Introduction to Media Writing

7/31/2019 Introduction to Media Writing

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Introduction to Media Writing.

This course is about writing -- first and foremost, how to write well in a

professional environment. Secondly, its about how learning how to write in

the major forms of writing for various mass media.

This course is important -- possibly one of the most important that you will

take. Why?

Writing is central to all media industries.

Writing is the mark of a well educated person.

Writing is a powerful activity. The ability to control and articulate ideas

and information gives you power over what other people know and think

about.

Whats different?

"But Ive had English 101 and 102. Why do I need this course?"

This course is different from all other writing course that you have had in two

important ways:

First, we emphasize information. The major purpose of writing for the mass

media is to present information.

Second, one of the purposes of this course is to teach you how to write in a

professional environment. That is, we want you to understand what the

demands of professionalism are and what you will need to meet those

demands.

Third, writing in a media environment usually means writing for a mass

audience. Chances are, a lot of people are going to read or hear or see what

you write (not just your English professor). Understanding that audience is a


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big part of learning to write for the mass media.

Finally, there is the concept ofmodesty. By that we mean that good writing

for the mass media puts the writer in the background and emphasizes instead

the content of the writing. An audience doesnt care what you think or how

you feel about what you are writing. The audience wants information, and it

wants that information presented accurately, completely, efficiently and

precisely.

Four characterictics of media writing

And those are the four characteristics of media writing

accuracy

completeness

efficiency

precision

Accuracy is the chief requirment of a writer for the mass media. This is not

just a journalists requirement. All writers are expected to present informaiton

accurately and to take some pains in doing so. Many of the procedures for

writing for the mass media are set up to ensure accuracy.

Completeness means that you should present your information in a context

so that it can be easily understood by a mass audience. It should be clear and

coherent. Your writing should answer all of the questions that could be

expected by the audience. (Not all of the questions that could be asked, but all

those that it takes to understand the information.)

Efficiency is one of the most prized writing characteristics. Efficiency means


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using the fewest words to present you information accurately and clearly.

Efficiency is difficult to achieve because

most of us write inefficiently, especially on first draft

most of use do not do a good job in editing our writing

the world is filled with inefficient writing, and we often fall victim to it.

Precision means that as a writer, you take special care with the language.

You know good grammar and practice it. You use words for precisely what

they mean. You develop a love for the language.

As a developing professional, you should strive to make your writing

satisfactory, to your audience and to you as a writer

engaging, so that the audience will stop, attend

powerful, so you can make a difference in the lives of your readers and

listeners

The defining moment in the history of radio was at 12.30pm on 12 December

1901 when the three dots of the Morse letter "S", transmitted from Poldhu in

Cornwall, were received in St John's Newfoundland.

The technology involved was evolutionary - similar to that beginning to be

used over modest distances already, albeit much more powerful. What was

revolutionary, however, was the belief that radio would follow the curve of the

earth over such great distances, and that it was worth spending considerable

time, effort and money to demonstrate it. Guglielmo Marconi proved the

doubters wrong.

Born and educated in Italy, Guglielmo Marconi spent most of his working life in

Britain. He was attracted here because he found the British open to new ideas

and able to provide the high quality of scientific and engineering support he


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needed. In that respect he was a social pioneer too - an early inward investor

to the UK and an early international, as opposed to colonial, businessman.

100 years later, the growth of radio has been dramatic - almost unimaginable

amounts of traffic flow through every part of the radio spectrum, from satellite

communications to very short range devices. The regulation in the UK of

Guglielmo Marconi's legacy rests with the Radiocommunications Agency; we

are proud to be its custodians.

Our job is to ensure that the potential of the spectrum is fully realised and that

all the different radio services can co-exist in an orderly way, both in the UK

and overseas. It was Guglielmo Marconi who proved that radio was the

international communications medium; the Agency and similar bodies around

the world have taken up his challenge to make international communications

work.

Radio is a fascinating medium. The amateur community keeps alive Guglielmo

Marconi's experimental tradition and business sees radio as the life blood of

enterprise and economic development. Whatever the use of radio, the

Radiocommunications Agency is working to ensure that Guglielmo Marconi'slegacy is exploited for the benefit of all.

History

RADIO - THE MILESTONES

1873 James Clerk Maxwell identifies electromagnetic waves with light as

their visible manifestation1887Heinrich Hertz demonstrates the existence of radio waves, predicted

by Maxwell

1894 Sir Oliver Lodge unveils a "coherer" to detect radio waves, and

demonstrates that radio could be used for signalling


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1895 GUGLIELMO MARCONI DEVELOPS A MORE PRACTICAL

MEANS OF SENDING AND RECEIVING RADIO SIGNALS, BUT THE

ITALIAN AUTHORITIES ARE UNIMPRESSED

1896 Marconi demonstrates his system in Britain, and files his first

patent

1898First use of radio in naval manoeuvres

1899First international radio communication, between England and France

1899First distress call, from the East Goodwin lightship

1901 FIRST TRANSATLANTIC COMMUNICATION, BETWEEN

CORNWALL AND NEWFOUNDLAND

1904Ambrose Fleming invents the thermionic valve, improving the

performance of radio receivers

1904 Government introduces radio licence fees on the basis of

recovering administrative costs

1906 Lee de Forest adds an extra element to Fleming's diodes, his

triodes improve reception and allow amplification

1906Crystals identified as a good detector of radio signals. In the early

1920s the crystal set, adjusted by the "cat's whisker" (fine wire) became a

low-cost way of receiving early broadcasts1909 1,700 people rescued from the SS Republic: the Marconi radio

operator sent 200 signals to guide rescuers

1910 WIFE-KILLER DR CRIPPEN ARRESTED WHILE FLEEING TO

CANADA

1912 700 RESCUED FROM THE TITANIC - "THOSE WHO HAVE

BEEN SAVED HAVE BEEN SAVED THROUGH ONE MAN, MR MARCONI"

SAID LORD SAMUEL, POSTMASTER GENERAL

1918Wireless Telegraphy Board created to co-ordinate moves to avoid

radio interference

1920First advertised broadcasts in Britain, including a June recital by Dame

Nellie Melba


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1922Marconi Company sets up London broadcasting station - 2LO - that

was subsequently taken over by the British Broadcasting Company (later

Corporation)

1925 Westinghouse Company in Pittsburgh starts international

broadcasting

1925John Logie Baird demonstrates television at Selfridges

1929Marconi's network linking Britain with Argentina, Brazil, the USA and

Canada becomes Cable and Wireless Ltd

1932 BRITISH EMPIRE SERVICE - FORERUNNER OF THE BBC

WORLD SERVICE - BROADCASTS FROM DAVENTRY

1932Marconi installs first microwave telephone link between the Vaticanand the Pope's official residence

1932 International Telegraph Union (ITU) becomes International

Telecommunication Union reflecting its role in radio communications

1936 BBC Television Service begins (but is suspended during the war)

1937 Guglielmo Marconi dies in Italy: wireless stations observe two-

minutes radio silence

1945Arthur C Clarke proposes geostationery satellites for global

communications

1947 ITU becomes a specialised agency of the United Nations, creates the

International Frequency Registration Board

1949Wireless Telegraphy Act gives management of the radio spectrum to

the General Post Office

1952Start of ITU technical co-operation activities

1952Single television standard of 625 lines at 50 frames/second proposedfor Europe

1953Radio Amateurs Emergency Network (RAYNET) formed by the Radio

Society of Great Britain following extensive flooding

1955 ITV begins broadcasting


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1957 FIRST SATELLITE - SPUTNIK 1 - GOES INTO ORBIT

1962Telstar satellite allows live transatlantic television transmissions

1964 BBC2 BEGINS BROADCASTING

1966Live pictures broadcast from the moon

1967Marine Broadcasting Offences Act makes it illegal to advertise on

pirate stations like Radio London and Radio Caroline

1967Radio 1 begins broadcasting

1967BBC2 introduces colour

1969BBC1 and ITV introduce colour

1969Post Office Act moves radio spectrum management to the Ministry of

Posts and Telecommunications

1971First World Telecommunication Exhibition and Forum in Geneva

1973 Independent radio begins in the UK

1974Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications dissolved - radio spectrum

management moves to the Radio Regulatory Division of the Home Office

1982 CHANNEL 4 BEGINS BROADCASTING

1983World Communications Year

1983Radio Regulatory Division moves from Home Office to Department of

Trade and Industry1984Telecommunications Bill splits GPO and creates British Telecom and

Oftel

1985Cellnet and Vodafone offer cellular phones

1986DTI's Radio Regulatory Division becomes Radiocommunications

Division

1989Sky satellite television begins

1990 RADIOCOMMUNICATIONS AGENCY FORMED UNDER THE

GOVERNMENT'S NEXT STEPS PROGRAMME

1992 Independent national radio begins with Classic FM

1992Rabbit telepoint service begins in May

1993First World Radiocommunication Conference and Assembly in Geneva

1993Rabbit telepoint service ends in December


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1993Private Business Radio licensing moves from London to the regions -

the start of devolved licensing

1994Orange launches PCN services

1994 CELLNET LAUNCHES DIGITAL (GSM) SERVICE

1996White Paper on Spectrum Management into the 21st Century

proposes that licences should reflect the economic value of the spectrum (see

1904)

1997Channel 5 begins broadcasting

1997Digital standards agreed

1998Wireless Telegraphy Act 1998 introduces spectrum pricing based on

economic value not administrative cost

1998Digital broadcasting begins

2000UK Third generation mobile phone auction

2000 PLANS ANNOUNCED FOR AN OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS

- OFCOM -

2001 THE MARCONI CENTRE OPENS AT POLDHU ON 12

DECEMBER. SPONSORS ARE THE NATIONAL TRUST, MARCONI PLC AND

POLDHU AMATEUR RADIO CLUB. THE CENTRE IS PART CLUBHOUSE,

PART VISITOR CENTRE. RADIOCOMMUNICATIONS AGENCY DONATESEQUIPMENT

ROLE AND REACH

The recent ILT survey has proved that radio listenership is growing

exponentially and its reach is awesome. I have said it earlier too, and I will

repeat while there is a lot of excitement about the fact that radio delivers a

greater reach than English dailies which incidentally garner the largest

portion of ad spends it only spells and corroborates the obvious there are

more radio listeners because one doesnt have to be educated to listen to the

radio.


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Corroboration of that fact by the ILT research study is a wake up call for

advertisers and media planners/buyers. These entities ought to tune in to the

new trends and take advantage of it. This, in itself, is enough to vindicate

radios position with regard to its 'reach' in the media.

At present, all FM operators need to focus on growing the market and that is

enough to keep all the radio broadcasters busy focussing on growing their

respective businesses.

The recent ILT survey has declared Radio City as the number one

channel in Mumbai and number two in Delhi. What made you a leader

in Mumbai and how come that strategy hasn't paid off in Delhi?

FM radio in Mumbai has been around for more than two years now, while Delhi

has seen private FM radio channels only for a year. The ILT survey is based on

recall methodology.

Over the top advertising and biased articles in home publications have helped

competition stay ahead of the awareness game in the early days in Delhi.

In this process, brands that are more visible from an 'opportunity to be seen'parameter are the ones that get picked up and normally get quoted. However,

the 'opportunity to be seen' should not be mistaken with the 'opportunity of

being heard', as they are two different things entirely.

However, this is a short-lived phenomenon, as seen and experienced in

Mumbai where competition, in spite of having a vice-like grip from a home

publication point of view, and in spite of over the top usage of its home

publication is unable to mould public opinion and force listeners to choose

their brand as the automatic choice. Listeners of FM radio in Mumbai have

spent considerable time listening to a plethora of radio stations and have

formed their choices over a longer period of time.


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Relationships formed over a longer period of time with higher usage of the

product leads to an enduring relationship that Radio City has been able to

form with Mumbaikars. That is the strength on which Radio City bases its

belief. We also know that listening to Radio is a habit and as with any habit its

got to be formed over a period of time.

In fact, since there are still so few radio stations and so many other

publications and television channels to consider, the advertiser is far more

certain of reaching his target consumer with radio as compared to advertising

on most of the niche publications and television channels.

Its the 'early bird catches the worm' syndrome, where advertisers who jointhe bandwagon early are likely to gain much more than those who come on

post research, as airtime post research will be more expensive.

Today, the focus for all stations is on creating the market, as theres hardly

one around. Getting excited about monthly tracks doesnt really concern us

since radio is a highly dynamic landscape and what holds good for this month,

could very well change by the next month.

It is a fact that the lions share of the radio universe is serviced by Radio City

and Radio Mirchi in Mumbai and Delhi. Also, in light of the fact that the reach

of radio has grown by more than four times in Mumbai and has doubled in

Delhi, the share of advertising revenue should automatically grow for FM radio.

"Relationships formed over a longer period of time with higher usage of the

product leads to an enduring relationship that Radio City has been able to

form with Mumbaikars."

Worldwide, FM radio is the ideal vehicle for localised advertising. And by sheer

dint of delivering local audiences, the biggest competitor to radio is print

media, and not television. As the recent research study indicates, radio in


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India delivers a greater reach than the English dailies, which garner among the

largest portion of ad spends.

Since its inception, radio as a medium has been pronounced dead many times.

The talking motion picture was expected to make radio irrelevant, television

was going to kill it off and Internet is also the most recent new "threat" to

radio.

In spite of all these threats, radio has not only revived itself, it has also

continued growing. The basic strength of radio is that it provides an effective

service to the listener, who can continue with his work while tuned in to radio.

For instance, across the day, people can listen to radio while they're driving

and also while reading newspapers and magazines or surfing the Internet. It is

radios unique ability to be in the background and yet draw your attention,

which makes it a perfect companion. Similarly, it is an advertisers' creative

ability to use this phenomenon to his advantage that can help him reap

benefits of the most cost effective and personal medium like radio.

Good, unique and distinctive programming is another prerequisite to grow the

advertising pie. This would however need advertisers to wake up to the

listenership trends on FM radio and start sampling the medium on a large

scale.

As FM radio and its listenership evolves in India, you may well find some

special-interest programming nestled within a station's more broadly

appealing overall format.

In most places in the world, time spent listening to the radio far exceeds any

other media. This is primarily due to the fact that radio listening isn't a time

consuming activity. It's a companion activity as I have just explained - so

people can continue to do their work and also hear the advertisers'

commercials between the programming. All of this works wonderfully well for


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the advertiser, as radio listeners are also not prone to surfing. That's radio's

greatest strength!

The FM radio group has recently met with the I&B minister in order to share

the excruciating financial burden that is being faced by the private FM radio

broadcasters for the last three years. The minister has assured the private FM

radio group that the matter will be looked into on a top priority basis. The

solution has already been provided in the form of the Amit Mitra Task force

committee report, which has further been broadly corroborated by TRAI and

now awaits a ministerial clearance.

It would be fair to state that like stations that have been forced to shut down

( WIN 94.6 in Mumbai) due to the burden of high licence fees, all other stations

would be forced to follow the same path, if we do not have a solution soon.

"Advertisers who join the bandwagon early are likely to gain much more than

those who come on post research, as airtime post research will be more

expensive."

The loss has been colossal in real finance terms, in manpower deployment

and mostly affected the spirit with which all the broadcasters entered the FM

radio business. The sector was expected to be a high energy and high growth

environment in the initial years. However, the financial loss alone is around Rs

330 crore and the figure is still growing.

Radio City being one of the two big broadcasters, obviously, shares a major

part of this burden along with Radio Mirchi.

We also have a situation where a station has already shut down in Mumbai,

and another one is expected to down its shutters after two years of operations

solely due to the unbearable licence fees. These stations would not have

built their businesses for a two-year stint only to shut down. This has


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happened solely due to the high licence fee scenario and inaction from the

government, despite repeated requests made by the FM radio industry.

We provide YouTube analytic and also in the Adwords for Videos interface and

through other reservation booking systems we are able to provide many of the

same metrics that people get in the television industry. So on a reservation

basis, we can understand the demographics of the people, which advertisers

want to reach and then we can translate the numbers into GRPs - the common

language of television. We can also provide estimated time spent calculated

through total number of impressions. Soon, we will be able to provide delivery

on paid impression, owned and earned impressions. We will be able to show

when a consumer watches your advertisement, do they also watch any othervideo of your brand or share the video with a friend or want to watch it again.

Radio being a free-to-access medium makes it an automatic choice of the

masses. The masses have a right to access information and news. It is

imperative to be able to provide the masses with news and not keep them

away from it. Besides, no other single media product is geared towards

providing absolutely local information.

It is radios ability to address the local environment, which makes it the ideal

local medium. Local news is one of the USPs of a radio station. Without it, a

station is denied its true role as an active community participant. The

government should enable the private radio operators with the same freedom

to operate news and current affairs as freely and independently, as is given to

All India Radio and television channels.

"Since there are still so few radio stations and so many other publications

and television channels to consider, the advertiser is far more certain of

reaching his target consumer with radio."


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Ive been asked this question many times before, and my response has always

been 'One man's meat is another man's poison'. Programming that one

person thinks is not good enough may be just what another person seeks and

prefers. With today's modern techniques of audience research, radio stations

know more about the wants of their target listeners than ever before, and they

can deliver just that.

We have used this insight to launch various kinds of programmes apart from

our bread and butter offering of Hit Hindi music. In fact, it is one of the key

reasons as to why Radio City is the peoples No.1 choice. Going forward, we

will constantly seek to introduce new programming formats in the music and

non-music space.

The main categories of advertisers that we see on Radio City are from FMCG,

financial services, auto lubricants and media.

While Radio City enjoys the patronage of these advertisers, there are a large

number of companies that are still not using radio as an advertising medium.

We would definitely like this to change. Similarly, a retail advertiser would

earlier make its decisions based on gut feel. Now, that is slowly being replacedby the more accurate measure of cash register ring.

"Since its inception, radio as a medium has been pronounced dead many

times. The talking motion picture was expected to make radio irrelevant,

television was going to kill it off and Internet is also the most recent new

"threat" to radio."

Foreign investment in the electronic media has led to improvement ofstandards, in both programming content and technology. International

linkages generally bring positive influences. This has been more than

demonstrated by television over the last ten years.


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The guidelines for foreign direct investment in private FM radio should be

consistent with other media like print and TV. However, as stated in the

governments up-linking policy, norms for FDI investment could be similar to

those that provide news content (FDI portion capped at 26 per cent) & those

that dont (FDI can touch 100 per cent).

The numbers currently are too small. There aren't too many mobile phones

around which play FM radio. But its a point to be noted that the telecom

equipment manufactures have spotted the trend of radio being an integral

medium and therefore, integrated the FM radio service availability into their

handsets.

Radio on the web is still not available for Indian stations as there is a cost

implication with regards to music royalties and no broadcaster is willing to add

on to their costs and bear that cost as yet.

RADIO STYLE

Radio Style

The radio newscast must be consumed sequentially; that is, the listenerdoes not hear the second story in the newscast without hearing the first story.

The eighth story waits on the first seven, which means in practice that all

seven are chosen to be interesting to a significant number of listeners and are

presented at a length, which maintains that interest.

In addition to the inevitable centrality of thinking which affects story

choice and story length, a pressing concern exists for clarity in both sentence

length and word choice Writing Style Differences in Newspaper, Radio, andTelevision News6/23/2003 because the radio listener, unlike the newspaper

reader, is unable to stop to review and reconsider the meaning of a sentence.

The eye can go back; the ear can go only forward with the voice of the

newscaster.


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During the golden age of radio, 1930-1950, before television sets

appeared in every home, the family gathering around the parlor radio console

in the evening sat facing it, a natural thing to do because the radio talked to

them. Today, it seems, no one looks at radios. They speak to us from under

the steering wheel or over our shoulder. Unlike the attentive newspaper

reader, the radio listener is often driving, working, or engaged in some task

other than absorbing the latest news, and consequently is paying less than full

attention. As a result radio news stories are written to be told in familiar words

combined into sentences, which run at comfortable lengths in a style known as

conversational. One textbook guideline suggests writing as if telling a story

to a friend who is trying to catch a bus that is ready to pull away. (1)

Because listeners lack opportunity to go back to reconsider a bit of

information, there should be no need to do so. This limitation affects the

structure of phrases of attribution and the use of pronouns, because pronouns

have antecedents. The radio broadcast news writer learns to beware of

innocent little words like it. These conditions influence television news as

well, but perhaps they apply with a little more force to the writing of radio

news summaries, where news items average two or three sentences and then

the topic shifts.

Particularly important is the care needed in the presentation of the

numbers sprinkled throughout economic news. Writing news of the economy

requires a balance between precision and understanding.

An additional difficulty in absorbing the information in a summary

newscast is its demand on the listeners ability to keep up not only with a

rapid delivery but also with the variety of news. The newscaster jumps fromtopic to topic, geographic location to location, as if the listener would have no

difficulty in going from a flood in Bangladesh to a political crisis in Romania to

a train accident north of town. Radio news is hard enough for anyone to follow

but the confusion is greater for people who are not on top of events. 5 Irving

Fang


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The thoughtful newscaster takes these topical twists and turns into

consideration in both writing and delivery; the newspaper editor need not give

the matter a moments thought. The radio news writing style that has

developed includes the choice of simple words and short, declarative

sentences. Attribution precedes statements as it does in normal conversation.

Sentence structure is incomplete at times, such as verbless sentences. Purists

may howl, but the reality is that understanding is more important than

grammar to a radio news writer.

UNIT II

The first thing to get used to in writing effective radio, is that there are no

rules, and no restrictions on the places the listener can be transported to, and

nowhere that is out of bounds. The only barriers are the restrictions in the

writers imagination. Radio has always been able to create the fantastic

worlds, unbelievable situations, and outlandish characters, the visual medium

with newly developing computer graphics, has only recently been able to

achieve.

The Theatre of the Mind.

A well used and often overused phrase within the radio industry is that Radio

is the Theatre of the Mind. This phrase is an attempt to demonstrate the

power of the medium in that radio uses chiefly the listeners imagination to

create the pictures, characters and backdrop for the all the writers intent.

There are those who insist therefore that the pictures on radio are better and

more effective because they are individual and unique to that listener.

The Spoken Word.

Radio is an out loud medium, and any writer who wants to make the most of

the mediums potential and use it effectively has to become familiar with


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writing for the spoken word as opposed to the written word. The two are

completely different skills, and the best way to learn to write for the spoken

word, is not surprisingly, to read any writing out loud. This applies to any radio

writing from radio drama, to commercials, news broadcasts to simple stories.

Radio, some suggest has more in common with the ancient art of oral

storytelling, than any modern medium.

Voices, Sound Effects, Music and Silence.

Radio uses a few essential tools, and all can be found, usually without leaving

the radio studio, to create any situation the writer imagines. The type of voices

used and the experience and talent of any voice-overs, or voice talent, can

dramatically alter the finished production. Finding and mixing together the

right sound effects to create the intended situation are again a learned and

practised skill. The script together with the right sound effects can provide all

the listener needs to be transported to another world. Music is also a powerful

scene setter, and finally every good radio writer, understands and utilises the

significant effect of silence, and the dramatic and useful pause.

Working in the Studio.

A good script should however be judged finally in the recording process and

the help of a good sound engineer and acting talent can make a good radio

script a great piece of radio. The wise scriptwriter will listen to any advice and

input from both, try different suggestions to improve the written word as it

becomes the spoken word and eventually the final piece of audio. A well

written script bearing all this in mind, together with a skilled final production,

can produce a powerful piece of radio.

Its a good starting point for any investigation into the creative possibilities of

an audio only method of communication. The Radio Advertising Bureau in the


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UK, have also coined the phrase, you can close your eyes, but you cant close

your ears. Listening is a difficult experience not to do. In this theatre there

are only a few props available:

voice

sound effects

music

background atmospheres

silence

Silence is often overlooked by many producers and proponents of radio but

yet it is one of the most powerful weapons available to the radio writer and

producer.

Writing a Creatively Powerful Radio Script

Starting the process of making good audio starts with writing a good script.

Orson Welles 1938 production of "War of the Worlds" by the Mercury Theatre

Company is often quoted as an example of the power of the media. Reports

from the time suggest it caused panic in at least some of the population in the

United States at the time. So why was it so powerful? It started with a good

script and the following elements:

an original and inventive story by HG Wells

a thoughtful and considered adaptation by a skilled writer

a simple format of using radio reporting "actualite" to progress the story

good voice acting

expert and skilled production using radios strengths to create strong emotions in the listeners mind

a broadcast at the right time (just as hostilities seemed imminent) to

create maximum impact


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the presence of one of radios best known and most talented stars,

Orson Wells

Its also worth remembering that at the time of broadcast, radio was the mass

medium most accessible by the general population and television had yet to

achieve the impact in households in the US it enjoys today. Some suggest its

unlikely because of these circumstances that any such radio broadcast will

ever achieve the creative impact that "War of the Worlds" had in the late

1930s.

Creative Strengths of Radio

Great radio programmes like "War of the Worlds" and many others in the

catalogue of good radio over the years, on both sides of the Atlantic and

beyond can still offer todays writers and producers pointers to the creative

possibilities of their medium.

A good radio program needs the following:

a good script imaginative and well written

a script written as audio

a cast with the right voices

a sympathetic sound engineer with good ears

sound effects that build the story

a production that uses the power and emotion of music

the use of silence

The story of radio historically is relatively short. The audio scholar starting any

exploration of how to use the medium to its full potential, creatively, could do

a lot worse than spending some time in the radio vaults listening to radio

dramas from years gone by, when radio theatres like Orson Welles Mercury

Theatre, were not just in the listeners mind, but were actual living breathing

and often real live events.
http://suite101.com/article/template-for-a-radio-commercial-script-a272510http://suite101.com/article/new-technology-opens-up-new-ways-to-listen-to-radio-a254815http://www.mercurytheatre.info/http://www.mercurytheatre.info/http://suite101.com/article/template-for-a-radio-commercial-script-a272510http://suite101.com/article/new-technology-opens-up-new-ways-to-listen-to-radio-a254815http://www.mercurytheatre.info/http://www.mercurytheatre.info/


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Much has been written through the various radio industry bodies, like the UKs

and the USAs Radio Advertising Bureau(s) and Canadas Radio Marketing

Bureau, examining the best ways to make radio a more effective advertising

medium. Creatively this often takes the form of discussions on:

How to take a workable creative brief from a client,

How to deliver that brief back to the client for agreement and approval,

How best to write and record effective radio commercials from that

brief,

And how to achieve the clients advertising aims and objectives.

This for most practitioners in the creative part of industry is the Who, What,

Why, template. Any creative work can be developed from this and put simply,

most in the industry will recognise The Creative Brief Template as:

Who is the audience being addressed or talked to (age, sex,

demographic profile, interest)

What is this audience being asked to do (advertiser contact: call, store

or web visit, or increased brand awareness.)

Why should this audience do it. (the audience reward.)

Once the creative brief is agreed the process of writing radio scripts can begin.

As well as providing an agreed focus for the campaign, the brief is also the

starting point for the creative use of radio, an area also much in on-going

discussion and debate within the industry.

Setting down audio creative ideas on paper is not as difficult as it first might

appear. An industry- wide recognised template helps not only the writer butalso in the presentation of those ideas both to the industry and to the client.

Unlike the written word which convention dictates should fall normally into

sentences and headings, or paragraphs and chapters across the page and
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remains the written word, the spoken word and indeed the spoken and visual

medium works on a split page.

Split the page 25% / 75%. The left hand 25% of the page will be mostly

short cues, descriptions, directions, and instructions to anyone reading the

page, and the right hand 75% the script itself with script wording and more

details of the various audio inserts. So in theory most radio scripts contain the

following:

Centred Title header: with presentation logo; company contact and

references; client name; writer; script title and duration.

Left Hand 25%: Cues for voice talent; music; sound effects; directions

and brief placing instructions for in-cues and out-cues of audio inserts.

Right Hand 75%: contains the body of the script, with lines for each

voice following the direction on the left side, as well as more detailed

description of the various other non-speech audio inserts. Details of

music, sound effects, and audio inserts.

The script layout will also contain some common abbreviations, such as :

Vo - Voice Over or Talent (including description/style where appropriate),

Mvo - Male voice over

Fvo - Female voice over

Cvo - Child voice over)

Sfx - Sound effect description

Inserts - I/c (In-cue first audio in) & O/c (Out-cue or last audio out.)

Mix or Music - Details of music including style, composer, performer or

label ref.

Any copyright information, approval signature(s) and the date is normally

included at the bottom of the page. A template such as this can oviously be


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altered to suit the production, but a radio script presented as above will be

well understood within the industry.

Commercial Radio Script Components The Header

The Header, of the radio commercial script should give the reader all the

necessary admin information and outline whats contained in the script. It

should give the following information:

The clients name;

The product being advertised;

The agency name (if appropriate) and contact name;

The title of the script;

The duration intended of the finished commercial, normally 10,

20,30,40,50 or 60 seconds;

The name of the writer(s);

Any reference details and (often) the intended radio stations; and

A logo, if appropriate.

This information is contained in the heading of the script page and usually only

on the first page. It is generally laid out as a list, left justified or centred, and

even sometimes split left and right into two columns. The duration may

change in the recording process, as may any planned activity on radio

stations.

How to Write a Commercial Script for Radio The Footer

Its also wise, but perhaps not so common, to add a footer to the script

template to cover copyright and contact details. This can be:

More on this topic

How Long is a Radio Ad
http://suite101.com/article/how-long-is-a-radio-commercial-a152539http://suite101.com/article/how-long-is-a-radio-commercial-a152539


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Inspiration for Writing a Radio Ad

How to Write a Radio Advertising Campaign

A simple statement to outline who owns the copyright and any

conditions of the written work;

Brief contact details, either an email address or a telephone number; or

Space for a signature of approval for recording and the date of that

approval.

This footer gives the writer and the production house or the agency, not only

demonstrable control of the copyright of the work, but signed approval of

agreement from the client.

The Commercial Script Format for Radio

Between the header and the footer, the script itself normally has instructions,

casting and inserts on one-third of the page on the left-hand side of the page

and the script wording on the remaining two-thirds on the right hand side. The

instructions will include some common abbreviations:

Mvo male voice over;

Fvo female voice over;

Cvo childrens voices;

Sfx sound effects;

Atmos/Nats atmosphere or natural sound

Mx mix with details of mixing music tracks, and/or sound effects.

Other instructions can be given on the script itself, or in the left hand margin.

Usually, directions to the voice overs and both the types of voices and the

style of delivery.
http://suite101.com/article/inspiration-for-writing-a-radio-ad-a322589http://suite101.com/article/how-to-write-a-radio-advertising-campaign-a129710http://suite101.com/article/essential-sound-effects-and-their-use-on-radio-a180119http://suite101.com/article/how-to-mix-sound-for-radio-a137557http://www.a1vox.com/voices.htmlhttp://suite101.com/article/inspiration-for-writing-a-radio-ad-a322589http://suite101.com/article/how-to-write-a-radio-advertising-campaign-a129710http://suite101.com/article/essential-sound-effects-and-their-use-on-radio-a180119http://suite101.com/article/how-to-mix-sound-for-radio-a137557http://www.a1vox.com/voices.html


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Layout of the Commercial Radio Script

As everyone has their own preferred type-face so different writers, production

companies, broadcast and media organisations prefer to standardise their

company's output, and as well as generally using the more standard type

faces, radio scripts will often be double spaced to make it easier for actors /

voices to read out loud, and sometimes also in capitals. Sound effects, music

and other inserts will also be instructed by the following:

Fade In;

Fade Out;

Continue Under;

Mix Up;

In / Start - where the insert has definite start;

Out / End - where the insert has a definite end.

The script with all the relevant instructions and inserts should enable the

piece, written and imagined by the writer or writers, to be translated by the

sound engineer, together with a producer and all the voice actors and any

other participants, into audio as the creator intended even without the writerbeing present.

ART OF WRITING DIFFERENT RADIO FORMATS

FORMATS OF RADIO

PROGRAMMES

You are by now familiar with a radio station. The previous lesson helped you tounderstand how a radio station works. When you read a popular magazine,

you will come across various things. There will be an attractive cover,

advertisements of different products, stories or articles

on issues ranging from politics to sports and cinema, interviews and other

features. Similarly, a radio station also broadcasts programmes of different
http://suite101.com/article/how-to-use-sound-effects-in-radio-a176868http://www.rab.com/public/adchannel/creativeIndex.cfm?type=nmhttp://suite101.com/article/how-to-use-sound-effects-in-radio-a176868http://www.rab.com/public/adchannel/creativeIndex.cfm?type=nm


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types. Think of the different types of programmes you have heard on radio.

You would probably remember film songs, phone in programmes, talks,

discussions, news, cricket commentaries etc. These different types of

programmes are called formats.

OBJECTIVES

After studying this lesson, you will be able to do the following:

list the factors to be taken into account for making a radio programme;

describe the different formats of radio programmes;

explain the ingredients of a radio programme;

identify the technology based formats.

11.1 FACTORS TO BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT FOR

MAKING A RADIO PROGRAMME

Think of the village or town in which you live. You find people belonging to all

communities men and women, rich and poor. Radio plays a very important

role in the lives of the people of India. Though there are plenty of rich people

and highly developed cities, a majority of our people are poor and a large

number of them cannot read or write. So the only medium that can really

reach them to inform, educate and entertain is the radio. Radio stations

especially those run by the government perform a public service duty.Formats of Radio Programmes

The requirements of listeners of radio stations are not the same. To serve

them, we need to know many facts about them. Let us make a list of what we

should know about the audience:

(a) Number of people i.e. the total population of the area.

(b) Number of men and women Sex ratio

(c) Literate people/Illiterate people

(d) The languages spoken in the area.

(e) Schools/Colleges

(f) Children going to school

(g) Health facilities availability of doctors, primary health centre, clinics,

hospitals.


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(h) Any major diseases

(i) Religions in the area-population wise

(j) Power supply

(k) Nearest radio stations/Television stations

(l) Climate of the place

(m) Main occupation of the people

(n) Income per head/people below poverty line

(o) Roads/transport facilities

(p) Irrigation facilities

(q) Number of people engaged in agriculture/other occupations.

(r) Types of crops.

You can add many more issues to this list. We need to know these facts to

decide the language, the type of broadcast, timing of programmes etc. Radio

formats therefore are decided on the basis of the needs of the audience.

TYPES OF RADIO FORMATS

Do you remember the programmes you have heard on radio. Try and recall

some of them. You may have heard the names of radio stations, from where

the programmes are broadcast. Many of you would remember Vividh Bharati,

AIR FM Gold or some private commercial station.You may also remember thetime being mentioned and what programme you are going to listen to. These

are called announcements. Announcements have been traditionally made by

people who

are known as announcers. The commercial radio channels may call them

Radio Jockeys (RJs) or anchor persons. Before you learn about the different

radio formats, you must know the ingredients of a radio format. As you know

most of what is spoken on radio is written down. As you have already learnt

that what is written for radio is heard and is referred to as spoken word as

against the written word. But the spoken words on radio is written down or

what is generally called scripted. A Radio format can be split into three parts:

They are:-

(a) Spoken Word or Human Voice


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(b) Music

(c) Sound Effects

All radio formats have the above three ingredients. So let us first classify the

spoken

word format.

SPOKEN WORD

1. Announcements : These are specifically written clear messages to inform.

They can be of different types. For example station/programme identification.

These mention the station you are tuned into, the frequency, the time and the

programme/song you are going to listen to. As mentioned already you find in

todays commercial radio channels, these announcements have become

informal and resemble ordinary conversation. There can be more than one

presenter in some programmes like magazines.

2. Radio talk : The radio talk probably is the oldest format on radio. There

has been a tradition in India and Britain to invite experts or prominent persons

to speak for 10 or 15 minutes on a specific topic. These talks have to go

through a process of being changed into radios spoken word style. Over the

years, these long radio talks have become unpopular. Instead, today, shorter

duration talks are broadcast. Of course, you can listen to these talks only onpublic

service broadcasting stations.

3. Radio interviews: Have you ever interviewed anyone? Probably yes. In

the media, be it the newspaper, magazine, radio or television, journalists use

this technique of asking questions to get information. There can be different

types of interviews in terms of their duration, content and purpose. Firstly,

there are full fledged interview programmes. The duration of these may vary

from 10 minutes to 30 minutes or even 60 minutes depending up on the topic,

and the person being interviewed. Most of such interviews are personality

based. You might have heard of long interviews with well known people in the

field of public life, literature, science, sports, films etc. Secondly, there are

interviews which are used in various radio programmes like documentaries.


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Here the interviews are short, questions specific and not many. The purpose is

to get a very brief, to the point answer.

Thirdly there are a lot of interviews or interview based programmes in news

and current affairs programmes. Have you heard such interviews on radio?

With phone-in-programmes becoming popular, you might have heard live

interviews with listeners. These interviews have been made interactive. There

is another type of interview based programme. Here generally just one or two

questions are put across to ordinary people or people with knowledge on some

current topic to measure public opinion.

For example when the general budget or the railway budget is presented in

the parliament, people representing radio go out and ask the general public

about their opinion. Their names and identity may not be asked. Such

programmes are called vox pop which is a Latin phrase meaning voice of

people. You have to be very inquisitive and hard working to be a radio

interviewer with good general awareness and communication skills.

4. Radio discussions :- When you have a problem in your family or with your

friends, dont you say let us discuss? Yes we do. Through a discussion we

can find out a solution to problems. In any discussion there are more than 2 or

3 people and then ideas can be pooled to come to some conclusion. In radio,this technique is used to let people have different points of view on matters of

public concern. Radio discussions are produced when there are social or

economic issues which may be controversial. So when different experts meet

and discuss such issues, people understand various points of view. Generally,

these discussions on radio are of longer duration-say 15 to 30 minutes. Two or

three people who are known for their views and a well informed senior person

or journalist who acts as a moderator take part and discuss a particular

topic for about 30 minutes. The moderator conducts the discussion, introduces

the topic and the participants and ensures that every one gets enough time to

speak and all issues are discussed.

5. Radio documentaries/features: If you see a film in a movie hall, it is

generally a feature film, which is story based and not real. But there are also


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documentary films which are based on real people and issues. A lot of

programmes you see on television are educational and public service

documentaries. Radio also has this format. Unlike documentary films, radio

documentaries have only sound i.e. the human voice, music and sound

effects. So a radio documentary is a programmme based on real sounds and

real people and their views and experiences. Radio documentaries are based

on facts presented in an attractive manner or dramatically. Radio

documentaries are radios own creative format. The producer of a

documentary needs to be very creative to use human voice, script, music and

sound effects very effectively. Radio documentaries are also called radio

features.

6. Radio drama: A Radio drama or a radio play is like any other play staged

in a theatre or a hall. The only difference is that while a stage play has actors,

stage, sets, curtains, properties movement and live action, a radio play has

only 3 components. They are the human voice, music and sound effects. Radio

of course uses its greatest strength for producing radio plays and that is the

power of imagination and suggestivity. For example, if you want to have a

scene in a radio play of a north Indian marriage, you dont have all physical

arrangements made. All that you have to do is to use a bright tune on theshehnai and excited voices of people to create in a listeners imagination, a

wedding scene. The voice of the actors, music and sound effects can create

any situation in a radio play.

7. Running commentaries : If you cant go to see a football or cricket match

in a stadium, you may watch it on television. But for that you have to be at

home or at some place where there is a television. But if you are travelling or

outside, then you may listen to radio for a running commentary of the match.

A commentator would give you all the details of the match such as the number

of players, the score, position of the players in the field etc. So by listening to

the running commentary, you get a feeling of being in the stadium and

watching the match. The commentator needs good communication skills, a

good voice and knowledge about what is going on. Running commentaries on


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radio can be on various sports events or on ceremonial occasions like the

Republic Day Parade or events like festivals, melas, rath yatras, swearing in

ceremony of ministers, last journey (funeral procession) of national leaders

etc. Today radio

running commentaries especially of cricket and other sports can be heard on

your mobile phones.

8. Magazine programmes : You are familiar with magazines which are a

form of print media. They are published weekly, bi-weekly, fortnightly or

monthly. There are general magazines and magazines for specific readers.

These magazines could be for children, women, youth or on health, sports,

science or music. If you open any one of these magazines, you will find

articles, reviews, features, photo features etc. Radio also has magazine

programmes like those in the print media.

A radio magazine is broadcast at a particular time on a particular day of a

week or a month. That means it has periodicity. Similarly it has plenty of

variety in contents. Some or many formats of radio are included in a radio

magazine. These may be talks, discussions, interviews, reviews, music etc.

Likewise, the duration of each programme or item in a magazine programme

also vary. Another characteristic of a radio magazine is that it has a signaturetune. A signature tune is an attractive piece of music which is specific to a

programme. It can be like the masthead (title) of a magazine. A magazine

programme also has a name and one or two presenters or anchor persons who

link the whole programme. In the beginning, the titles of the days programme

will be given by the presenters after the signature tune. They also give

continuity and link the whole magazine.

Magazine programmes are generally broadcast for a special or specific

audience. As the name suggests, a specific audience refers to listeners with

specific needs as mentioned in the beginning.

9. NEWS: Among all the spoken word formats on radio, news is the most

popular. News bulletins and news programmes are broadcast every hour by

radio stations. In India, only All India Radio is allowed to broadcast news.


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Duration of news bulletins vary from 5 minute to 30 minutes. The longer news

bulletins have interviews, features, reviews and comments from experts.

MUSIC : When we say radio, the first thing that comes to our mind is

music. So music is the main stay in radio. There is no radio without music.

Music is used in different ways on radio. There are programmes of music and

music is also used in different programmes. These include signature tunes,

music used as effects in radio plays and features. India has a great heritage of

music and radio in India reflects that. Let us understand the different types of

music.

Classical Music

There are 3 types of classical music in India. They are:-

Hindustani classical

Carnatic classical

Western classical

There are also vocal and instrumental music forms. There are also light

classical music forms like, Thumri and Dadra. Insturmental music forms

include string (sitar, sarod etc.) wind (like flutes, shehnai) and percussion

(drum) instruments.You might have heard such music on radio.

You may know of a large variety of devotional and folk music in your area andacross the country. Which are broadcast on radio. But which is the most

popular form of music? You would most probably say film music. While there

are film songs in different languages, the one with a national appeal and

popularity is Hindi film songs. On most radio stations, be it public

service or commercial, Hindi films songs are heard every where. Light western

and pop music are also popular among some groups of listeners and there is a

large section of young people listening to western pop music.

SOUND EFFECTS

Let us see how sound can be used in radio formats.

Sound can play a major role in evoking interest.

Sound can be used for comic effects to evoke laughter

Sound can be used to create certain moods or enhance them.


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INTEXT QUESTIONS 11.2

1. Fill in the blanks with appropriate word/s:

i) Announcers are also known as ____, _____.

ii) Whatever is written for radio is also known as ____.

iii) Announcements mention the ________ you are tuned into, ________

and ________ of broadcast.

iv) There can be different types of radio interviews in terms of ________,

________ and purpose.

v) A film based on real people and issues is called a ________.

2. List the ingredients of a radio format.

3. Differentiate between a radio discussion and a radio drama.

4. Match the following :

i) announcements a) republic day parade

ii) commentary b) oldest radio format

iii) interviews c) inform listeners

iv) discussion d) asking questions

v) radio talk e) moderator

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY BASED FORMATSIndia has taken giant leaps in the field of information technology and radio as

a medium, has taken a lead in applying information technology in its

broadcasts. Let us discuss some of these formats:

Phone in programme In this age of technological development, phone-in is

the most important format. This is called interactive programming where the

listener and the presenter talk to each other. Their talk goes on air instantly.

The listener has the satisfaction that his voice is being listened to and replied

immediately. Other listeners also listen to him. Such presentations need

advance publicity so that the listeners get ready to air their grievances/queries

or requests. They dial up the announced telephone number at a stipulated

time and get their problems discussed with experts in the studio. Initially this

format was introduced for playing the listeners request based film songs. Now


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it is being used for health related programmes, rural broadcasts, complaints

against the government/ administrative machinery etc.

2. Radio bridge : Radio bridge means connecting different stations

throughout the length and breadth of the country. In this technique, for

example, an expert sitting at Chennai can interact with the common man in

the studio in Delhi. This format was first used by All India Radio during

elections.

3. Radio on internet : Radio on internet is a growing phenomenon with

thousands of radio stations operating through computer modems. It is

altogether a new format that removes the restrictions of frequency or license.

It is relatively cheap to set up. It has certain advantages as well as

disadvantages. Now all the national and international radio stations like BBC,

Voice of America, and All India Radio are available on internet. It is now

possible to listen to the programmes from a radio station while working on the

computer. All India Radio started its services on internet on 1st May 1998.

With this, it was possible to extend the coverage of programmes to all parts of

the world including USA and Canada.

INTEXT QUESTIONS 11.3

1. Fill in the blanks with appropriate word/s:i) A phone-in programme is also called _________ programming.

ii) AIR started its internet services on _________.

iii) Phone-in programmes need advance _________.

iv) Radio bridge means _________ different radio stations.

2. List any three IT based radio formats.

3. Mention any three areas where phone-in programmes are used.

4. Name the radio format which is available through a computer.

11.6 ANSWERS TO INTEXT QUESTIONS

11.1 1. Pl. refer to Section 11.1

2. examples: news, music programmes

3. i) educate, radio

ii) news, commentaries, magazines


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iii) communities, rich , poor

iv) language, time, type

v) needs of the audience

11.2 1. i) Radio jockeys/anchor persons

ii) spoken word

iii) station, frequency, time

iv) duration, content

v) documentary

2. spoken word, music, sound effects

3. Pl. refer to Section 11.2

4. i) c) ii) a) iii) d) iv) e) v) b)

11.3 1. i) interactive ii) May 01, 1998 iii) publicity iv) connecting



4. Radio on internet

This chapter attempts to demystify the subject of writing for the student.

Writing is a process that draws on a persons mental, emotional, and physical

resources. A person does not have to be greatly talented or inherently gifted

to write well. More importantly, a person must have the willingness to try to

write. Once this willingness is there, the writer can use a number of techniques

to improve the writing. The two keys to good writing are:

Practice Writing is hard work. Its also a lonely business. But the only way

that any of us can improve our writing is to do it and do it consistently. A

person must be willing to sit down and write (thus, the name of this

chapter). This book attempts to give students and instructors many

opportunities to practice writing.

Editing Writing is a process, and a key part of that process is editing. None

of us particularly students who are learning the process should fall in love

with what we write. Students should learn that our first drafts are not always


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our best attempts, and they should expect to edit and change their work as a

part of the writing process. They should always ask questions about what they

have written, such as, Does this make sense?, Have I said this the best way

I could?, Have I used too many words?, Are my sentences too long?, If I

were telling my best friend this information, would this be the way I would say

it?

The second part of the chapter discusses briefly some of the rules and

circumstances that are imposed on a writer when he or she is writing for the

mass media. Writers for the mass media must learn the appropriate forms in

which their writing must appear, and most of the rest of this book is devoted

to examining and teaching the proper forms of writing for the mass media.

Students should also understand that writing for the mass media often

involves writing under deadline pressure. Many students in writing classes will

say, If I just had more time, I could complete this assignment and do a much

better job on it. The thing a writer for the mass media often does not have is

time, however. Students need to learn that writing under pressure is part of

the process of writing for the mass media.

Finally, the chapter discusses the emergence of new media, particularly the

World Wide Web, and some of the skills necessary in writing for it. Writers

must present information efficiently and must organize it in a way that will be

suitable for the readers. Writers must also develop a sense of graphics and

when they should be used effectively in presenting that information.

Students should leave this chapter with an understanding of writing as a

process, with a confidence that they can become good writers, and with the

knowledge that this book will give them plenty of opportunities to improve

their writing.

Key terms and concepts


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The following are key terms or concepts that the student should understand.

Good writing Good writing is defined with a number of descriptions at the

beginning of the chapter. Students should be encouraged to add to these

descriptions of their own ideas about what good writing is and how it is

achieved. The instructor should present a number of examples of his or her

favorite writing to demonstrate some of the concepts in this chapter.

Rewriting As we have already mentioned, rewriting or editing is one of the

key techniques in improving writing. Catching mistakes is not the only purpose

of editing; real editing should be a conscious attempt to improve the copy.

Simplicity The best technique for clarity in writing is to try to write as

simply as possible. This means using simple words and avoiding long

complicated sentences. A good first step for the student to try is to limit a

sentence to one major idea.

Verbs as engines of the language Verbs are the strongest words in the

language. They are also the best descriptors in the language. A well-selected

verb can do more to enliven and enhance writing than any other part of

speech. In editing and rewriting, students should first pay attention to the

verbs that they have used. Too many linking verbs, passive verbs, and

abstract constructions (there is, it is) will deaden a piece of writing.

Unity A piece of writing should hang together. It shouldnt be a series of

short bursts of ideas or information aimed at the reader. One of the chief ways

of achieving unity is by having a clear idea of what the piece of writing isabout and to whom it is directed. Another is through the use of transitions,

which will be discussed in later chapters.

Hypertext Text designed so that a read may move to different points at his

or her own discretion.


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Linking Linking is a technical term in which a reader can move to different

points on the World Wide Web to obtain information.

Suggestions for lecture and discussion

I often begin a discussion of good writing with an overhead that has the

following quotation:

At this point in time, the current levels of societal tension are enough to create

a high degree of anxiety among citizens of every persuasion and every

economic and cultural class.

I then ask the students to tell me what this says. I give them a hint by saying

its a famous quotation one that they have all heard and that its written

in modern language. Finally, I cover up the overhead and ask them to repeat

it. Then I show them the original quotation.

These are the times that try mens souls.

Thomas Paine wrote those words in 1776 when he was trying to keep a

revolution going. They are the first words of An American Crisis, a pamphlet

that so impressed George Washington that he had it read out loud to his

discouraged troops at Valley Forge. The power of Paines language comes not

only with his ideas but with the simplicity he used to express them

expressions so simple that we remember them more than 200 years later.

This technique of putting famous quotes into modern-day jargon and

bureaucratese can be used with other writing that most of your students will

instantly recognize. You may want to try it with your favorite historical

quotation.


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Examples of student writing for analysis in class or lab

The examples below come from assignments that students have written. They

can be photocopied or put on transparencies for class discussion.

The wooden boat, propelled by a motor, much larger than was necessary,

bounded over wakes, created by passing boats. The two passengers bounced,

on the cushion-less seats, toward the swaying wood platform, hundreds of

yards, from shore.

The gates would all be locked rather tightly.

Whenever we finished a beer we had a contest to see who could throw it the

farthest over the side of the hill.

There were many days spent sitting on the white sandy beach in which we

took toll of our lives.

It was par for the course.

It really is a small world.

There were no fights and only one complaint on the amount of beer, and to be

honest, he didnt really need anymore.

We decided to buy two kegs for the very simple reason it cost $95.97 with the

new federal tax.

She rode that Big Wheel down Montgomery Lane as fast as her little legs

would carry her.

On the scorching, hot June day, she was playing with four two week old,

Siamese kittens under a large bush which was next to the dog on a leach.


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The choices I have are numerous to an extent.

There is no such things as Knights-in-shining-armor, and specialy at our

school!

I have always considered myself one of risk and I take my risk when it comes

to skiing because, It is the excitement and exhileration that pushes me beyond

my limits. A mogel is a term used to describe or experience an eight foot

boulder that is covered with snow.

Upon entering the cathedral ceilinged work of art, her mouth dropped and was

filled with the spirit as she charged through the crowds searching for a force

that was unmistakably pulling her into the ring of spenders. (Authors note:

This student was attempting to describe a trip to a shopping mall.)

Pledging allowed her to meet and get to know girls she otherwise never would

have even said hello to.

This came as shocking news to the family who had led relatively normal lives

up until this point.

Becoming an active brought some added responsibility to her life, but it was

nothing she couldnt handle. For example, there are meetings that she as to

attend once a week.

2: Basic tools of writing

This chapter attempts to make the point that a good writer knows the tools

with which he or she has to work. The basic analogy in the text is with the

carpenter, who has a hammer and a saw. The carpenter must know what taskshe or she can accomplish with a hammer and what he or she must use the saw

to do. A carpenter may have a great idea for something to build, but unless he

or she knows the difference between a hammer and a saw, it is unlikely to get

built. The writer is the same way. The writer may have some great ideas, but


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those ideas wont come into being unless the writer knows the tools with

which he or she has to work.

This chapter is a brief review of some of the basic tools with which a writer

must work. You may feel that grammar and punctuation are not subjects on

which you wish to spend time in your course. If that is the case, I would

strongly recommend that you have your students read those sections and that

you spend some time on the word usage section. This is an area in which I

have found consistently that students have difficulty. Knowing when to use a

word for its precise and generally accepted meaning is particularly important

in writing for the mass media.


One of the purposes of this chapter is to give students a brief review of types

and structures of sentences. Another is to point out some of the most common

grammar and punctuation mistakes that students make. Instructors should

use this chapter to their best advantage by deciding what emphasis needs to

be placed on these subjects. The exercises at the end of the chapter and the

grammar exam and diagnostic exam in the appendices of the textbook could

help you in making this assessment. Students should leave this chapter with

an understanding of the following:

Sentence structures Simple, complex, compound, and compound-

complex.

Sentence types Declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory.

Parts of speech Nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, verbs,

conjunctions, prepositions, and interjections.


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Use of the comma Overuse and underuse of the comma are both

problems that students have. Commas should be used for clarity; that is, to

separate items that would be confusing if they were not separated.

Agreement Getting verbs and subjects to agree in number, and especially

getting pronouns to agree with their antecedents, are among the most

common problems that students have with their writing.

Apostrophe Proper use of the apostrophe is the mark of an intelligent and

well-educated writer. The apostrophe is most often used to indicate

possession. It is only rarely used to create a plural.

Comma splices and run-on sentences The joining of two independentclauses with only a comma is another common problem among student

writers. Students should learn that for two independent clauses to be joined,

they require a comma and a coordinating conjunction or simply a semicolon.

Spelling The rules of spelling are important to learn, even at this stage of a

students development.

Grammar terms and rules. Just as any competent artisan knows the tools ofhis or her trade, the professional writer should know the basics of the English

language. That includes knowing the terms of grammar (verbal, antecedent,

etc.) as well as the rules. How is the writer to avoid a run-on sentence if he or

she doesn't know what it is? To learn these things, students must do the ditch

digging of the intellectual process: repeated study and memorization. This site

contains a thorough (but not overly long) list of terms and rules for using the

language that the professional writer should know. A set of multiple-choice

tests based on this glossary is available for the author to teachers. (To obtain

that, email Jim Stovall at jstovall at jprof.com .) The site also has an extensive

primer on grammar, spelling, punctuation and diction in the editing section.

STYLE


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Adherence to journalistic style both the rules of writing and usage and the

customs of journalism is a mark of a professional writer. This chapter should

help students understand that when they enter the world of the mass media,

they will have to meet certain expectations about their work. One of the most

basic expectations concerns style.

This chapter gives the student an idea about the importance of knowing and

using a particular style of writing and of understanding the customs and

conventions of journalism. The chief goal of the journalist is accuracy, and

many of the styles and conventions of journalism that have been developed

over the years have been to promote this goal. The same can be said of these

style rules and conventions as they apply to clarity and brevity. Instructors

should help the students see the relationship between all of these concepts as

they go through this chapter. In discussing them, you might want to use the

diagram below.


Students should have a good understanding of all of the concepts set forth in

the diagram. Especially important among these are:

Accuracy The short definition in journalism for accuracy is "getting it right."

Discuss with your students what they believe that means. How do you go

about "getting it right?" Differing points of view about a situation should be

brought into this discussion. What methods does a writer for the mass media

use in obtaining and presenting accurate information?

Consistency One of the underlying concepts of adherence to style is

consistency. Consistency in writing helps the reader in establishing what he or

she expects from a writer. It also helps to make a writer more efficient.

Knowledge and consistent use of style can boost the confidence of the writer.


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Words That Make a Difference. Loving the language

is no sin, particularly in these days of language abuse.

Those of us who do love the language need to feed our

habits occasionally, and Words That Make a Difference

will certainly do that. This is a fascinating book about

words. Robert Greenman, the author, has collected

words that are rich in meaning and passages from the

New York Times that demonstrate their use. Every page

or so, Greenman chimes in with his own commentary about the origins and

usage of a particular word. You will open this book, start flipping through the

pages and then find you have spent a hour or so in Greenman's world of

words. It's a good journey. Once you get your copy, you'll probably want to

buy another for a friend of like mind. The book is only available through

Levenger's. (There is, I'm told, a sequel on the way.)

More than the rules. Style is more than learning the AP style rules (although

that is most important). The concept of style includes the approach the

journalist takes toward the job. That is why the chapter includes short

discussions of balance and fairness, the inverted pyramid and the

impersonality of reporting. A good journalist must take on the mean of the

humble servant and must be modest both in writing and in demeanor.

Unfortunately, we are living in an immodest age, where people are taught to

reveal everything about themselves and to be proud of their deficiencies.

Russell Baker, the retired New York Times columnist, articulates this at the

beginning of his review of a set of books about the journalist and critic A. J.

Liebling:

Rereading A.J. Liebling carries me happily back to an age when all good

journalists knew they had plenty to be modest about, and were. From the

1920s through the Eisenhower years modesty was a clearly defined style in

the American press, but it was already fading when Liebling died in 1963. By
http://www.levenger.com/PAGETEMPLATES/PRODUCT/PRODIDPG.ASP?Params=category=186%7Clevel=3%7Cpageid=137%7Clink=TXThttp://www.levenger.com/PAGETEMPLATES/PRODUCT/PRODIDPG.ASP?Params=category=186%7Clevel=3%7Cpageid=137%7Clink=TXT


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then what had once been "the press" had turned into "the media" and

contracted the imperial state of mind, which is never conducive to modesty,

whether in tsars of all the Russias or Washington correspondents.

Bakers entire review can be found here.

(http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17552)

Language sensitivity. Take a look at the section on language sensitivity in

this chapter. Are the concerns expressed in this section valid? Are there

concerns about this issue that the author does not address? Students should

be allowed to have a wide-ranging discussion about this issue. They should try

to articulate their feelings about the topic, and they should be able to react civilly, of course to the opinions of others.

4: Writing in the Media Environment

The news story is one of the basic forms of writing for the mass media. This

chapter introduces the student to the basic content of the news story. The

next chapter will introduce the student to the basic form of the news story.

Writing for the Mass Media is not meant to be a reporting text. Instead, it

seeks to give students information about writing for the mass media and an

opportunity to practice writing in the various forms that the mass media

require. In doing this, however, students should have some understanding

about what kind of information is appropriate for publication in a news story

and where that information can be obtained. They should also understand

some of the conditions under which media writers work and the demands that

are made on them.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17552http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17552


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The following are some key terms and concepts that the student should

understand.

News values News values are the concepts used in making judgments

about what events are news and what events are not news. The values listed

in the chapters are generally accepted by professional journalists and are

those that determine what will be included in a newspaper or news broadcast.

Timeliness is the most common news value. It is inherent in most news

stories. An event simply is not news unless it has occurred fairly recently.

News events will probably have the element of timeliness, but they are

unlikely to contain all of the news values listed in the chapter. Very few news

stories do that. (You might ask your class members to try to think of some

events that would contain all of the news values listed in the book.)

Consequently, editors and news directors must decide whether or not enough

news values are present in an event and if they are present with enough

impact to make that event a news event.

News sources Information in news stories comes from three sources:

personal (people whom a reporter talks with), observational (events that a

reporter witnesses), and stored (any documents or records that a reporter can

look up). The best news stories are written by reporters who have used all

three types of information.

Accuracy The importance of presenting accurate information is also

discussed in this chapter. You will notice that it isnt the first time that this

subject has been introduced. We have discussed accuracy at length inprevious chapters and will do so again in the next chapter. This emphasis on

accuracy should be pointed out to the students. The need for accuracy is a

pervasive one, and thats why the topic reappears so much in this book. Those

who would work in the mass media must develop good habits for obtaining


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accurate information. They should pay attention to the details of the

information they obtain; they must also make sure they understand the

significance and meaning of the information they have. Even in the writing

assignments that are included in this book, the students must be careful in

presenting their information. They must make special efforts to see that the

details and the larger ideas are correct.

You might suggest (or require) that your students review the sections of the

previous chapters that discuss the importance of accuracy. They might also

look at the next chapters discussion of accuracy. A short essay or outline

putting all of these ideas about accuracy together might be helpful to them in

understanding the importance of accuracy and the methods for achieving it.

Deadlines Every person who writes for the mass media writes under

deadlines. Often these deadlines are too short for the writer to feel that he or

she has done the best job. Still, the writer must learn to adjust to the

deadlines of the organization.

The verb "said." In journalistic writing, there is no good substitute for the

verb "said." Still, beginning students are sometimes self-conscious about using

"said" so much in their writing, and they try to find substitutes. The problem

with a substitute is that they are lad

Documents

Introduction to Media Writing