AEC531

News Writing for Television and Radio1

Ricky Telg2

This publication on news writing television and radio is radio news story so people can “see” images just through
the fourth of a five-part series on news media writing. This your verbal descriptions.
series also covers an introduction to news media writing,
news writing for print, grammar and punctuation, and As with any type of news writing, you should try to identify
interviews for news stories. characteristics of your audience so you know what type
of information your audience wants. Use the criteria of
newsworthiness presented in News Media Writing in this
Introduction publication series to help you determine if your television
Creating a television or radio story is more than hitting or radio news story idea has news value. Television and
“record” on a video camera or audio recorder. You have radio news stories must have these attributes:
to learn the process of writing an effective television and
radio news story first. The term broadcast writing will be • The writing style should be conversational. Write the way
used interchangeably for television and radio news writing you talk.
throughout this publication.
• Each sentence should be brief and contain only one
idea. We do not always talk in long sentences. Shorter
Writing for the Eye and Ear sentences are better in broadcast news writing. Each
Writing for radio and television is different from writing for sentence should focus on one particular idea.
print for several reasons. First, you have less space and time • Be simple and direct. If you give your audience too much
to present news information. Therefore, you must prioritize information, your audience cannot take it in. Choose
and summarize the information carefully. Second, your words that are familiar to everyone.
listeners cannot reread sentences they did not understand
the first time; they have to understand the information in • Read the story out loud. The most important attribute for
a broadcast story as they hear it or see it. As a result, you writing for “the ear” is to read the story aloud. This will
have to keep your writing simple and clear. And third, give you a feeling for timing, transitions, information
you are writing for “the ear.” In print news stories, you are flow, and conversation style. Your audience will hear your
writing for “the eye”; the story must read well to your eye. television or radio news story, not read it, so the story has
The television or radio news story has the added complexity to be appealing to the ear.
that it has to sound good; when a listener hears the story
it has to read well to “the ear.” Also for a radio news story,
listeners cannot see video of what you are saying, so you
must paint word pictures with the words you use in your

1. This document is AEC531, one of a series of the Department of Agricultural Education and Communication, UF/IFAS Extension. Original publication
date January 2015. Reviewed February 2018. Visit the EDIS website at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.

2. Ricky Telg, professor, Department of Agricultural Education and Communication; UF/IFAS Extension, Gainesville, FL 32611.

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to
individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national
origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other UF/IFAS Extension publications, contact your county’s UF/IFAS Extension office.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, UF/IFAS Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A & M University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County
Commissioners Cooperating. Nick T. Place, dean for UF/IFAS Extension.
Television and Radio News Writing Television and Radio News Writing
Structure Techniques
• Be brief. A good newspaper story ranges from hundreds • Use a person’s complete name (first and last name) in the
to thousands of words. The same story on television or first reference, then the person’s last name thereafter.
radio may have to fit into 30 seconds—perhaps no more • Use phonetic spellings for unfamiliar words and words that
than 100 words. If it is an important story, it may be 90 are difficult to pronounce.
seconds or two minutes. You have to condense a lot of
information into the most important points for broadcast • Omit obscure names and places if they are not meaningful
writing. to the story.

• Use correct grammar. A broadcast news script with • Titles precede names; therefore, avoid appositives. Do not
grammatical errors will embarrass the person reading it write, “Tom Smith, mayor of Smallville, said today….” In-
aloud if the person stumbles over mistakes. stead, write, “Smallville mayor Tom Smith said today….”
(Other examples: “City councilman Richard Smith,” not
• Put the important information first. Writing a broadcast “Richard Smith, city councilman.” “Anyville High School
news story is similar to writing a news story for print student Beth Baker,” not “Beth Baker, Anyville High
in that you have to include the important information School student.”)
first. The only difference is that you have to condense the
information presented. • In age reference, precede the name with the age. (Example:
“The victim, 21-year-old Rob Roy…”)
• Write good leads. Begin the story with clear, precise
information. Because broadcast stories have to fit into 30, • Avoid writing direct quotations into a news script, if at
60, or 90 seconds, broadcast stories are sometimes little possible. Instead, let people say things in their own words
more than the equivalent of newspaper headlines and the during soundbites. A soundbite is the exact words spoken
lead paragraph. by someone in his or her own recorded voice. If you must
use a direct quote, set it off with such phrases as “In the
• Stick to short sentences of 20 words or less. The announcer words of...” or “As he put it...,” or try to paraphrase as
has to breathe. Long sentences make it difficult for the much as possible. Avoid saying “quote” and “unquote” to
person voicing the script to take a breath. lead into or end a direct quote.
• Write the way people talk. Sentence fragments—as long as • The attribution should come before a quotation, not after it.
they make sense—are acceptable. In contrast to writing for print media, the attribution of
• Use contractions. Use don’t instead of do not. But be care- paraphrased quotations in broadcast stories should be at
ful of contractions ending in -ve (e.g., would’ve, could’ve), the beginning of the sentence, before the paraphrase. The
because they sound like “would of ” and “could of.” listener should know where the quotation is coming from
• Use simple subject−verb−object sentence structures. before hearing the quote. Example: “Bill Brown said he
would run for re-election.”
• Use the active voice and active verbs. It is better to say “He
hit the ball” than “The ball was hit by him.” • Avoid most all abbreviations, even on second reference,
unless it is a well-known abbreviation. This is different
• Use present-tense verbs, except when past-tense verbs are from the Associated Press Style rules for print stories.
necessary. Present tense expresses the sense of immediacy. Write out days, months, states, and military titles each
Use past tense when something happened long ago. For time. About the only acceptable abbreviations are Mr.,
example, do not say, “There were forty people taken to Mrs., and Dr. Punctuate, by using a hyphen in between,
the hospital following a train derailment that occurred commonly used abbreviations. For example, write “U-S,”
early this morning.” Instead, say, “Forty people are in the instead of “US” (United States), and “U-N” for “UN”
hospital as a result of an early morning train accident.” (United Nations).
• For radio news stories, write with visual imagery. Make • Avoid symbols when you write. For example, the dollar
your listeners “see” what you are saying. Help them sign ($) should never be used in broadcast writing.
visualize the situation you are describing. Always spell out the word “dollar.” This is different from
the Associated Press Style for “dollar” when used in a
print news story.

News Writing for Television and Radio 2

• Use correct punctuation. Do not use semicolons. Use • Narrate the news story. After you hit the “record” button
double dash marks for longer pauses than commas. Use on the video camera or audio recorder, wait approxi-
underlines for emphasis. mately 10 seconds before speaking. This prevents you
• Use numbers correctly. Spell out numerals through 11. from accidentally losing some of the narration if you hit
(This is different from Associated Press Style for print “record” and start narrating the script immediately. It is
stories, which spells out one through nine, and starts a good idea to use a standard reference opening, such as
using numerals for 10 and above.) Use numerals for 12 the day, place, and subject’s name. You may want to use
through 999. Use hyphenated combinations for numerals a countdown: “Honeybee story, coming in three, two,
and words above 999. (Examples: 33-thousand; 214-mil- one,” and then start the story. This also helps your voice
lion.) Round off numbers unless the exact number is stabilize as you start. The standard reference opening and
significant. (Example: Use “a little more than 34 million countdown will be edited out of the final story.
dollars,” not “34-million, 200-thousand, 22 dollars.”) • Articulate words correctly. Speak clearly. Do not run your
Use st, nd, th, and rd after dates, addresses, and numbers words together. Practice proper articulation, the distinct
above “eleventh” to be read as ordinary numbers. (Ex- pronunciation of words. The following words are often
amples: “Second Street,” “May 14th,” “Eleventh Avenue,” improperly articulated: “prob-ly” for “prob-ab-ly,” “git”
“12th Division”—this is different from AP Style for print.) for “get,” and “jist” for “just.” Also, do not drop the final
“g” in “-ing” words, such as cooking, running, and hunting.
Television and Radio News Story • Think the thought. Think about what you are going to say.
Format If something has a positive idea, put a smile in your voice
• Broadcast news stories are typed, double-spaced, and in by putting a smile on your face. This helps to project the
uppercase/lowercase. Many years ago, television news personality of the story.
scripts were written in all uppercase, but that practice has • Think the thought through to the end. Keep half an eye
changed in recent years. on the end of the sentence while you are reading the
• Make the sentence at the bottom of a page a complete first part. Know how the sentence will come out before
sentence. Do not split a sentence between pages. you start. This will help you interpret the meaning of the
phrases of the entire idea.
• Never split words or hyphenated phrases from one line to
the next. • Talk at a natural speed. But change the rate occasionally
to avoid sounding monotonous. The speed that you talk
• Do not use copyediting symbols. Cross out the entire word
is your speaking rate. Vary the pitch and volume of your
and write the corrected word above it. This is one reason
voice to get variety, emphasis, and attention. Pitch is the
why broadcast news scripts are double-spaced: so you will
high and low sounds of your voice. You will sound more
have room to make corrections between the lines.
assertive if you lower your pitch and inflect downward;
Narrating Television and Radio however, avoid dropping your pitch when it sounds
unnatural to do so.
News Stories • Breathe properly. Control your breathing to take breaths
Follow these recommendations when you narrate (also between units of thought. Otherwise, you will sound
referred to as “voicing”) television and radio news scripts: choppy. Sit up straight while narrating. This helps your
breathing.
• Position the microphone properly. Position the micro-
phone 6 to 10 inches from your mouth and at a 45-degree • Use your body. A relaxed body helps produce a relaxed-
angle to the direct line of speech. This will help prevent sounding voice. Do a few exercises before going on the
“blasting” with explosive letters such as “P” and “B.” air. A little activity reduces tension.
Always maintain the same distance from the microphone • Listen to the final product. Listen to how it sounds. Listen
as you speak. to what you said as if you were an audience member.
• Remove noise-making distractions. Remove all paper clips, • Time the story. At the end, be sure you time the story. If
pens, and other items that you would be tempted to play the story is going on the air of a radio or television sta-
with as you read the story. Any rustling of paper clips or tion, the story’s timing is important, and, in many cases,
pen clicking can be picked up by the microphone. needs to be exact. Practice writing and narrating news
stories to determine what your normal reading time is.

News Writing for Television and Radio 3

• Practice your narration skills. Never give up practicing
speech and delivery techniques. Read something aloud at
least twice a week for practice.

Additional Information
The Associated Press. (2012). The Associated Press stylebook
and briefing on media law (46th ed.). New York: The
Associated Press.

Burnett, C., & Tucker, T. (2001). Writing for agriculture: A

new approach using tested ideas (2nd ed.). Dubuque, IA.:
Kendall/Hunt.

Oliu, W. E., Brusaw, C. T., & Alred, G. J. (2007). Writing

that works: Communicating effectively on the job (9th ed.).
Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s.

Telg, R. & Irani, T. A. (2012). Agricultural communications

in action: A hands-on approach. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar.

News Writing for Television and Radio 4