The broadcast journalism handbook

THE BROADCAST JOURNALISM

HANDBOOK

GARY HUDSON & SARAH ROWLANDS

THE BROADCAST JOURNALISM HANDBOOK

THE BROADCAST JOURNALISM HANDBOOK HUDSON & ROWLANDS

Gary Hudson

is Head of Broadcast

Journalism at Staffordshire

University. He is a former

BBC TV reporter and has

worked in independent

television and radio.

Sarah Rowlands

is Head of Journalism at

Staffordshire University. She

is a radio and TV producer,

and has won 14 national

awards for her work with

the BBC and independent

television.

Between them the authors

have more than sixty years’

experience in radio and

television.

‘There is, more than ever, a need for a book … that takes us deep into the

jungle of politics, ethics and the law. Well, here it is.’ Jeremy Vine

www.pearson-books.com

This exciting, comprehensive and bang up-to-date text presents all the key practical skills

required by today’s broadcast journalist. Highly illustrated with examples from modern-day

newsrooms, the authors explain in detail the key techniques and theoretical context the

broadcast journalist will need to know to succeed.

Main features

Comprehensive coverage of all the key skills, such as news gathering, interviewing, writing

and story-telling, live/location-reporting, online, editing, graphics and presentation – each

explained with examples from the best-known names in British broadcasting

Newsdays section, covering both radio and TV, shows the excitement, pressure and key

events of days in real-life newsrooms

Essential Guide section provides the tools – how to get a job, an easy guide to the law,

and an up-to-date glossary of broadcasting terms

Workshops section gives opportunities to practise key skills

Accommodates all the technical, regulatory and theoretical advances in recent broadcast

custom and practice, including online news, and digital interactive services

Covers cutting-edge technology the broadcast journalist must know – mobile video

production, graphics and digital journalism for any broadcast platform

Case studies, ‘Thinkpieces’ and key summary boxes provide context, extension and

assistance

Companion website (www.pearsoned.co.uk/practicaljournalism) includes updates on new

developments, podcasts and further support materials

DVD demonstrates fi lming techniques and editing ideas

This is a core text for college, university and independent training courses in broadcast

journalism at all levels, and for professionals and trainees in broadcast, print and other media

looking to develop their skills. It is also for those viewing broadcast journalism in the wider context

of media studies or perhaps considering a career, or those just fascinated by the profession.

‘It will be invaluable in university journalism departments, on professional

training courses, and in the broadcast newsroom itself. I would certainly adopt

this for my students.’ Mike Henfi eld, University of Salford

‘I think this book is new, up-to-date and of the moment and I would

recommend it to our students.’ Jennifer Brown, University of Leeds

‘It is very well written and comprehensive too. I especially like the examples,

which are recent and all highly relevant.’ Roy Saatchi of Roy Saatchi Associates

•

J Longman Practical Journalism

with a foreword by

Jeremy Vine

Cover photographs:

Gary Hudson & Sarah Rowlands DVD included

9781405824347_COVER.indd 1 10/4/07 13:40:52

THE BROADCAST JOURNALISM

HANDBOOK

Visit The Broadcast Journalism Handbook Companion Website at

www.pearsoned.co.uk/practicaljournalism to find valuable

learning material including:

• Updates on the latest developments in news

broadcasting

• Audio interviews

• Links to relevant online resources

BJ_A01.qxd 13/04/2007 13:40 Page i

We work with leading authors to develop the

strongest educational materials in journalism

and media studies, bringing cutting-edge

thinking and best learning practice to

a global market.

Under a range of well-known imprints, including

Longman, we craft high quality print and electronic

publications which help readers to understand

and apply their content, whether studying or at work.

To find out more about the complete range of our

publishing, please visit us on the World Wide Web at:

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THE BROADCAST JOURNALISM

HANDBOOK

GARY HUDSON & SARAH ROWLANDS

BJ_A01.qxd 13/04/2007 13:40 Page iii

Pearson Education Limited

Edinburgh Gate

Harlow

Essex CM20 2JE

England

and Associated Companies throughout the world

Visit us on the World Wide Web at:

www.pearsoned.co.uk

First published 2007

The rights of Gary Hudson and Sarah Rowlands to be identified as authors of this work have

been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,

recording or otherwise, without either the prior written permission of the publisher or

a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright

Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS.

All trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners. The use of any

trademark in this text does not vest in the author or publisher any trademark ownership

rights in such trademarks, nor does the use of such trademarks imply any affiliation with

or endorsement of this book by such owners.

ISBN: 978-1-4058-2434-7

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

11 10 09 08 07

Typeset in 9.5/12.5pt Din Regular by 35

Printed and bound by Graficus Estella, Bilbao, Spain

The publisher’s policy is to use paper manufactured from sustainable forests.

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Foreword vii

Preface viii

Author acknowledgements x

Publisher acknowledgements xi

Guided tour xii

Part One: The Job 1

Chapter One Introduction 3

Chapter Two What’s the story? 19

Chapter Three Finding the news 50

Chapter Four The interview 87

Chapter Five News writing 128

Chapter Six Location reporting and production 164

Chapter Seven Location video and sound 188

Chapter Eight Sports reporting and commentary 220

Chapter Nine Foreign reporting 237

Chapter Ten Going live 261

Chapter Eleven The package 278

Chapter Twelve Editing 303

Chapter Thirteen Graphics 319

Chapter Fourteen Presentation 332

Chapter Fifteen The programme 357

Part Two: Newsdays 393

Sky News 396

BBC Radio Five Live 404

ITN 422

BBC Ten O’Clock News 440

101–102 Century FM 454

BBC News 24 473

Staffordshire News 488

Radio 1 Newsbeat 510

CONTENTS

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CONTENTS

Part Three: The Essential Guide 527

Getting a job 529

The law and broadcast journalists 535

Glossary 544

Part Four: Workshops and Exercises 557

Workshops and Exercises 559

Index 565

Supporting resources

Visit www.pearsoned.co.uk/practicaljournalism to find valuable online

resources

Companion Website

• Updates on the latest developments in news broadcasting

• Audio interviews

• Links to relevant online resources

For more information please contact your local Pearson Education sales

representative or visit www.pearsoned.co.uk/practicaljournalism

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FOREWORD

How do you learn to broadcast? I've never worked out the answer to that

question. When I was a teenager, engrossed in the idea of being on the radio

because of a fleeting visit I'd paid to Capital at the age of 12, I thought you needed

a Physics O Level. That would give me an understanding of the way a transmitter

worked, I reckoned; what caused feedback; why speakers have magnets.

'Nonsense,' said a friend. 'You don't need to know any of that.'

So I bought a book instead. In those days, there was only one book. I remember

the title as Being a DJ by Emperor Roscoe. A great read it was too – all about how

to avoid losing records on your way to a gig. Presenters were gods when I was

young. They did not write books. DJs did not talk about how to broadcast. Maybe

nobody did.

Spool on a few decades. London is making a claim to be the media capital of

the world, and now your digital dial shows up, not only Capital, but a score

of other stations. The TV has 250 channels! The media hoover up thousands

and thousands of young and aspiring journalists, presenters, producers and

technicians (now with Physics GCSEs). There is, more than ever, a need for a

book that does quite a bit more than Roscoe could, that takes us deep into the

jungle of politics, ethics and the law. Well, here it is.

Good luck.

Jeremy Vine

March 2007

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PREFACE

A few weeks back I had lunch in Dublin with one of my former students, Richard

Hannaford. We had last met over 20 years ago. Since then he had risen to be BBC

Health Correspondent, but left the Corporation some years ago and is now one

of Ireland’s most successful periodical publishers, with a stable of magazines

which includes the country’s highest selling women’s magazine. We took the

opportunity to reminisce about his fellow alumni, and it was impressive to realise

how well they had done. I even managed to retrieve my 1984 assessment notes

from a dark corner of our loft and was impressed to find that some of those who

had been quite moderate performers as student broadcasters had nonetheless

enjoyed major success on the business side of the media. Like Richard and me,

few were still active frontline broadcast journalists, yet many are still using the

core journalism skills they have learnt and developed over the years. And I guess

that, in the finest tradition of the Blairite nanny state, is the point at which we

ought to state the almost mandatory caveat.

The clear factual evidence provided by the regular Skillset media industry surveys

shows that there are relatively fewer active broadcast journalists over 40 and

even fewer who make it through the fifties to a comfortable retirement living off

anecdotes of derring-do with nothing but a microphone to protect them from the

wild elements or an even wilder mob.

Yet the growth in demand for professional, accredited training as a broadcast

journalist is starting to outstrip more traditional disciplines.

At the time of writing the Broadcast Journalism Training Council already

accredits 32 courses, and that number will rise steeply over the next two or

three years, with yet more degree and other courses set to launch after that. We

are repeatedly asked where are all the graduates of these courses going to find

jobs – yet no one ever asked in the past where the graduates from the various

traditional academic courses like history, politics and philosophy were going

to find work – after all there’s hardly ever been a point in history when there’s

been a burgeoning bull market in philosophers.

For a start, the best graduates will enter the industry, fully and far better

equipped to take rapid advantage of the many emerging career opportunities

than journalists of my generation could ever have imagined. We learnt ‘on

the job’ and believe me, it’s an often painful and embarrassing process.

As this book so powerfully and entertainingly demonstrates, with so many

enlightening real-life examples and anecdotes, you will learn how to go straight

to the heart of a story, of an idea or a concept; you will learn how to write clearly,

succinctly and, hopefully, all in good, properly spelt and grammatical English.

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PREFACE

You will learn about presenting what you have written in print, sound and vision

across an ever widening range of platforms; about interviewing people and

allowing them to present themselves and their views persuasively. Not only that,

you will also learn to speak to a microphone, to a camera and even to a live

audience in a clear and confident manner. You will learn technical skills and

how to use a range of computer software and, on a personal level, you will learn

how to organise yourself and your time and to work as part of a team and, in time,

to lead those teams. You might even learn shorthand, the most traditional of

journalism skills, but evermore relevant even in this hi-tech post-Hutton world,

though Hutton should be the least of your reasons for so doing.

I believe there can be few people who could argue that these are not highly

valuable and highly transferable skills, with a far wider and longer-term

application than many other traditional academic degrees – and there is little

danger that journalism and communications skills will ever become obsolete,

because they are at the core of the burgeoning information society. But this

book is just a beginning. You will need to ensure that you continue to refresh,

upgrade and broaden those skills through a continuing programme of personal

and professional development. Again, this is a concept largely alien to previous

generations of journalists – after all, in nearly 25 years as a print, radio and

finally a television journalist, I refreshed my skills in a properly structured way

only twice, which is why I have become so committed to high quality, fully

accredited training and continuing personal and professional development.

The broadcast and media environment is changing at a faster pace than I can

ever recall. We are entering a third age of broadcasting, where traditional linear

models, both print and electronic, are starting to look creakingly obsolete. There

are newer, smarter technologies and software – digital TV, Wi-Fi, broadband,

iPods, DAB, DRM – simply too many to remember, let alone name.

Such is the pace of change that even as I write I feel a second edition of this book

coming on, but however good this book is, it ultimately rests with you to make the

best of your skills, your abilities and your opportunities. Best of luck.

Steve Harris

Accreditations Secretary

Broadcast Journalism Training Council

November 2006

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AUTHOR ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book is the product of a year and a half’s research and two lifetimes in

broadcasting. It would not have been possible without the enthusiasm and

support of all the professionals who welcomed us into their workplaces and

homes, and generously shared their ideas, experiences and working practices.

We have tried to distil as much as possible of their expertise into its pages.

Any mistakes are entirely the authors’.

We particularly thank Vin Ray and Helen Boaden at the BBC, Rob Kirk and Pete

Lowe at Sky News and Deborah Turness at ITN for facilitating our visits to their

organisations. Except where otherwise stated, quotes come from interviews

conducted by the authors. We are grateful to all who gave permissions to

reproduce copyright material.

The panel of referees, assembled by Pearson Education from the broadcast

industries, educational institutions (Jan Whyatt at City University, Jennifer

Brown at Leeds, Carole Fleming at Nottingham Trent and others who wished to

remain anonymous) and the BJTC (especially Steve Harris), improved our work

immeasurably. Particular gratitude must go to Roy Saatchi and Mike Henfield,

whom we knew to be great news editors from the time we worked with them, and

who have brought the same sharp insight and good humour to their suggestions

for the text.

We could not have completed this project without the support of colleagues at

Staffordshire University, who covered for us whenever we were away from the

day job, and shared our excitement as the book came together.

Andrew Taylor and the team at Pearson, and Lissy Kowalski, who made sense of

more than a thousand photographs and helped edit them down to what you see

in the book, shaped the finished product.

Final thanks to our families, who tolerated the late nights in the office and the

days away from home.

Gary Hudson

Sarah Rowlands

November 2006

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We are grateful to the following for permission to reproduce copyright material:

P8 (main), p160, p174 (2nd main) p323, p324 (2nd) and p324 (3rd) photos and

graphics reprinted by permission of BBC Worldwide; p8 (t) & 252, p300, p324

(2nd from top) & p324 (b) and p327 photos reprinted by permission of BSkyB Ltd.;

screenshots on p305(b), p308 and p352 (b) screen shot frames reprinted with

permission from Microsoft Corporation; p122 © Horace Whetton (Staffordshire

University); p305 (b) screenshot from RadioMan® Quick Edit Pro reprinted by

permission of Jutel Oy; p308 screenshot from Avid Xpress DV reprinted courtesy

of Avid Technology, Inc.; graphics on p326 (top 5) Curious World Map images

from www.curious-software.com reprinted by permission of Vizrt Ltd.; p385

screenshot from BBC News at bbc.co.uk/news reprinted by permission of

BBC News Interactive.

We are grateful to the following for permission to reproduce text material:

Chapter 2, Theories of news production, adapted extract from Investigating

the Media, reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. © Paul

Trowler 1988 (Trowler, P. 1988); Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 6 and Chapter 15

extracts from BBC Editorial Guidelines, reproduced by kind permission of the

BBC; Chapter 6 abridged extract from Guidelines for MPS staff on dealing with

media reporters, press photographers and television crews, produced by the

permission of Metropolitan Police Service; Chapter 9 The INSI Safety Code from

www.newssafety.com/safety/index.htm, © International News Safety Institute,

reprinted by permission of International News Safety Institute; Chapter 9, Case

Study: Explaining the world – a foreign reporter at work, Laurence Lee’s report

from Russia prior to the presidential elections of 2004, broadcast on Sky News,

reprinted by permission of BSkyB Ltd.; Chapter 11, Case Study: Pulling it together

– using actuality, Rachel Harvey’s report on the Indonesian earthquake, broadcast

on BBC Radio 4 18:00 bulletin, 31 May 2006, reproduced by kind permission of

the BBC and Rachel Harvey; Chapter 11 Robin Punt’s interview with Noel Martin,

broadcast on BBC Midlands, June 2006, reproduced by kind permission of the

BBC, Robin Punt and Noel Martin; Chapter 11 Case Study: War Artist, Rob Perry’s

story broadcast on BBC local TV West Midlands, reproduced by kind permission of

the BBC and Rob Perry; Chapter 13 Case Study: Working with blue screen – the

virtual reality graphic, Chris Evans interview with Jeremy Vine and Peter Snow,

broadcast on BBC Radio 2, Chris Evans Show, 4 May 2006, reproduced by kind

permission of the BBC, Chris Evans, Jeremy Vine and Peter Snow.

In some instances we have been unable to trace the owners of copyright material,

and we would appreciate any information that would enable us to do so.

PUBLISHER

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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PART ONE THE JOB

Sky News has a reputation for being first with breaking news, but the man who

presided over the growth of that reputation, Nick Pollard, has another passion:

‘Accuracy, accuracy, accuracy. It certainly drives me mad and I hope that it drives

younger people mad to see anything wrong.’

GETTING IT WRONG

The tragic consequences of getting it wrong were illustrated in January 2006

when the world’s media reported that 12 miners had survived underground

after a pit explosion in West Virginia. For nearly three hours waiting families

celebrated before they were told that all but one of the men had, in fact, died.

The mistake was apparently due to a misheard radio message from rescuers

to their command centre. As the euphoria at a ‘miracle escape’ spread, no

journalist appears to have checked with authoritative sources, because there

were no authoritative sources. The command centre had issued no official

statement. Church bells pealed in celebration and the rolling news channels

duly broadcast those celebrations. The reporters possibly got too close to the

story and were caught up in the excitement of the miners’ families. The result:

misinformation was reported as fact.

Writing in the Guardian soon afterwards, media consultant and Internet blogger

Jeff Jarvis wrote: ‘Hours after the terrible truth emerged, network executives

and newspaper editors fell over themselves issuing justifications and excuses:

they listed their sources and said they did the best they could with what they

were given.’

Jarvis said the lesson of this was: ‘You can’t trust the news.’ He argued that,

in an age of instant communication and constant coverage, the public was left

to judge the reliability of the news for themselves. ‘The public is the editor.’

News, Jarvis said, is not a product, it’s a process. ‘It is time for journalists to

tell the audience not just what they know, but also what they do not know. And

it is time for journalists to admit that, in the end, they don’t decide what is true.

The public makes that judgement. So journalists must arm the public to do

that job. We get to the truth together.’

CASE STUDY 3.1

The Internet as a research tool

The importance of checking sources is never more critical than when taking

information from the Internet. The World Wide Web is a fabulous resource for

journalists. Search engines offer immediate information at our fingertips. But

there is no guarantee that any of the information is reliable.

Learn to focus your searches, and identify which sites can be trusted. If you

are searching for an old news story about a topic, on Google for example, refine

your search to ‘news’. If you are looking for the website of a British organisation,

select ‘pages from the UK’. If you are looking for pictures, select ‘images’.

Use quotation marks to refine your search. If you are looking for information

about Roy Saatchi (a former BBC editor), you won’t want information about

PART ONE THE JOB

PREPARING FOR AN INTERVIEW

KNOWING WHAT YOU WANT FROM AN INTERVIEW

Remember the five ‘W’s? As we explain in Chapter 2: What’s the story? and

Chapter 5: News writing the information presented in a news story can be

summed up by answering the questions ‘who, what, where, when, why (and how)’.

It follows that your questions in any interview will almost certainly start with

those words. But before you start asking questions there is only one of those

words that matters. That word is ‘why’. Why are you conducting the interview?

Why do you want to talk to this person? Why will this interview help tell the story?

Often the answer is to find a soundbite – a short clip that sums up somebody’s

opinion or reaction. You need to focus on the key question that will elicit that

response. There’s no point recording a five-minute interview when you only want

a 20-second answer. Equally there’s no point running through the five ‘W’s. Those

will have been answered earlier in the piece. Colour and drama will result from a

more relaxed approach: ‘Hey, did it hurt?’

When you know why you are conducting the interview you can decide what questions

to ask. Ask yourself: ‘What do I want to know?’ and structure the interview

accordingly. If it is to learn the facts about a news event, then it is an interview to

gain information. If it is to challenge an authority figure, then it is investigative or

adversarial. If it is to elicit a personal response to events, it will be an emotional

interview. Sometimes you will be talking to someone simply because of who they

are – the celebrity interview. But you still need to be clear why.

In any interview, be bold. And don’t be afraid to be nosey. As long as you are polite,

you should dare to ask the questions to which everybody wants the answers.

CHECK LIST

REMEMBER

➤ What is the point of the story?

➤ Why am I asking these questions?

➤ What do I need to know?

➤ What can this person tell me that others cannot?

➤ How can I get the best from this interviewee?

➤ How can I make them trust me?

➤ Which part of their story needs challenging?

➤ What conclusions will the audience draw from this interview, or from the

clip I choose?

TIP BOX

RESEARCH AND PREPARATION FOR INTERVIEWS

Research and preparation are central to all successful broadcasting. But never

more so than when preparing to interview somebody. This is usually the first

THERE’S NO POINT

RECORDING A FIVEMINUTE INTERVIEW

WHEN YOU ONLY

WANT A 20-SECOND

ANSWER.

CHAPTER TWO WHAT’S THE STORY?

The significance of sport to the community was one of the factors stressed by the

London bid team which successfully won the 2012 Olympic Games for Britain.

The TUC and the CBI (the ‘voices’ of trades unions and employers respectively)

issued pleas to British companies to allow workers to keep in touch with the test

match score during the crucial climax to cricket’s 2005 Ashes series.

The veteran broadcaster, legendary interviewer and sometime sportswriter

Michael Parkinson summed up the appeal of sport in his Daily Telegraph column

shortly after that England Ashes victory: ‘The importance of sport is that it doesn’t

matter, except as an antidote to things that do.’

BRITAIN’S FIRST SPORTS NEWS CHANNEL

Sport’s appeal is reflected in the success of Sky Sports News. The channel

was set up after Rupert Murdoch’s Sky Television bought up a huge swathe of

sports rights, revolutionising the way sport was viewed on UK television. The

range of live sport available to viewers increased exponentially – as did the

cost of watching it. Sky’s impressive roster of live sport meant there was also

a growing library of highlights to exploit. Those highlights could be shown

on the Sky News channel, and there was also enough to provide raw material

for a stand-alone sports news channel. Sky Sports News would serve as a

promotional tool for the premium-cost sports channels and for pay-per-view

events. Even with the cost of employing presenters and reporters, it virtually

paid for itself.

As a business model it was inspired. As a response to audience demand, it has

more than justified itself, regularly attracting more viewers than the ‘senior’

service Sky News.

A CLOSER LOOK

REMEMBER

➤ Sports news matters to a large proportion of the audience

➤ Ignorance of sport will find you out.

. . . and finally

The phrase ‘and finally’ has become such a cliché of broadcasting that it is rarely

used other than ironically. But a well-rounded bulletin on all but the hardest

news day will almost always end on a lighter note. The ‘and finally’ will usually

be a human interest story, treated with humour. Greg Dyke, when he was

Director General of the BBC, warned journalists to leave comedy to comedians.

Nonetheless, a strong tradition has developed, particularly in regional TV news,

of reporters offering a wry and affectionate look at life’s eccentricities. The style

was set by great names in broadcasting like Fyfe Robertson and Alan Whicker on

the BBC’s Tonight in the early days of TV magazine programmes half a century

ago, and was continued by regional reporters on news magazines. John Swallow

on Central News and John Yates on BBC Midlands Today earned the affection of

Midlands viewers across three decades. Chas Watkin, now a senior BBC regional

news editor, says: ‘When I was growing up, my sister and I used to watch the ITV

programme just waiting for John Swallow’s piece to come on.’

PART ONE THE JOB

AN ETHICAL DILEMMA

Protests are good copy. They can turn ugly, leading to clashes with opponents

or the police. The Poll Tax demonstrations in Margaret Thatcher’s era turned

into riots. The Countryside Alliance’s demonstration against the Fox Hunting

Ban under Tony Blair’s premiership led to confrontation with police in riot

gear.

Often broadcasters will be told about a demo in advance – even before the

police or other authorities know about it. That is because the protestors want

publicity for their actions. Public opinion is their principal weapon. It helps

their case if they get coverage even before the police arrive. To what extent

is it acceptable for broadcasters to collude in what might turn into criminal

activity?

The Ofcom code says material likely to encourage or incite the commission

of crime or to lead to disorder must not be included in television or radio

services. But that does not prevent journalists attending illegal

demonstrations.

The BBC Editorial Guidelines say ‘comprehensive coverage of demonstrations,

disturbances and riots is an important part of our news reporting,’ but:

• ‘We assess the risk that by previewing likely prospects of disturbances we

might encourage them.

• We withdraw immediately if we suspect we are inflaming the situation.

• We treat estimates of involvement with due scepticism and report wide

disparities and name the sources of the figures.’

There are also special rules for live reporting. There must be a delay in

transmission, or the chance to cut away and record material for use in

an edited report, if the level of violence or disorder becomes too graphic.

THINKPIECE

right. The decision in the BBC not to rely on unchecked local radio copy was

controversial within the organisation at the time, but it vastly reduced the

number of basic journalistic mistakes, like names, places and facts that

were wrong. Mostly mistakes happened because accurate spelling was

not essential in radio and it is online. Other errors were easier for the

audience to spot because web pages are permanent while the spoken

word is transient.

Hugh Berlyn, Editor of BBC News Interactive, English Regions, sums up the

change in approach:

It used to be the case that online journalists in the BBC were just processing

other people’s stories. The attitude was, ‘We don’t need more journalists,

we’ve got plenty in television and radio.’ But since we decided not to rely on

local radio copy, that has changed. Our people have to be content providers.

They know how to source a story and they know right from wrong. True,

they don’t get out of the office much, but that’s true of regional newspapers

these days.

Hugh Berlin, Editor of

BBC News Interactive,

English Regions

MATERIAL LIKELY

TO ENCOURAGE

OR INCITE THE

COMMISSION

OF CRIME OR TO

LEAD TO DISORDER

MUST NOT BE

INCLUDED IN

TELEVISION OR

RADIO SERVICES.

PART ONE THE JOB

GUIDED TOUR

Remember – a quick

summary/revision aid

of the key points at the

end of each section

A closer look box –

focuses on a key topic

or issue from the main

text in more detail

Thinkpiece box – encourages the reader to

consider some of the issues – perhaps

ethical, practical or legal - central to

working as an informed broadcast

journalist

Case study box – looks

in more detail at a

particular (often real)

case or scenario in

broadcast journalism

Tip box – pithy advice

showing key techniques

and practices in

broadcast journalism

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PART ONE THE JOB

302

REMEMBER

➤ Online story-telling can be non-linear – the user chooses a way through

the content

➤ Combine text, stills, graphics, video, audio and user content

➤ Online packages can appeal to different target audiences at the same time

➤ Use graphics programmes like Flash

➤ Make your package interactive for users.

CONCLUSIONS

The traditional TV or radio package is probably as good a way of telling a linear

story as has ever been devised. All the elements can be edited and crafted into

an easily digested form that’s convenient for viewers and listeners to understand.

But there are new horizons and new challenges. The limits of non-linear storytelling have yet to be explored. There is clearly an appetite for the new form.

Many young people prefer playing video games to watching TV. They still use TV,

but fewer are engaged by scheduled news programmes. Interactive journalism

offers a way to attract that audience, and the opportunity to expand the limitations

of traditional broadcast journalism.

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Texas-Public-Radio-to-broadcast-an-exclusive-interview-on-the-Permian-Highway-Pipeline

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