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Radio Journalism

UNIT 4 NEWS PRODUCTION


Structure
4.0 Introduction
4.1 Learning Outcomes
4.2 What is News
4.2.1 Main Elements of News

4.3 News Formats


4.3.1 News Bulletin
4.3.2 Talk
4.3.3 Radio Newsreel
4.3.4 Phone in programme
4.3.5 Radio Bridge
4.3.6 Features and Documentaries

4.4 News Production (News Bulletins)


4.4.1 How to Compile a News Bulletin
4.4.2 Basic Principles of Writing a story
4.4.3 Process of Editing News and Preparing for Newscast.
4.4.4 Lead/Intro
4.4.5 Techniques of Writing Headlines
4.4.6 Selection of News and Scripting
4.4.7 Feeding the News and Sound Inputs

4.5 Language Bulletin


4.5.1 Basic Features
4.5.2 Selection of items and Compilation

4.6 External Broadcast


4.6.1 Basic Features
4.6.2 Selection of News Items
4.6.3 Style of Writing

4.7 Let Us Sum Up


4.8 Further Readings
4.9 Key Words
4.10 Check Your Progress: Possible Answers

4.0 INTRODUCTION
News Gathering, News Production and News Dissemination are the three major
functions of a radio news room. All three are interdependent and one cannot be
performed without the support of the other. Of these, news production calls for
special skills in deciding what the news is, writing a story and presenting it using
the radio medium. At the outset we have to realise that it is an audio medium and
therefore the style of writing differs substantially from that of print or even audio-
visual media. As it was said in unit-3 that many of the radio listeners are just
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casual listeners. One may be having breakfast, another may be talking to somebody, News Production
and yet another may be driving a vehicle and so on. To grab the listeners’
attention is not easy. And even if the listener does listen to radio, it may well be
for a short time only. To catch and then retain the listeners’ attention in that limited
period poses another challenge. A very good piece of news can be boring to listen
to if not written and presented properly. If the listeners don’t find the news items
of interest to them, they will move on to music or other channels or simply switch
off. On the other hand, even an ordinary news item can be made interesting to
listen to if presented in a professional manner.

4.1 LEARNING OUTCOME


After going through the unit, you should be able to:
list the main elements of news;
describe news formats and their advantage;
describe the process of news production;
understand editing and compilation of news bulletin; and
find out basic features of language and external news bulletins.

4.2 WHAT IS NEWS


Before you learn production of radio news bulletins, let us try to understand what
is News. There is no exact definition and a universal one to describe what news
is. UNESCO Associate and expert Mr. Paul De Maeseneer says, “News is a
piece of information about a significant and recent event that affects the
listeners and is of interest to them.” It could at best be a working definition.
4.2.1 Elements of News
Novelty (the quality of being new), timeliness, significance, interesting to
the listeners. impact on listeners and conflict are the main elements of news.
A few more can be added to these - proximity or nearness, prominence,
government action, development, human interest, weather, sports etc. as these
also affect the listeners greatly.
The most important element of news is that it has to be new information. Timeliness
is very important. It must be a recent event, which had not been reported before.
News should focus on what actually happened and not speculate about what will
happen in future. What happened last year or last month or even last week is
history. What happened today or at the most yesterday is really news. However,
even though some major incident might have happened long back but if it comes
to light now, it can still make news. With radio news the emphasis is even more
on what happens now as radio is a ‘now’ medium.
Significance is what makes an incident news. What happened? Is it too serious?
Are too many people affected? Is it a really big event? Such factors arouse the
interest of your audience. Celebrity stories also relate to this element. Marriage
of a film or sports star is news, while common people’s weddings are usually not.
However, what is significant for one may not be so for others.
Interest of listeners or the relevance for listeners is a basic factor for deciding
what news is. What is of interest to people of Delhi may not be relevant for
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Radio Journalism Kolkata residents. Some news definitely would be of interest to both but not all.
Therefore, the selection of news items should depend on the potential interest of
your audience. It is imperative that a radio journalist know well his/her audience
and their interests. The first question to be asked is whether the news item is of
interest to the listeners? Is it relevant to them?

Events having impact on listeners instantly make news. What affects a large
number of people creates great interest amongst the audience. For instance,
fluctuations in petrol or diesel prices affect everyone. So these are news.
Demonetisation created very big news because it affected everyone.

Conflict is another very important element of news. By nature, we are attracted


to the drama involved in a conflict situation. Wars are major and sustained news
events. Elections command active attention of a lot of people. Then, the factor of
oddity also contributes to news interest of a situation. Avery old saying in journalistic
circles is that a dog biting a man is not news but a man biting a dog is. Why?
It is an unusual and unique event.

4.3 NEWS FORMATS


The news can be presented in different formats of varied duration having their
own special characteristics. Some of them are as follows:

4.3.1 News Bulletin


In the realm of news, radio’s strength emanates from its capacity to inform current
affairs instantly. There are many formats to cover current affairs. A radio news
bulletin is one such very prominent format with different presentation styles
depending on the length and requirements of the bulletin. A two minute or five
minute bulletin will not have headlines because these bulletins are already brief.
These will present the news crisply in the order of priority. A ten minute bulletin
will, however, start with about 4-5 headlines followed by detailed news and end
also with a repetition of the headlines. It may have one break in the middle of the
bulletin restating the identity of the originating organisation. This will help those
who may join later to identify the station/organisation broadcasting the news. It
can include sound bites or voice dispatches of correspondents. A 15 minute
bulletin can however carry several sound bites, voice dispatches and even short
news capsules made using both sound bites and dispatches or vox pops. Live
dispatches by correspondents from news location also find a place in such bulletins.
These can have two breaks after every five minutes with a crisp short sentence
announcing what more is to come in the bulletin.

4.3.2 Talk
As news bulletins give a very brief account of a news event, there is a need to
go for other formats to give the details that listeners would like to know. This
news analysis is done employing different radio programme formats namely talks
(as commentaries), reviews, panel discussions, interviews etc. AIR has two
daily programmes ‘Samayiki’ and ‘Spotlight’, which provide in depth news analysis
using mostly the formats of talks and interviews. Then, there are two weekly
programmes ‘Çharcha Ka Vishay Hai’ and ‘Çurrent Affairs’ in the discussion
format.
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4.3.3 Radio Newsreel News Production

Radio Newsreel is a format embellished with many sound bites and actuality
inserts. The linking script is kept very short. Appropriate sound inputs are
interwoven into this brief script. This renders the news presentation more lively
and interesting compared to simple reading of a text. Voice dispatches of
correspondents are also used in Radio Newsreel. However, Radio Newsreel is
always pre-recorded and edited for broadcast unlike the news bulletins, which
are presented live.

4.3.4 Phone in Programme


It is an interactive programme in which an anchor and one or more experts
discuss a subject and the listeners can have live participation in the programme
by calling some designated numbers. This provides two-way communication and
therefore is very interesting and effective format. Market Mantra is one such
popular programme of AIR giving information about stock market behaviour and
tips from experts for better investment options.

4.3.5 Radio Bridge


Radio Bridge programmes are produced with elaborate networking in place. This
format is very effective in informing and analysing major events such as counting
of elections or budget presentation, when inputs and reactions from many parts
of the country need to be woven into the programme. In this format also, an
anchor with or without a panel of experts sits in the main studio connected to
anchor persons with their respective panels of experts at radio stations at various
locations along with correspondents deployed at various places where action is
happening like, in the case of elections, counting centres, headquarters of political
parties, etc. On election counting days, this kind of programme can continue for
several hours capturing the election verdict scenario by reporting minute to minute
position and incorporating analysis and reactions from experts, leaders of political
parties, common people, etc. This interactive programme brings in people from
various locations on one platform.

4.3.6 Features and Documentaries


Radio features and documentaries are employed for detailed reporting and analysis
of news based stories. These give elaborate treatment to the subject with music,
vox pops, experts’ inputs, interviews, actuality sounds etc. in one programme.
Traditionally, features and documentaries were of half an hour duration. But now,
shorter and crisper versions are preferred.
Check Your Progress 1
Note : 1) Use the space provided below for your answers.
2) Compare your answers with those given at the end of this unit.
1. State five elements of News.

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Radio Journalism 2. Which programme formats help analyse news.
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3. What are the advantages of Radio Newsreel?
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4.4 NEWS PRODUCTION


4.4.1 How to Compile a News Bulletin
Compilation is a very important aspect of creating a news bulletin. The editor
should know about the listeners and what are their areas of interest, because, he/
she has to select the news items keeping this in mind. The editor’s first task is to
rewrite the stories in a radiogenic language, keeping in mind the length of the
bulletin and relevance to the listeners. Once this job is over, the stories are
arranged in the descending order of interest and importance. This process is
called bunching of the items. The most important and interesting item should come
at the top of the bulletin and the least important at the bottom. The idea is to retain
the attention of the listener for as long as possible. Normally sports and weather
items are coverd at the end of the bulletin if these items do not make big news
on that day. The situation will change in circumstances such as cyclone hitting
some areas or a grand victory for Indian sportsmen or some other major sports
news. After the bulletin is finalised, the headlines are drafted usually of one crisp
sentence each. National bulletins cover national, international and regional news.
Regional bulletins focus on regional developments and news.
Length and structure of News Bulletin
Structure – headlines followed by body of the bulletin
Length of the bulletins is normally 10 minutes with one break.
But there are also 5 minutes bulletins without headlines.
There is another category of two-minutes of headlines only.
Longest bulletins could go for 15 minutes with two breaks.
Normally about 600 words are covered in 5 minutes bulletin.
Bulletins are typed in 14 font and triple space so that, if needed, last minute
corrections and insertions can be easily made.
4.4.2 Basic Principles of Writing a News Story for Radio
It is also prudent to remember that during one bulletin the listeners can hear a
news item only once. Unlike newspaper readers, they can not go back and listen
to a part again. Further, a newspaper reader’s eyes can grasp a lot of details
while reading. Therefore, print journalists can write long sentences and cram a lot
of information and statistics in it. Newspaper pieces are written for the eyes. But
radio scripts are written for the ears. You get only one chance to reach the
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listeners and they hear only one word at a time. So the writing style for radio has News Production
to differ substantially from the style used for print reporting. Now, with the
progression of technology , more actuality sound based bulletins and programmes
are produced to make it sound more real. Thus, new formats of news have
emerged.
Accuracy, Balance, Brevity and Clarity are the basic principles of news writing.
Accuracy : You have to find out whether the news is credible (true) and accurate.
If accuracy is absent, you lose your credibility, which then is very hard to regain.
There have been many instances where incorrect information, sometimes of a
momentous nature, has been mistakenly disseminated by the media. The added
problem with the broadcast media is the fact that here dissemination is
instantaneous and thus it becomes very difficult to retract and mitigate the adverse
fall out of the error. In addition to carelessness, these mistakes happen when each
channel or agency wants to beat all others in ‘breaking’ the news first. In this
terrible rush, sometimes not enough cross checking of the actual facts is done with
other sources before putting the story on air. The best way to ensure accuracy
is by cross checking with different sources.
Balance: Another principle in wring is maintaining balance. If a story carries only
a one-sided version, it will be lopsided. The truth will not come out in its entirety.
Brevity: Give another sub heading Brevity. There is a famous saying that brevity
is the soul of wit. This holds true for the news items also. All unnecessary and
irrelevant details have to be cut out retaining only what is essential. Chiseling and
honing are essential but some pertinent and interesting details have to be provided
to maintain the attention of the listeners.
Clarity: One may have the best news story. But, it may not be understood if
clarity of expression is lost. There are several aspects to be kept in mind to
achieve clarity of thought and expression while producing news based programmes
or let us say any programme for radio. Some of the principles to be followed are:
Spoken language: Radio news script should be in spoken language. It should
be as if you are telling the story to someone. The best way to do this is to read
aloud the story as you write or type the script. This will avoid tongue twisting
words. We use simple words in spoken language. For instance, you won’t say -
“I am contemplating to go to market”. You are more likely to say that “I am
planning to go to the market”.
Avoid complicated sentences: Write using simple sentences and in present
tense. Relative pronouns like who, whom, whose, which, that etc. will complicate
your sentence. Avoid complex and compound sentences and complicated clauses.
Writing for ear and not for eye: Radio script requires writing for the ear and
not for the eye. A newspaper reader can catch a lot of details and many words
in one glance while reading. He/she can also go back in case of any doubt. A
radio listener cannot do this. Therefore loading too many words into a sentence
will make it difficult to follow and understand.
Rounding off large numbers: Large numbers should be rounded off to the
nearest round figure. It will make these easy to grasp. Besides, the rupee or any
other currency name should come at the end of the number and not before.
Because that is how we speak. We don’t say - give me Rs.5. We say- give me
five rupees. Rs.105343.53 can be said as over one lakh rupees. See, how
easier it now to understand! 51
Radio Journalism Short span of attention: Avoid information overload. Listeners have short span
of attention. They cannot absorb a great deal at one time. Avoid cramming too
many details into one item.
Avoid clichés: State the facts as they are. There is no need to add clichés, i.e.
oft repeated and overused phrases, which do not enhance the news value of the
story.
4.4.3 Process of Editing News and Preparing News Cast
Rewriting the story for radio news, writing in inverted pyramid format, writing the
lead, writing the rest of the story, writing the headlines, attribution including the
dateline are important principles of editing the news. How do we go about it?
Select the lead news story.
Also select other stories to be included in the rest of the bulletin.
Redraft the stories to suit the need of the bulletin without altering any fact.
Use sound inputs – voice casts, sound bites, capsules or wraparounds,
expert comments and live inputs.
Inverted Pyramid Format
Write the story in inverted pyramid format. The most important information should
be on top and the rest of the information should follow in the descending order
of importance. It is just opposite to the composition in a literary form. In literary
writing, the story is slowly built up and usually the climax comes at the end. Not
so with news writing. It is actually in the reverse order. The climax will be at the
top and the other details are given in the decreasing order of priority. This style
makes it easier to edit the story even at the last minute. If the item seems too long,
the last one or two sentences can be removed without materially affecting the
story if it is written in the inverted form. Even if all the other sentences are edited
out except the first sentence, it will still indicate what the news is about. That is
the advantage of writing in the inverted pyramid form.
4.4.4 Lead/Intro
The opening lines of the story, called Lead by the Americans and Intro by the
British, must catch the attention of listeners. Leads have to be short and brief to
catch listener’s ears. Lead sets the tone and tenor for the subsequent narrative of
the story. It must entice the listeners to listen further. A great story with a poor
lead can drive away listeners from hearing the news. In the earlier days, journalists
used to sincerely follow the five Ws - who, what, when, where & why - to write
a lead. If even two or three of these are properly followed, the lead or intro
would be good.
Cut out non-news leads
Lead should contain important and substantial news. ‘Today is Independence
Day’, ‘A workshop will be held this afternoon to discuss climate change’ - these
kind of leads will not be very effective without any substantial news.
Hard or soft lead
Ahard lead comes out with the crux of the story immediately. Example: Opposition
candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih defeats Abdulla Yameen in the Maldives
52 presidential poll.
A soft lead does not straightaway gives news. It prepares the listener to wait for News Production
the news to follow. Example: Yameen concedes defeat in the Maldives
presidential poll; Mohammed Ibrahim triumphs.
Suspense and delayed lead:
Here the key information is not revealed at the beginning of the story. The real
news may come in the second sentence or even later. Example:
“It was water, water everywhere. But the global search for Commander
Abhilash Tomy did not go in vain. French Shipping vessel OSIRIS located
him at last in the vastness of South Indian Ocean today.”
The lead of the story should present something new. It cannot start saying “As
reported earlier……”
Normally avoid negative lead. If the listeners miss the first word ‘no or not’, they
will get it all wrong. Example: No increase in the Income Tax rates, says the
Finance Minister.
Refresh the lead: Refresh the lead every two or three hours. If a train accident
is reported, subsequent stories should give different leads like information on
rescue and relief operations. If the arrival of a foreign dignitary is reported,
subsequent stories should lead with details of his/her activities since then.
Rest of the story: Once you have settled on the lead, fifty percent of your job
is over. Now you have to concentrate on the rest of the story. You have to
pick up out the next most important part of the story. For example, the following
is a news agency story:
A military plane carrying soldiers and their families has crashed soon after
takeoff in northern Algeria, killing 257 people in what appears to be the
worst plane crash in the north African country’s history.The defense ministry
said 247 passengers, made up of Algerian soldiers and their relatives, died
along with 10 crew members when the plane crashed into a field on
Wednesday, next to an airbase in the town of Boufarik, 20 miles (30km)
from the capital, Algiers.The cause of the crash was unclear and an
investigation has been launched, the ministry said. The head of the Algerian
army, the vice-minister of defence, and military chief of staff visited the
crash site to inspect the wreckage.Video taken close to the crash site and
published by the local news site Algérie24 showed a plume of black smoke
billowing into the air. Pictures showed the burnt-out tail section of the
aircraft separated from the rest of the fuselage, which was being attended
to by rescue workers.The private Algerian TV network Ennahar published
images of body bags lined up in the field.
The aircraft that crashed on Wednesday was a Russian-built Ilyushin Il-76
military transport plane. The Il-76 has been involved in a number of crashes,
most recently in 2016 when one on a firefighting mission crashed near Lake
Baikal in north-east Siberia, killing all 10 crew members on board. (227)
For a radio news bulletin, this story is edited and redrafted as below: ‘An Algerian
military plane has crashed killing all 257 people onboard. The plane crashed
today in a field near an air base in the town of Boufarik soon after it took
off. The town is 30 kilometers off the capital Algiers. The cause of the
crash of the Russian made IL-76 plane is not clear. The Algerian Defence 53
Radio Journalism Ministry said the victims include Algerian soldiers and their relatives
besides 10 crew members. An investigation is on.’ (76 words) The story
was built up in a clear, brief and logical manner. 227 words are reduced to just
76 words.
Attribution : In the earlier quoted story, the details of the passengers were
attributed to Algerian Defence Ministry. This is correct because they only had the
details of the passengers. Where ever needed, quote the source. It will add
credibility to the story. In newspapers, attribution is given usually at the end of
the sentence. In radio news, it is given at the beginning of the sentence.
The dateline: Unlike in a newspaper, radio news does not give dateline in the
beginning but it is included in the story.
4.4.5 Techniques for writing Headlines
Headlines come at the top of the bulletin.
Generally comprise a single sentence for each of the story mentioned in the
headlines.
They work as teaser making listeners continue listening.
Headlines should not reveal too much or too little.
If these reveals too much, the listener need not listen to the details in the
bulletin.
If these reveal too little, interest of the listeners to listen to the bulletin may
not be aroused.
Chiseling and honing are must for writing a good headline.
Headlines are repeated at the end of the bulletin to enable those joining late
to be apprised of the salient details of that bulletin.
An example:
News item: “India has accelerated to buy drones from Israel that can be
armed, Defence sources said, allowing military to carry out strikes with less
risk to personnel”
The headline could be: India’s plans to buy Israeli drones are put on fast
track.
4.4.6 Selection of News and Scripting
1. Select the news items of importance as well as interest to your listeners. On
an average about 80 thousand words are received by the New Room on a
usual day. You need at the most about 1500 words even for your lengthiest
15 minute bulletin. Therefore, selecting the important items of interest to your
listeners and rejecting unwanted items, passages and words are one of the
main jobs of an editor.
2. As said earlier, the best way to write a radio script is to read it aloud as you
write or type. This helps you to write in spoken language. You will thus be
able to identify in advance and guard against the tongue twisters.
3. Don’t overload with information. Choose simple sentences to write the story.
Avoid complex, compound and complicated sentences.
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4. Avoid insertion of clauses and complicated phrases. News Production

5. Avoid clichés.
6. Avoid superfluous adjectives and superlatives.
7. Write in present tense or present perfect tense to convey immediacy.
8. Use active verbs.

4.4.7 Feeding the Texts and Sound Inputs


Radio station are using computerised multiplatform radio work stations these
days. All the phone calls from the correspondents or from other sources are fed
to radio software platforms like the Dalet or Netia. This software is capable of
editing and compiling of both text and sound inputs, as per editor’s choice. News
Services Division of All India Radio has a New Format section to deal with sound
editing. The edited versions of sound inputs are put into the audio file. The
compilation editor edits the text of the news inputs first and then inserts sound
bites, voice casts etc. into the texts at appropriate points. The software has the
provision to broadcast both as inserted when the bulletin goes on air. The system
can also take telephone calls live from the correspondents and others and make
these a part of the news bulletin.
Check Your Progress 2
Note : 1) Use the space provided below for your answers.
2) Compare your answers with those given at the end of this unit.
1. State at least atleast 3 principles of writing story for Radio
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2. Why writing lead is important?
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3. What is Headline?
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4.5 LANGUAGE BULLETIN


4.5.1 Basic features
Language bulletins are basically translation of news from English or Hindi news
copies. News agencies are presently functioning in these two languages only and
therefore the only option is to translate the news items from these languages into
the desired language. This really calls for excellent skills in translation as well as
very good command over both the languages – language which is being translated
and the language into which translation is being done.
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Radio Journalism There are two basic features for language bulletins:

1. Literal translation should be avoided.

The usage of words and phrases varies in English as well as other languages.
For instance ‘A nuclear station has become critical’ means it is now ready
for functioning. However, if it is literally translated, it will give a totally wrong
meaning.

2. News items that interest the language listeners should be chosen.


Apart from national news, Tamil speaking listeners would be more interested
to know about the events in Tamil Nadu. Bengali speaking listeners would
want to know about what has happened in West Bengal. All India Radio is
broadcasting news bulletins in all Indian languages and even in some dialects.
Interests of these listeners should guide the language editor while selecting
the items.

4.5.2 Selection of Items and Compilation


The language editor must have at least three lists of items with him – international,
national and regional. The news items should be carefully chosen to give a right
blend of this news spectrum. Finally, the editor should have only one consideration
for selecting the news items and that is the interests of the listeners. Otherwise the
core listeners will be lost. After translation, items have to be bunched together as
per the priority of the news stories. The most important and interesting item
should be at the top, the next most interesting after that and so on.

4.6 EXTERNAL BROADCAST


4.6.1 Basic Features
The first and foremost requirement of any external broadcast is to cater to the
needs of people where the broadcast is targetted to.

Listeners abroad are not familiar with the names or places in India unless they are
citizens of Indian Origin. They are not familiar with the customs, festivals and
many similar aspects of Indian culture. Also they may have particular interest in
some fields. For instance, Cricket has now become a popular sport in Afghanistan.
Hence, thorough background knowledge is needed about the interests of the
people of the countries covered by the broadcasts.

4.6.2 Selection of news Items


The cardinal principle for selecting news items for broadcast remains the same.
These should be important as well as of interest to the intended listeners. Knowledge
of the customs, culture and interests of the people of the targeted region are
therefore essential to create bulletins beamed for audience abroad. Besides,
awareness about the dynamics of politics of the countries of the target region,
their relations with other nations and geography of the region will help in choosing
the news items.

4.6.3 Style of Writing


While the core principles remain the same, the style of writing news items for
56 external broadcast bulletins differs in some ways from that employed for the home
bulletins. For instance, listeners abroad are not familiar with rupees. It is better News Production
to say in dollars as it is an international currency and everyone understand its
value. Similarly, internationally recognised terms like millions and billions have to
be used instead of lakhs and crores. The places have to be described geographically,
like ‘the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, North Eastern city of Guwahati,
Central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh’ etc. Instead of Chief Minister of
Maharashtra, ‘Chief Minister of the Western State of Maharashtra’ should be
used. Similarly, not just the Prime Minister but ‘Prime Minister of India’ has to
be said. Instead of saying just Iduki Dam, ‘Iduki Dam in the western Ghat of
India’ has to be said and so on. The idea is simple. Foreign listeners need to be
helped with some additional information to understand the news as they are not
familiar with many details about India.

4.7 LET US SUM UP


In this unit, we studied the possible definition of news, elements of news, various
news formats and process of news production including the tasks of selection,
editing and compilation of news bulletins. Creative writing for radio news and
techniques of drafting headlines were highlighted as important aspects of preparation
of news bulletins. Developing an evolved news sense as well as competence in
use of radio techniques are the best ways to achieve high quality, accurate and
credible radio news production. Important elements of language bulletins as well
as those for external services were also discussed.

4.8 FURTHER READING


“Here is the news – A Radio News Manuel by Paul De Maeseneer, AIR Style
Book, Here is the news: reporting for media By Parthasarathy News writing
By George A.H.

4.9 KEY WORDS


Sound bites : recorded voice of news makers.

Multi-platform : the wholly computerized radio work station for broadcast of


news, music and other programmes like Dalet or Netia.

Live Dispatch : reporting live from the place of event

Vox-pop : sound bites from a cross section of people

Voice cast : news dispatch by correspondent recorded in his/her own


voice

Radio Bridge : radio format linking Correspondent and/or experts on one


platform to analyze a news event like election.

Phone in : radio programme enabling a listener to directly participate by


calling a designated telephone number

Compilation : choosing and editing various news items and putting them
together for broadcasting a news bulletin.
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Radio Journalism 4.10 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS: POSSIBLE
ANSWERS
Check Your Progress 1
1. Novelty, Significance, Timeliness, Impact on listeners and what Interest to
them.
2. Commentaries, reviews, panel discussions, interviews etc.
3 It is predominantly a sound based programme. Provide sound bites of people
and reports from correspondents.
Check Your Progress 2
1. Accuracy, Balance, Brevity and Clarity.
2. It will catch the attention of the listeners.
3. Headlines come in the beginning of the bulletin, they work as teaser making
listeners continue listening, it should not reveal too much or too little, chiseling
and honing are must for writing a good headline.

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