Various media platforms have an impact on news coverage
in their respective fields according to their advantages and disadvantages.
Learning writing for different news media platforms is the aim of this section.
·
Reporting for
Print Media News
·
Reporting for
Radio News
·
Reporting for Television News
·
Reporting for
Web Media
INTRODUCTION
Five main
categories can be used to classify the news media: Print (magazines and
newspapers), electronic (radio and television), and internet (Online news portals / websites).
The news is
presented to us in different ways by various media, but the essential facts and
fundamental journalistic principles are always the same. The way that news is
packaged and distributed differs in terms of style and format.
In this chapter we will learn
about the difference in news coverage for various media formats like print,
Television, Radio and Online media. We will discuss about basics of language
and style used in reporting for various media platforms.
WHY REPORTING FOR VARIOUS MEDIA DIFFER
When creating
stories, different media platforms may report the same news in different ways.
The demand of the media and the target audience is what causes the differences
in reporting,
. For example, the print media relies more on words
and photographs, whereas the television news requires visuals or videos, the
radio news is delivered in the form of sound and the online news can present
the news using all word, video, audio and photographs.
In print news, where space is the concern,
a sentence can be about 20-25 words, whereas in broadcast news, where time is a
concern, a sentence usually contains 10-15 words. Similarly, People don't read information on the Web in the same
way as they read a newspaper or watch television or listen to the radio.
By the public
demand
newspapers, radio, television and online media to adopt different reporting
style. For example, we receive a newspaper every day and it remains unchanged
throughout the day. We can reread the story as much as we want. But in case of
Television or Radio, the timing is important. The news need to have immediate
feel. Reporting must be done on things that are happening now. Each news medium
embodies a unique regime of content creation.
The processing
of news in our brain is different in case of broadcast media and that in a newspaper /
online media. Broadcast media like TV or Radio give only once chance to
see/hear and understand the story. If anyone misses the particular visual, in
case of TV, or audio, in case of Radio, then the whole news may not be
understood. Whereas in case of the newspaper, even online media the reader can
linger over a story or go back and re-read if something is not clear.
However, for a
newspaper reporter the deadline is fixed, since newspapers are printed
once a day. This gives more time to the newspaper reporter to write their story and more in-depth reporting. Similarly,
the Television has the advantage of showing video and hence required fewer
words than print. Websites news reporting can cover text, audio, and video
information, all of the ways traditional media are transmitted. Unlike the
television or newspaper, the web news portals have more interactive approach by
allowing people to personally tailor the news they receive via various tools.
Different media has
different approach to influence their respective audience. The audience's
perceptions of authenticity and accuracy in television news are influenced by
the speaker's tone, appearance, gender, and attire. Likewise, the voice tone
has an impact on radio news. Perceptions are instantly formed by people
depending on what they hear or see. However, readers of print and internet
media are not aware of the reporter's physical characteristics. They can only
infer the reporter's gender from the byline. In this case, the audience is
influenced by the reporting ability and caliber of the material.
REPORTING FOR PRINT MEDIA & NEWS AGENCIES
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The oldest type
of media is print, which includes periodicals, newspapers, and other printed
news sources. Even though the number of individuals reading print media is
decreasing globally, many people still regularly read news magazines or
newspapers. For this reason, print media is important. People who regularly
read print media are more involved in society and politics. People who can read
and write use print media, thus those who read it are typically well-educated.
News is
gathered, processed, and produced by print media and delivered daily in only
one direction. It has a set delivery frequency, such as a newspaper being
printed and distributed once a day and a magazine being produced and delivered
once a week. It can be geographically selective, which allows it to thoroughly
cover a certain geographic area. Print media facilitates the communication of
complex information since it is physically delivered to readers and allows for
rereading. However, the use of motion and sound is limited in print media.
Newspaper messages vie with one another to catch readers' attention.
The reader scan the headlines
on a page, before reading a story. If the headline creates interest, the reader
goes to the first paragraph. If that also proves interesting, the reader continues. The readers have the luxury
to select the page or news to
go through, skipping others in a newspaper.
The basic structure of a
print media report consists of three main elements: Headline,headline Lead and Body.
1.
Hard
news does not have any conclusion. The headline has to be very good and
appropriate to create readers’ interest.
2.
Active
and meaningful verbs should be used in writing the headline.
3.
Articles
and helping verbs should be avoided.
4.
It
is generally written in present tense and future tense as far as possible
and in active voice.
5.
Certain parts
of direct speech, which are significant enough,
can be used in the headline. It is put in single quotes.
The lead or intro is the next
important part after headline, in print news. In most hard news stories, the
lead contains the most important information and summarises the story. types of lead
It usually contains the most
important of the 5 Ws and 1H. The lead
has to be very precise and pin
pointed, and the language crisp and easily understandable. Action verbs should
be used to give the reader the best picture of what happened. We have various type of lead.
The details of the news story
are given in the body of the news. Most of the hard news is written in inverted
pyramid style. This style is important for both editing and reading.
https://wecommunication.blogspot.com/2016/07/the-inverted-pyramid-news-story.html
Accordingly, the more
important details are in the early part of the news and the less significant
details are placed towards the end, in diminishing order of importance.
The body of the news is
mostly written in present tense in order to emphasize timeliness.
When a news stories that
speak about events that will take place in the future are, auxiliary verb is
used.
In stories where the actual
time of an event is not known or is not important, the present perfect form of
the verb is preferred.
Print news stories use an inverted pyramid
structure with the most important items (the facts of the story) reported in
the first paragraph. Remaining facts are then presented in descending order of
importance.
Broadcast and print news
stories differ in length and pace. The average print new piece can vary greatly
in length, the reader who dictates the pace of reading. Since print
media is geographically specific, news from a particular geography gets
priority in such media.
REPORTING FOR RADIO
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Radio is oldest news medium, after
print media and us accessible to wider sections
of the society. Even people who cannot read or who are staying
remote part of the country
can access radio
news. It is available in villages as well as in cities. According to UNESCO It is “the mass medium that reaches the
widest audience in the world”.
Compared to newspapers and
television, radio is inexpensive to produce and distribute. it is also the
easiest form of broadcasting to produce. Anyone with an ability to talk can
take part in a radio broadcast. It
can transmit on a local level, in regional language, addressing issues of
importance to local listeners. It can be interactive using telephone or SMS.
1.
However,
the radio newscast is consumed sequentially. Listeners have to wait.
2.
Similarly,
in a radio newscast if a news report is confusing, the listeners cannot rewind
and re- read the story as it happens in case of newspapers. They have to
comprehend the news at once. They cannot
go back. That’s why, clarity in both sentence
length and word choice is important in radio news reporting.
3.
Radio
of course needs reporting that is for the listener’s ear, rather than the
reader’s eye; sentences must be crisp and short.
4.
In
radio, a complete story is called ‘wrap’ and its duration varies from 30 second
to 90 seconds.
5.
It includes of the reporter’s narration, also
called “track,” and often includes sound bites and natural sound, sound that
occurs naturally on location.
6.
The script contains less information than a
print story, so the picture building is very important.
7.
The
radio report with audio is an informative bulletin about current affairs and
does not includes opinion. The reporter speaks during the report – providing
the voice-over.
8.
The addition of various pieces of recorded material (known as audio clips, cuts,
or sound bites) makes the report more lively, authentic, and interesting. These
additional pieces can be statements from interviewees, statements made at press
conferences, or other recorded material.
9.
Unlike
newspaper readers, radio news listeners are hardly, attentive. Usually, people
listen to radio while doing something else.
10. The radio listeners are often driving,
working, or engaged in some task other than absorbing the latest news. Hence
radio news stories are told in familiar words
combined into sentences, which run at comfortable lengths
in a conversational style.
11. Radio news is shorter than
newspaper news and hence requires comprehension and filtration of facts while
writing the news.
12. The lead in a radio news
introduces the listeners to the broadcast item they are about to hear – whether
this is a news report, interview, bulletin, or longer report. It focuses on the
essence of the broadcast item to follow, avoiding too many facts and figures.
13. However, the content of the
lead-in should always have relevance and appeal for the listeners and it should
not double up on any of the information in the actual broadcast item.
14. The Radio lead consists of
three parts. The “ear catcher” should arouse the interest and curiosity of the
listener. Then there is an introduction that broadly addresses the topic that
the following report will cover; this part of the lead-in will also connect the
radio presenter to the report and the
rest of the radio program.
15. The presenter uses basic
storytelling principles and can be freer in how they introduce the item.
16. The radio news writing style
includes the choice of simple words with short declarative sentences, since the
listeners have no opportunity to go back and hear it again.
17. Sentences in a radio news
story generally contain just one idea and do not contain multiple clauses and
internal clauses. Jargons or highly technical words are also avoided.
Principles of writing for broadcast media
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ONLINE Writing
https://wecommunication.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-syntax-of-online-writing.html
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