WRITING NEWS
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Remembering my News Writing Professor’s exact words: “News writing is a key skill for journalists, but it helps with other types of writing as well. That’s because news writing is about telling a story quickly and concisely” made me realize a few things, one, I’m in big trouble. Kidding aside, I always think that every news reporter, be it from print of broadcast media has this sense of responsibility to deliver the truth.
“Learning how to write news for radio broadcasting can be a challenge because it is a format that has its own rules. First and foremost, radio news scripts are written for listeners, not readers or viewers” these were the words that came out from our News Director. As I think about it the news reports that I have to make should be clear and simple and is aimed toward the listener. With it, I had to outline and determine the key element of a story and it’s essential components, the simple 5W and 1H at that starting with a Lead Sentence to grab the listener’s attention. The details should be concise and accurate with the lead. Radio news stories are typically 100 to 300 words, based on the amount of time dedicated to the story. 100 words equates to approximately 30 seconds of air time. Fact-check the script and review your grammar. Present the script to a copy-editor that might find mistakes you overlooked.
