TV News Writing

1
TV News Writing Reporting

• Last weeks writing exercise
• Simple Anchor Read of 20
• From Mervin Block Writing Broadcast News
  shorter, sharper, stronger
• Key is to digest the story
• And boil it down to its essence
• TV News is all about simplifying

2
Writing Exercise 1

• Mervins version
• A fire swept through one of Americas biggest
  libraries today. The Central Los Angeles Library
  was damaged severely. Thousands of books were
  destroyed. 250 firemen fought the fire. 22 of
  them were hurt. Firemen were hampered because
  they tried to hold down the use of water to
  minimize damage to books.

3
Elements of TV News

• Headlines, teases, readers or links, std/VO,
  newsroom VO Pkg (packages), reports or pkgs from
  the field, two-ways, live shots with reporters,
  doughnuts or sandwiches, walk throughs, studio
  chats, and many more TV news presentation devices
• Each with distinctive writing or presentation
  styles

4
The edited TV News Package

• A PGK is a story
• May be pre-planned or reactive to a hard news
  story
• If pre-planned feature researched, set up,
  structured, shot, written, voiced, edited,
  broadcast or transmitted

5
The edited TV News Package

• Contains GV or B-roll picture
• Good pictures
• A profile of a person or persons?
• Interviews which become sound bites or SOTS
• A Stand up or PTC
• A written VO narration or voice track
• Effects or graphics

6
TV News Writing Styles

• American and British styles
• Writing differences
• Pacing
• Use of sound

7
CBS News Package

• Use the format for your future stories
• Follow along as you watch the CBS story
• Questions afterwards
• Examples
• ABC News and CBS News America
• BBC and ITV in Britain

8
More packages Good Bad

• Using Reuters and APTN
• A typical weather or disaster story
• Comparing two bits of writing
• Hurricane Rita September 2005
• TVB vs BBC which had a reporter on the scene
• Your reaction (show 2 pkgs)

9
Tips from the American Pros

• University Southern California
• Annenberg School
• This video from 1995
• The technology is old, some of the TV News people
  are no longer working
• But the principals are sound
• Watch and listen dvd

10
Watching TV News

• Observe writing styles
• BBC World
• http//www.bbcworld.com/Pages/default.aspx
• SKY News and ITV News, Britain
• American Networks
• ABC 730 am on TVB Pearl
• http//abcnews.go.com/wn
• CBS 730 am on ATV
• http//www.cbsnews.com/

11
Watching TV News

• FOX News (on cable)
• CNN
• http//edition.cnn.com/video//video/nitn.intl/lat
  est/nitn.intl
• NBC
• http//www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/22687700
• TVB Pearl ATV World in Hong Kong
• 730 pm and late in English

12
Watching TV News

• Other English language TV News
• ABC Australia, Channel 7 9 TVNZ
  http//www.abc.net.au/news/video/
• Al Jazeera English News ch 34 I cable
• Singapore Channel News Asia
• India Eight English language channels
• including NDTV, Times Now, CNN-IBN,
• Headlines Today, CNBC
• CCTV 9 Beijing

13
Writing Exercise

• From Associate Press TV News
• Chinese medicine secret of long life.
• APTN information sheet
• Video ftp or podomatic site ??
• Write an anchor lead-in
• Write a one minute 45 second pkg
• According to format
• E-mail to jlaurie_at_hku.hk before Feb. 9