Queen Mary College

BS MASS COM SEMESTER 5SUBJECT • BROADCAST JOURNALISMTOPIC• RADIO NEWS V/S TV NEWSSUMMITED BY KIRAN IFTIKHAR AROOJ BILAL IZA FATIMA AYESHA NAWAZ

QUEEN MARY COLLEGE LAHORE

Contents: The common playing fields The difference Similar Tips for writing news for radio and TV Radio and Television bulletins Structuring the bulletins Writing for Television Conclusion

Radio News Vs Television News

The common playing fields:The two areas of telecommunication   radio and TV  have much in common. Both use electromagnetic air waves to transmit their signals. Apart from using terrestrial transmission Method both qualify to use microwave technology to link distant transmissions. Both are capable to use satellites for beaming their signals to any part of the world.It is very common for radio and TV to exploit sound and music effects to enhance value ofTheir products. 

The difference:The areas where radio and TV broadcast shows difference are many.

Script:The news script is also different as a radio news reader has to

describe the whole event through words and not to pause long whereas news reading (script)

for TV newsreel is punctuated with long pauses when footage of some event is shown.

News ticker:You can easily mark a ticker, a scroll bar at the bottom of the TV screen, continuously running during what ever the program is going on, to tell you latest routine news, and indeed about the breaking news.

Clock:A digital or analog clock would tell you about time

Announcements:A program is not finished, yet, an announcement of other programs is displayed. More announcements are also possible this way. All this is not possible on radio

Tele text:These days some TV channels also give in text form latest in the stock market, timings of trains, flights and inter-city buses, weather reports and many other activities through tele-text services, or simply displaying details pertaining to all these activities in text form somewhere on the screen. These reports may stay on the screen longer or flash at regular intervals of time

Direction:A radio producer is always concerned about the presence of talent, studio and the

Microphones. The voice quality and audio expressions are his prime concern along with the sound effects if they are required in a program. In comparison, director of a TV program is more concerned about the sets, color scheme of the scene, lighting arrangement, positioning of the microphone and entry of talents at various points of the program. Directors' concern radio voice/ sound mikes types, TV lights, colors, sets, contrasts, script Looks of anchorperson and sitting within the frame.

Pauses and gestures:In Radio, no pauses (FM) while in TV, pauses in voice, visuals includes while writing a script or performing. And gestures (nodding, hand movement) are also present in a TV news while something not like that in radio.

Similar tips for writing news for radio and TV: KISS

Keep it short and simple.

Use up-to-date tenses Do not use quotes Put attribution first (By putting the attribution up front, you are also making your

sentence more active, important for broadcast news.) Avoid unfamiliar words Repeat important words Keep punctuation simple Simplify numbers Avoid abbreviations

 Radio and television bulletins (production, making, principles)

Producing bulletins for radio, you can use similar techniques for television. The main difference is that television bulletins also include pictures, which have to be coordinated with the script. If you can understand the principles of producing radio bulletins, you can use them for television, adapting them to the style of your particular newsroom.

The principles of bulletin preparation

Radio bulletins are usually made up from three types of material:

written stories in the form of a script;

voice reports from journalists, either recorded or live;

Recorded sound called actuality. This is usually the sound of someone speaking, perhaps taken from an interview or a speech. A short segment of actuality is called a grab. Grabs are used in a similar way to quotes in a newspaper story. In some countries, grabs are called cuts or inserts.

Structuring the bulletin

Starting the bulletin:The start is the most important part of any radio bulletin. It determines whether or not your listeners will stay tuned. Just as the intro is the most important part of a news story, the lead item is the most important one in the bulletin. If your listeners find this boring, they will assume that there is nothing better to come and go out to dig the garden.

Headlines:Once you have decided on the order of stories, you should write some headlines for the bulletin. It is usual to start a long bulletin by headlining the major stories. This may not be necessary for a short, three-minute bulletin, but for longer bulletins your listeners will want to know what kind of stories they can expect.

Closing stories:Sometimes called tail-enders, closing stories are almost as important as lead stories. They are the last stories your listeners will hear and remember from the bulletin. You need to choose them carefully. However, because many listeners do not maintain their attention throughout the whole bulletin, you should not keep your best stories to the end.

Light or funny stories make the best tail-enders.

Closing headlines:With longer bulletins, you can use closing headlines to remind your listeners of stories they may (or may not) have heard 10 minutes earlier. Unlike opening headlines, which should attract your listeners to listen to the bulletin, closing headlines are simply there as a service, especially to listeners who may have tuned in late.

Music:Never use music as background to a news bulletin. It is distracting and ruins any variations in pace within the bulletin.A special theme should be used to announce the bulletin and may occasionally be used within the bulletin, perhaps to separate different segments. We call such short music inserts stabs or stings.

Writing for television:

Although most of the rules for broadcast writing (such as KISS) apply to both radio and television, there are a few additional factors to remember when writing for television . Making television news is a more complicated process than producing radio news - which can often be done by one person. Television always involves several people, performing specialist tasks such as camera operating, scriptwriting, bulletin presenting, directing, studio managing, lighting and sound mixing. Television also involves two simultaneous methods of presenting information - sound and vision. Of the two, vision is usually the most effective in giving details quickly.

Captions: The names and titles of speakers are usually written on the screen in captions. These must be simple and clear, so that your viewers do not have to spend much time reading them. Remember too that your viewers may not all be able to read.

Subtitles:

Subtitles are text versions of the spoken words in the bulletin or program. They usually run along the bottom of the screen so viewers can read them while still watching the pictures and listening to the words being spoken.

Stand-ups:One final word about writing for stand-ups. These are the times when a reporter speaks directly into the camera at the scene of the story. Each stand-up segment in news is normally about 10 or 20 seconds long, meaning that it can contain several sentences of spoken word. Some reporters write the words they will say in sentences on a notebook then read them out in front of the camera. However, this means that the reporter cannot look into the camera while also looking down to read from the notebook.

Conclusion:Radio would continue as medium as newspapers survived after radio, TV seems making advancementbut TV is an advanced form of radio visual added to voice... technical aspectsare more in common as compared between radio and newspapers. You can hear and see a program on TV but side by side you can see the clockFor timing, weather report temperatures, stock market rates, cricket match score a scroll belowTelling you all the latest and above all a breaking news, something not possible on radio.