Eases Rules—^A Bit 406
Checkbook Journalism 406
The Fairness Doctrine 407
Invasion of Privacy 408
Civic Journalism 409
Summary 413
Review Questions , . 413
Exercises 414
22 Tabloid Journalism 415
The Clinton-Lewinsky Scandal 415
Unconfirmed Reports Aboimd 417
Many Ways of Saying the Source Is Unreliable 418
JJV
Contents
White House Scolds The Wall Street Jownal 418
Media Gripped by Sniper Obsession 419
The JonBenet Ramsey Murder Case 422
A Young Congressional Intern Dies and a Congressman Loses
His Job 426
A Star Pro Basketball Player Is Accused of Sexual Assault 430
Are News Standards Dwindling? 431
33 Producing 433
The Producers 433
The Executive Producer 433
The Line Producer (Show Producer) 434
Associate Producers 434
Field Producers 435
The Staff Meetings 435
A Busy News City 435
Who's the Real Boss? 436
The Golden People 437
Philosophy 437
Ethics 437
The Rundown (Lineup) 438
Peaks and Valleys 439
Rhjdhm and Flow 440
A Difference of Opinion 441
More Producing Tips 442
Producers Need Good Writing Skills 442
Enthusiasm 444
Energy^ 445
Still Pictures 445
Live Shots 445
Back Timing 446
Bright Future 447
Summary 448
Review Questions 448
Exercises 448
24 Using the Hardware 449
Checking the Equipment 449
Batteries and AC Power 449
Tripods 450
Earphones 451
Filters 451
White Balancing 451
Mixed Light 452
Focusing 453
Time Coding 454
Shooting Techniques 454
Cover Footage 456
Establishing Shots 456
Contents ^
Sequential Shooting 457
Shooting Enough Footage 457
Recording Natural Sound 457
"Vddeophone Technologj^ 458
25 The Job Search in a Changing Industry 467
The Future of Broadcast News 468
The New Players 471
Demise of Radio News 471
Getting Started 472
"The Com Fields" 478
Education Is Essential 479
The Job Search 479
The Resume 481
References 481
Cover Letters 483
Writing Tests 483
The Job Interview 483
Minority Opportunities 485
Some Final Words 487
Glossary 488
Index 493