Remember the four characteristics of media writing

• accuracy
• completeness
• efficiency
• precision

Writing for audio emphasizes efficiency. But efficiency should not come at the expense of any of the other characteristics.

Efficiency is one of the most prized writing characteristics. Efficiency means using the fewest words to present you information accurately and clearly. Efficiency is difficult to achieve because

• most of us write inefficiently, especially on first draft
• most of use do not do a good job in editing our writing
• the world is filled with inefficient writing, and we often fall victim to it.

As you begin learning to write for audio (and video), you must understand what you are writing about so you will know

• what is important
• what is essential
• what is necessary for your story to make it understandable
• what can make it interesting
• what you can leave out

 

Differences in writing for broadcast and writing for print

So far in this course, you have learned some of the customs and conventions for writing for print. In this section, some of the conventions will change. Here’s how:

• Writing for the ear. What you are writing will often be heard rather than read. As you get into writing for audio, this difference will become more apparent and more important.
  
  
• Clarity. That is, when what you write is read aloud, it must be immediately understood. The writing must be structured to enhance this clarity.
  
  
• Brevity. There won’t be as many words, particularly if you are writing scripts for news stories or other presentations formats. But those words must be carefully chosen.
  
  
• Different style rules. Audio and video journalism writing doesn’t always follow AP style. In fact, there are some important differences. You will have to learn what they are.
  
  
• Time. You might write your copy so that it can be read aloud in a certain time period. For most stories, that is 30 seconds or less.
  
  
Present tense. You will be using it more in writing news stories for audio and video. We’ll discuss that more completely later. Still mixed up about tenses? Check the section on that in the GSPD guide.


Attribution. Attribution in news stories will be handled differently.


Details. There will be fewer of them.


pro•NUN•see•A•shun. You must pay attention to the way words sound together. (For instance, too many ‘s’ sounds can be difficult to say aloud: She sells sea shells by the seashore.) You must also include phonetic spellings for unusual or unfamiliar words.

 

Getting started

We will start with some of the standard news forms that come from broadcast journalism.

Remember, the key to all good writing for the mass media is to understand what you are writing about. Broadcast writing is no different. The writer has to understand thoroughly the information that must be presented. Then the writer has to begin asking some questions:

• What is the dominant theme?
• What facts illuminate or help develop this theme?
• What is the principal impression I want to leave with the viewer?
• What is the most significant or interesting part of this story?
• What is necessary for understanding this story?
• What can I leave out?

 

Dramatic unity

The major structure of writing that we will learn for audio and video journalism is called dramatic unity. That is a structure that allows us to tell a story quickly and without a lot of detail.

The dramatic unity structure has three parts: climax, cause and effect. The structure is usually represented by a circle, symbolizing the fact that all of these parts are necessary for a good story. (Remember when we talked about the inverted pyramid structure? We said that some of the least important information might be eliminated. That’s not the case with dramatic unity. You don’t eliminate any part of it.)

Climax – the end of the story; the most important thing that happened; the most dramatic thing that happened. That comes first.

Cause – why did it happen? what are the circumstances under which it occurred? what are the facts that can illuminate the climax and help the reader understand what happened and why?

Effect – explain the outcome, the effect or the future of the event; try to bring this story to a satisfying conclusion.

Take a look at the example on the right. You should note several major differences in writing style from what we have previously practiced in this course. What are some of those? What else do you see in this story that we have not discussed yet?

Examples

Climax -- what is most important or dramatic of the story? Remember when we talked about news writing, we discussed things that should almost always be in a lead paragraph or near the top of a story: people killed or injured, property damage, large numbers of people affected by an event, etc. The same thing -- and many of the same rules -- apply to broadcast writing.

The city has delayed a seven hundred thousand dollar drainage project in the Coventry and Lakeshore Drive areas. City officials say they need approval for the project from the Army Corps of Engineers.

Cause -- what are the facts that will expand or develop the climax of the story? In this sense, “cause” doesn’t necessarily what caused the event. Rather, it means what can you say that will help the listener to understand the event better. For instance, in the example below -- the next part of the story begun above -- what is said is not the “cause,” but it does help the listener to understand this story better.

The city has planned this project for months without knowing it needed Corps approval. But today the city engineer announced that federal regulations require plans be submitted to the Corps.

Effect -- what information can bring this story to a conclusion? Again, we are not necessarily talking about an “effect” in the sense of cause-and-effect. We are simply looking for a way to bring the story to a conclusion.

That action could delay the project for six months. Residents say they are surprised and disappointed that the work won’t begin soon.

This was a difficult story to write. It was a story that had a lot of complexity and detail that could not be included. For instance, the residents had been waiting for several years to have this work down. While that was implied in the story, it could not be explicitedly stated. Another thing that the story leaves out is why the city is suddently finding out that the Corps of Engineers has to approve a project.

This story could be improved in several ways. Look at the last sentence. It contains five (count ‘em, five) sibilants -- residents, say, surprised, disappointed, soon. Some of these words may be necessary, or they may not have good substitutes. Still, this story could use some judicious editing and even rewriting.

Practice, practice, practice

Now it’s time for you to put some of the things we have discussed in this lecture into practice. This web site contains several exercises on which you can practice. So does the textbook. So does your daily newspaper. Try taking some locally written story and writing a 30-second (about the length of the story on the left) broadcast news story out of it.

Good luck.