Page 17 - Electronic Media

Electronic Media 17

Criticisms of broadcast news

Not everyone thinks that the broadcast news profession is doing
the best it can for viewers. Here are some of the major criticisms of
broadcast news:

$ It is too short and too shallow-The convention of writing
broadcast news is so limiting that it doesn’t allow writer enough
time to give information and details that would enlightening the
listener. Most broadcast news stories are 20 to 30 seconds long.

$ Pictures or audio drive a story-More attractive the pictures, the
more likely the story will lead the newscast. Another aspect of
this criticism is that stories are broadcast because the station has
film or audio – not because the stories themselves are worthy.

$ Broadcast news emphasizes the superficial rather than the
substantive. This criticism is related to the two above. Critics say
broadcast news reporters often pick out the sensational or the
most unusual aspect of a story to emphasize rather than what is
the most important.

$ Broadcast news writers depend on clichés rather than
information, particularly to end their stories. Many reporters find
an ending that says in effect, “Who knows?” or “We’ll have to
wait and see” convenient for ending a story.

Differences in writing for broadcast from writing for print

# Sentences will be shorter. The words must be more carefully
chosen. You will write more simple sentences and fewer complex
ones.

# You will use present tense more.