7th Edition

Broadcast News and Writing Stylebook

By Robert Papper Copyright 2021
    368 Pages 3 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    368 Pages 3 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Broadcast News and Writing Stylebook is the go-to resource for writing broadcast news, offering readers the know-how to write excellent stories for television, radio, podcasts and online media.

    Through clear and concise chapters, this text provides the fundamental rules of broadcast news writing, teaching readers how to craft stories on government, crime, weather, education, health, sports and more. It covers the necessary mechanics news writers need to know, including the nuances of reporting, grammar, style and usage. This new seventh edition is updated with the latest on how stations incorporate online and social media strategies, as well as insights into the directions local news is headed. Author Robert A. Papper has over a quarter century of broadcast news and industry research experience and once again updates this vital text with the information necessary for being a successful news writer today. Also available for this edition is an Instructor’s Guide, found on the book’s webpage.

    Whether you’re a student seeking to learn the mechanics of successful broadcast news writing or a working professional looking for a definitive reference for your desk, Broadcast News and Writing Stylebook offers a comprehensive guide to writing for television, audio and beyond.

    1 Ethics, Legality and the RTDNA and SPJ Codes of Ethics

    Ethics

    Fake News and the Question of Whether Facts Are Facts

    Trust in the Media

    Ethical Decision-Making Starts at the Top

    Issues in Media Law

    The Radio-Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct

    The Sosiety of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics

    Summary

    Exercises

    2 The Business of News

    The Big Picture

    Newspapers * Radio * Online * TV

    The Scope of Media Use

    Media Use Is More Complex Than It Used to Be

    It’s Hard to Measure Media Use

    Ratings

    Where the Programs Come From

    Where the Money Comes From

    The Predicted Demise of TV

    A New Model for News?

    The New TV Newsroom

    So Where Are We Going?

    Summary

    Key Words and Phrases

    Exercises

    3 News

    What Is News?

    Balancing News Values

    Types of Stories

    Breaking News * Planned Event Reporting * Enterprise Reporting * Investigative Reporting * Special Segment Reporting * Features

    Where Story Ideas Come From

    The Assignment Desk

    Morning and Afternoon Meetings

    Innovation in TV News

    Following the News

    Summary

    Key Words and Phrases

    Exercises

    4 Digital First

    Why Social Media?

    Measuring Engagement and Driving Traffic

    What It Means on the Ground

    Think Mobile

    Apps

    OTT (Over the Top)

    A Final Note

    Summary

    Key Words and Phrases

    Exercises

    5 Research, Collecting Information and Bites

    Some Basic Terms and Concerns

    Research and the Web

    Interviewing

    Conducting Successful Interviews

    Understanding what makes good bites Plan * Listen * Technical Concerns * Make the Interviewee Comfortable * Ask Questions That Deliver What You’re After * Use Silence * Maintain Strong Eye Contact * Learn to Respond Inaudibly * Follow up and Clarify * Maintain Control * Ask for More ... Twice * Make Notes Afterward * Examples of Questions that Work … to Produce Bites

    Beyond the Interview

    Being Human * A Closing Thought

    Summary

    Key Words and Phrases

    Exercises

    6 Readability

    Broadcast News Writing

    Writing for the Ear vs. Writing for the Eye

    Rules of Readability

    Newsroom Computer System * The Slug * The Printed Word * Hyphenation Abbreviation * Symbols * Initials and Acronyms * Names * Numbers * Ages * Emphasis n Pronouncers * Spelling

    Summary

    Key Words and Phrases

    Exercises

    7 Words

    Keep It Simple

    Keep It Conversational

    Informal Words * Contractions * Formal Terminology People ... Not Persons

    Keep It Clear

    Common Usage * Technical Terms * Definite and Indefinite Articles

    Keep It Tight

    Make It Powerful

    Use Strong Nouns and Verbs * Avoid Weak Qualifiers

    Get It Right

    Grammar Says * Saying Too Much * Think

    Common Problems

    Summary

    Key Words and Phrases

    Exercises

    8 Phrases and Phrasing

    How to Say It

    Voice * Tense * Clarity * Conciseness * Clauses and Phrases * Positive Phrasing * Pronouns * That * Time and Space Problems

    What to Say

    Title and Identifiers * Attribution * Quotations * Numbers * Race

    What You Didn’t Mean to Say

    Dates * Unintended Meanings * Editorials n Clichés * Sexism * Personalization

    Last Note

    Summary

    Key Words and Phrases

    Exercises

    9 Sentences

    Keep It Short

    One Important Idea * Put People First * Keep It Simple: Subject-Verb-Object * Use Some Variety for Interest * Split Up Complex Sentences

    Make It Clean, Clear and Concise

    Make Every Sentence Count * Avoid Repetition n Stay Positive * Make Sense * End Strong

    Last Note

    Summary

    Key Words and Phrases

    Exercises

    10 Leads and Endings

    Types of Leads

    Hard Main Point Lead * Soft Main Point Lead * Throwaway Lead * Umbrella Lead * Delayed or Suspense Lead * Question Lead

    Figuring Out the Lead

    What’s the Story About? * Say Something Meaningful  n Keep It Simple * Start with New News * Focus on People * Focus on Local * Put Location in the Lead  n Be Direct and to the Point * Save the Name for Later  n Save the Day and Date for Later * Update Leads  n Responsibility  n Above All … Get It Right

    Types of Endings

    Future Ramification Close * Summary Point Close  n Information Close * Opposition Point of View Close  n Punch Line

    Summary

    Key Words and Phrases

    Exercises

    11 Stories

    Stories Are Like Music

    Plan and Focus

    Why Run the Story? * Do You Understand? * What’s the Story About?2 * What’s the Lead? * In What Order Do You Tell the Story?

    Story Logic

    Handling the Basics * Will It Stand on Its Own?  n Answer the Logical Questions

    Story Structure

    Make the Writing Structure Interesting

    Transitions

    Within Stories * Between Stories

    Before You’re Done

    Does the Story Support the Lead? * Will the Audience Understand? * Use Humor Sparingly * Read the Story Aloud

    Summary

    Key Words and Phrases

    Exercises

    12 Working With Bites, Actualities and Natural Sound

    The Feel of Natural Sound

    Natural Sound as Pacing and Punctuation

    Key Rules

    Don’t Stop the Story * Don’t Repeat * Watch out for Partial Lead-Ins * Making the Story Flow * Finding the Lead-In * Television Lead-Ins * Writing out of Bites An Alternative to Traditional Bites

    Packages

    Writing into Packages * Introducing a Package That Starts with a Bite * Understand Where the Story Begins * Package Tags

    Summary

    Key Words and Phrases

    Exercises

    13 TV: Story Forms

    Story Forms

    Readers * Voiceovers * VO/SOT * Packages * Live

    Putting Packages Together

    Pacing * Don’t Outdate Packages

    MMJ … VJ … One-Man-Band

    Live Reporting

    Planning * Crosstalk * Live Look

    Golden Rules

    Summary

    Key Words and Phrases

    Exercises

    14 TV: Working With Pictures

    The Power of the Visual Image

    Working with Strong Pictures * Working without Strong Pictures

    The TV Balancing Act

    Use Pictures and Words for What They Do Best * Use Natural Sound and SOT * Write TV Loosely * Coordinate Words and Pictures * Visualizing the Story

    Picture Cautions

    Use Meaningful Pictures * Today’s Pictures * Watch Your Supers

    Drones

    Strong Stories Have Central Characters and a Plot

    Prove Your Story

    The Element of Surprise

    Connecting With Truths

    Care About the Story

    Summary

    Key Words and Phrases

    Exercises

    15 Producing News on TV

    Overview

    Audience

    Audience Flow

    Newscast Structure

    News, Weather and Sports * Special Segments, Franchises and Features Story Repetition

    Building a Local Newscast

    Teases and Promos

    Promotion

    Tease … Don’t Tell

    Make Them Care

    Going Too Far

    Summary

    Key Words and Phrases

    Exercises

    16 Radio … Audio … Podcasts

    Radio Story Forms

    Drawing Radio Pictures

    The Words * Using Nat Sound * Listen to the Sound Quality * Putting It All Together

    Podcasts

    Summary

    Key Words and Phrases

    Exercises

    17 Social Media and News

    Social Media, Branding and the Reporter Workday

    Do Everything

    Be Everywhere … But Not Indiscriminately

    Amy Wood

    Use Each Social Medium for What It Does Best

    Facebook

    Facebook Live

    Twitter

    Instagram

    Beyond Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

    Crowdsourcing

    Blogging

    MMJ, Backpack Journalists and One-Man-Bands

    Twenty Survival and Growth Tips

    Taking Better Pictures

    The Bottom Line

    Summary

    Key Words and Phrases

    Exercises

    The Radio-Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) Social Media and Blogging Guidelines

    18 Online News

    The Information Website

    Content Management System

    Colleen Seitz

    Constructing Web News

    News on the Web * Web Design * Online Headlines * Online Stories * Online Writing Style  

    Beyond Text and Pictures

    Data Visualization * Charts & Graphs * Maps * Pictures * Audio * Other * Tips  

    Multimedia

    Mobile

    Video

    Podcasts

    Hyperlocal News

    SEO & Keywords

    Other Issues

    Summary

    Key Words and Phrases

    Exercises

    19 News, Weather and Sports

    Why News, Weather and Sports?

    Reporting Weather

    Severe Weather * Careers in Weather

    Defining Weather Terms

    Reporting Sports

    Reporting Sports Stories * Reporting Scores * Play by Play   n Local Sports n Common Mistakes

    Sports and Teams

    Auto Racing * Baseball--Major Leagues * Basketball--National Basketball Association * Basketball--Women’s National Basketball Association * Boxing * Football--National Football League * Football--Canadian Football League * Golf * Hockey--National Hockey League * Soccer-- Major League Soccer Ultimate Fighting Championship--UFC

    20 Reporting: Seasonal Coverage and the Calendar

    Seasonal Reporting

    Solar and Lunar and the World’s Major Religions

    Calendar Holidays

    Buddhist Holidays * Hindu Holidays * Muslim Holidays

    State Holidays

    21 Reporting: The GA and Specialized Coverage

    The General Assignment Reporter

    Business, Economy and Taxes

    Top Money Terms

    Crime and Legal

    Attribution * Alleged * Misplaced Attribution * Cautions * Get the Terms Right * Top Crime and Legal Terms

    Education

    Top Education Terms

    The Environment

    Top Environment Terms

    Geography

    Major U.S. Geographic Terms * Voice of America Pronunciation Guide * Major World Geographic Terms

    Government

    Top Government Terms

    Heath and Medicine

    The Patient Protection and Affordable Care act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 * HIPAA * Hospital Conditions * Top Health and Medical Terms

    22 TV Script Form, Supers and Glossary

    Abbreviations

    Script Form

    Standard Anchor Read * Standard 2-Shot * Standard Anchor Read with Gfx * Anchor with Voiceover * Anchor with VO/SOT * Anchor VO/SOT with Package Intro

    Supers

    Names * Location, Date and Miscellaneous

    Glossary of Broadcast and Online Terms

    Biography

    Robert A. Papper is Adjunct Professor at the Newhouse School at Syracuse University. A graduate of Columbia College and the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, he has worked as a producer, writer and manager at television stations in Minneapolis, Washington, DC, San Francisco, Columbus, Ohio and radio stations in Maine and Indiana. He has won both the top award in broadcast journalism (duPont-Columbia) and the top award in broadcast journalism education (Ed Bliss Award).

    PRAISE FOR PREVIOUS EDITIONS

    "This book will teach you how to tell a visual story well, using all the tools. The new edition of Bob Papper's classic shines a light for the digital age and will show you the way."  

    Bob Dotson, former NBC News National Correspondent and New York Times best selling author 

    "Papper’s text has long earned accolades as a comprehensive and engaging guide to broadcast reporting, covering everything from interviewing to ethics, from writing for the ear to writing for the eye, from effective narrative techniques to the basics of proper usage and grammar. For those of us teaching Broadcast Journalism during these rapidly changing times in news, this new edition is a terrific addition to our teaching toolkit."

    Judy Muller, Professor, USC Annenberg School, USA

    "This edition has excellent tips for writing sound broadcast news copy and has now been updated with information from Papper’s outstanding surveys of the news industry, advice from professional journalists, as well as ideas on the best practices for using new technology such as drones."

    G. Stuart Smith, Professor, Hofstra University, USA

    "This latest edition of Papper's well-respected style manual for broadcast news comes only two years after the previous release. Papper restructured the manual to forefront fundamentals of broadcast journalism, beginning with a chapter on ethics. Modest revisions follow....The manual is strongest when it remains focused on the details of style and usage elaborated by real-world examples....While the title suggests an audience limited to students of broadcast news, the style and usage sections of the manual have value for writers of any discipline composing podcasts or other new media work."

    G. Wilsbacher, University of South Carolina