Writing news for a TV broadcast story needs a distinct character of presentation, unlike their counterparts. It should be written in a different style to catch the user’s attention. The TV story presentation has been developed since a long and it is quite different from the 90s style where attention was paid only to the news and no graphics were added. To make your story to be recognized one must add elements that catch the viewer’s eye and echo in the viewer’s ears even after the news is over.
Here are some tips for writing for broadcast to help you get the most value from viewers:
1: Add Lucidity In Writing Style
To stay on top of the coverage writers must ensure that the news teaser should be catchy that grab the viewers’ attention. Focus on creating a headline in not more than three words. Most of the news that keeps running on TV broadcasts are either controversial issues or political campaigns. This high coverage news needs to have clarity during the presentation to the audience and that is why it is essential to keep the news content clear and well understandable. Have detailed and in-depth knowledge of the news before broadcasting it to the public. If the footage, latest video, or any archived video is available to support your news it will be the cherry on the top.
2. Short Sentences And Summarized Words
Unlike online news broadcasting where readers can view and read the news as many times as they want TV broadcasting requires a clear tone while delivering the news because it is played only once and there is no rewind facility. Reading with clarity and in a high tone helps viewers to get a good grasp of the news. The writing style should be such that the audience feels the reporter is talking to them and the flow of information should be like a discussion rather than just expressive.
3. Add Visuals To The Story
As already mentioned above, while writing the narration of the story, the writer should be provided with news graphics to support the story. The reporter should collect exact evidence in the form of audio or visuals to present the news to prove the story’s authenticity. If the graphics or videos are missing, the story is of no use and the audience will not engage with the reader. The audio and video can be collected from any source like social media or sometimes even a graphical illustration in terms of any accidents that can play an important role while delivering the news.
4. Use Active Voice Instead Of Passive Voice
There is a huge difference between writing the news in active voice and in passive voice. To have a positive effect of the news on the audience, the writer must consider writing the news piece in an active voice. Active voice highlights the importance and urgency of the news, thus making the audience glued to the TV. Consider playing the news, “the teenage boy opens fire on the college student” and “mass shooting on college students”. Do you see the difference?
Conclusion
There is a cut-throat competition in the Television industry and the best way of presenting the news to your TV audience is to show them the freshest news with graphics and videos. The latest news has much more impression on the viewers. To make them tune into a program, the news content should be written in a simple conversational tone and in the present tense. They should feel the experience of the storytelling rather than just passing the time with the boring news. The TV broadcast journalist and reporters must create content that inspires your audience to feel something.
