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Unit I- TV News

• The language of visuals

• Principles of public service broadcasting
• TV news script formats
• News writing for TV – Basic principles of News Writing
• Types of story
• Sources for TV news
• Piece to camera
• Use of graphics for news

Unit II- News Gathering for TV

• Reporting – qualities of a TV news reporter

• Fundamental of TV reporting – reporting skills, ethics of TV reporting
• Interview – types of news interview, art of conducting a good
interview
• Basic camera shot
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1st BROADCAST JOURNALISM

Television evolved from radio in the first half of the twentieth century, and its early
prospects were uncertain. Receiver sets were expensive, and reception of the television
signal was not great. Programming was limited. Many felt that radio was the superior
medium because it allowed people to continue with their activities while listening.

Television demanded people’s attention.

That’s exactly what it got after the end of World War II. With the war over and prosperity
returning to the nation, people seemed willing to put up with the limitations of this new
form of entertainment. In fact , so many sets were sold and so many television station
licenses were granted in the early post war era that the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) stopped issuing license in 1948 while it considered how best to use the
limited television spectrum .

The structure of the industry is built on local television stations. There are about 1,600
full-powered television stations in the country. These stations broadcast over a local
geographic area on frequencies, or channels, assigned by the FCC.

The advent of cable television represents a major turn in the relatively brief history of
television. Cable was first used to provide television to areas that over-the-air-signals
could not reach. A high tower would be placed in an advantageous location to capture the
over-the-air signals, which would then be funneled through a cable and into the homes
below.

Public Broadcasting
Educators in the 1950’s and 1960’s saw the value of television as possibly extending their
reach and cutting costs. Many educational districts across the country applied for
broadcasting licenses and prepared educational programs for their local audiences.

In the 1960’s the Carnegie Commission on Educational Television recommended that the
federal government get involved, and Congress established the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting Service (PBS) as the center of a network of educational television stations
and radio stations.

2nd Reporters
The essential act of journalism is gathering information. This is done by reporters.

Deadline: the time when story is due.

Every news reporter wants to cover the big, breaking story.

Every reporter wants to be on the scene first, wants the world to hear or read the
information he or she has gathered.
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Reporters are the starting point of journalism. Without reporters, journalism could not be
practiced. Although many other people , such as editors, photographers , videographers ,
graphics journalists to make sure that the information is presented in a clear , complete ,
and-most importantly –accurate way.

Reporters learn to judge information on these and other criteria and decide if it is news.
They know what their newspaper, television station, or website is interested in and what
kind of news they normally run. They have an idea of what their readers want and need to
know to make judgments about their lives and their community.

Other reporters on a news staff are assigned to a beat. A beat is an area that the reporter
covers on a regular basis. Some of the standard beats are police, government, business,
education and the arts. A reporter who spends time working on a beat will become an in
house expert on that area, and he or she will be assigned stories that fall into that area.

H.L. MENCKEN

On being a newspaper reporter in 1899

My adventures in that character (a newspaper reporter)…. Had their moments –in fact ,
they were made up , subjectively , of one continuous , unrelenting , almost delirious
moment –and when I revive them now it is mainly to remind myself and inform historians
that a media reporter , in those remote days , had a grand and gaudy time of it , and no
call to envy any man …..

Source are an important part of the journalistic process, and a reporter, if nothing else , is
an expert in source . Information comes from three types of sources: stored (anything
written down, in a book, report, library, or on a web page), observational (things that the
reporters see for themselves, such as sports events) , and personal (discussions with
people).

Ideally, reporters would prefer to use observational sources because they like to be on the
scene of events.

Reporters must be persuasive.

Reporters must also have an element of competitiveness to their character .

DEVELOPING CONVERSATIONAL DELIVERY

Whether you are before a field or studio camera , or sitting at a microphone in an

announce booth, one of your primary obligations is to establish an intimate connection
with your audience . Television, after all , is such an intimate medium that it can place the
reporter visually closer to an audience than the reporter could approach in real life .

When you are that close to an audience, your voice will have to be close to an ideal level
in conversational delivery , a process made easier if you follow three rules of thumb :

A. The pitch of your voice goes up when you are tense, so strive to relax .
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B. The pitch of your voice goes up as volume increases, so lower the volume of your
delivery.
C. The message we communicate has to do with how we think about others, not with how
we think about ourselves .

REASONS TO DO STANDUPS

Sooner or later in every reporter’s career the question arise: “Why do we standups? Why
must we ? What purpose do they serve ? “ Elsewhere it has been written that reporters
are not the story , and this truth is fundamental .

Often , for example , standups can be used to enhance otherwise nonvisual stories . At
other times , in the absence of appropriate visuals , they may constitute the most
effective means of communication at your disposal . Standups also help to establish the
reporter’s credibility .

YOUR APPEARANCE

In dressing for television the cardinal rule is to focus attention on your face , not on your
clothes . Even the length and style of your hair will impact how the audience perceives
you. Generally , women can dress the part of the professional , which means clothing that
is both feminine and elegant.

Whenever you appear on camera , dress so that you avoid “disappearing into the
background “. If the background of trash against which you appear at the landfill is bland
and brown , a jacket of the same tone will do you no favor .

Let the audience know you as a friend

Impacting how people perceive your news sources

Use your body more effectively

Postures matters .

3rd FUNDAMENTAL OF TV REPORTING

HOW TO DEVELOP THE QUALITIES THAT MAKE YOU INTERESTING

Appearance and physique .

Fat ,tall , short . Or skinny , we all are unique .

Be aware that trying to see yourself through the eyes of others can be counter productive
, for much the same reason it can be detrimental to share audience research with news
talent .

COMMUNICATE WHAT YOU FEEL ABOUT THE STORY

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Much of the energy in your reporting comes from what you feel about the , story , both
from the standpoint of your emotions and your sensory experience .

What do I see ?

What do I hear ?

What do I smell ?

What do I feel ?

What do I taste ?

PUT A FEELING OF EXPERIENCE INTO YOUR REPORTS

When you understand the experiences of a moment or an event , you can feel in with
words and your own actions those experiences and information the pictures don’t
communicate .

When you set out to make your reporting experiential , create accurate mental pictures
and experiences and speak to your audience of those moments .

THE BODY LANGUAGE OF EFFECTIVE REPORTING

The audience will be interested in the story only if you are , so show them your interest .
TV is first and foremost visual . If we don’t see it

we don’t believe it . So, be visually aggressive .

GIVE THE STORY’S MEANING SOME/THOUGHT

As an on-air anchor or reporter , you will face two immediate problems :

1. sounding spontaneous and conversational , and ,

2. if you are an anchor , making sense of other people’s writing .

To overcome these problems you will have to understand the story , know how to draw on
your energy , and learn to talk to the audience not only with your body but with your
whole self .

4th BROADCAST INTERVIEW

While visuals tell the story in television news , interviews provide the little moments of
emphasis that punctuate the story .

Interviews provide essential detail, help give stories spirit and atmosphere, and impart a
sense of spontaneity that would otherwise be lost . While part of the interviewer’s function
is to gather facts , an equivalent obligation is to reveal the person being interviewed .

The best interviews are often so strong that if the subject walked into the room days after
a broadcast , viewers would still recognize the person .
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ESTABLISH TRUST

Being a reporter or photographer most often means that you are an outsider , yet your
jab as an interviewer depends on your ability to establish trust and gain acceptance from
perfect strangers quickly . The job is sometimes less difficult for print reporters , who can
walk up without a camera and immediately establish rapport, than for the photojournalist
who pulls up to a story burdened with camera , lights , microphone , and microwave truck
.

USE A WIRELESS MICROPHONE

When you conduct one-on-one interviews at close range with people who are
unaccustomed to the bright lights and hardware of television, try to avoid handheld mike
and even the shotgun mike because such hardware reminds people they’ re being
recorded .

DO YOUR HOMEWORK

The more you know about your source , the more confidence you give the person and the
more you can concentrate on listening without having to worry about the next question
you’II ask . Anyone can ask anyone else questions, but the interviewer can succeed only
by asking informed questions that are based on knowing everything possible about the
subject .

HOW TO FRAME INTERVIEW QUESTION

So often , reporters think up the questions they’II ask on the way to the interview . The
result is an interview without focus . “ When you start asking question , the other person
immediately wonders . “Why does he want to know ?” If your purpose is unclear she may
be reluctant to talk .

Ask a few questions to warm up , but save the best and strongest or most controversial
questions for the last part of the interview and actually build the interview to a climax .

THE ART OF LISTENING

The most powerful interviews are but conversations between two people , yet there can
be no conversation without a listener . Most obviously , that job falls to the reporter .
Listening , in fact , is one of the reporting arts . If you are a good listener and are truly
interested in what people have to chances are excellent that you will come away with a
good interview .

Listening also helps you frame more meaningful questions . The interview is far more
likely to be spontaneous if your questions build naturally off the other person’s responses
. Attentive listening also frees you from having to concentrate so hard on formulating your
next question that you miss what the other person is saying .