Broadcast Writing

News writers write, edit, and sometimes do on-air reporting of news stories. They should be naturally curious, like research and writing, and have the ability to simplify and produce reports for newscasts and news and information programs as well as the Internet. These people are responsible for investigating, gathering information, and reporting news and current affairs.

Beth Hyams, editor, newscaster and radio host at Oregon Public Broadcasting, writes and edits her own copy. She studied English and American lit in college but never planned on working as a journalist. “I wrote all through high school and college. I thought I would be a fiction writer. I had always been a writer, but I didn’t know I was going to be a journalist,” she says. Beth has been working at OPB for 17 years, and in radio for 25. She says within that time nothing has changed for writing; the basics are the same, but the technology has advanced significantly.


Presenting information in a fair, balanced and accurate way through news bulletins, documentaries and other factual programs for radio, television and online broadcast is imperative to work as an on-air writer. On-air reporters have to keep opinions off the air and private, and it is considered highly inappropriate, say, to give a donation to a controversial political group.

This type of writing also relies on constant generation of ideas for stories and follows leads from news agencies, the police, the public, press conferences and other sources.

News writers are responsible for identifying necessary resources, sending out technical crews for location shoots, and sometimes providing directorial management; advising crews on what to film or record. That said, it’s helpful for a news writer to be able to use a portable digital video camera and other equipment to record material, and editing software to produce broadcast packages.

News writers need to be comfortable identifying potential interviewees, briefing them, preparing interview questions, and conducting both live and recorded interviews. On-the-spot interviewers like Emily Harris from Think Out Loud must think on their feet, but still do intense research beforehand. As for advice Beth says it’s hard to define. “It just takes special talent.”

OPB is unique in that people want to be interviewed by its reporters. This relationship is largely due to NPR’s good reputation as a serious source of news, but since it has such a wide reach, upholding that reputation is a big responsibility. Beth, however, is placated by the people she works with. “Everyone here at OPB is smart, dedicated, and well informed. The reporters at OPB love team work, and the environment is never competitive. “That’s the culture we’ve cultivated. We share knowledge among ourselves, we spend our energy on journalism, not back-biting. The stress is a subterranean stress. I’m not chewing my nails. But we have to try to get everything right every second,” Beth says.

In-house responsibilities sometimes drift into things like preparing timings for each news item and monitoring them during broadcast, deciding on the running order for bulletins and making any necessary changes.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts that competition will be high for news writers at urban and national newspapers, broadcast stations, and magazines. However, small publications, radio and television stations, and online newspapers and magazines should provide plenty of opportunities. And even small publications prefer writers with a bachelor's degree in journalism, communications, or English, and experience gained at school newspapers or broadcasting stations. Beth started as a volunteer at KBOO independent radio in Portland and strongly suggests this or an internship, fellowship, or apprenticeship to get started. There is really no other way to “practice” the radio broadcast process.

When asked about the outlook for news writers, Beth Hyams concurred with the consensus that newspaper reporter dreams might get shattered. But, she says, “Radio is continuing to thrive and grow. Oregon Public Broadcasting is one of them. News writing is obviously changing with blogs and online media, and the public always wants a reliable source of information. It trumps tweeting and blogging where you just don’t know where it’s coming from, or how reliable it is,” says Beth.

Consciousness of the Web in general is a big part of radio now. Newscasters are under pressure to put content online, often before radio broadcasts. Technology is increasingly important to keep in mind for a writer who is fond of simple pen and notebook style, as the most useful reporter knows how to handle microphone stands, cables, batteries, recorders, and now, a camera for online pictures. Widespread Internet access has increased the workload on the reporter. “The web is an endless, gaping hole that can accommodate anything you put into it,” says Beth. “The standard is the same, the writing is the same. The new arm is the web.”

Now, the reporter finds the story, edits the sound, writes a script, takes photos, edits copy (which goes through several edits), the editors do a paper edit, and an ear edit (sit down and reporter reads script and plays pieces of tape so to get an idea of what it’s gong to sound like), and occasionally sends out another person (intern!) to take pictures if it’s going to be a big story, because the reporter is going to have their hands full.

So yes, reporters for radio do the whole shebang. For Think Out Loud there are people who write exclusively for the Web (posting descriptions of shows, blog posts, upcoming events, etc.), and a Web editor who writes content. But in terms of broadcast, OPB does not have any writers that do not speak on-air. “We don’t have a room full of writers scribbling away at notebooks,” Beth laughs.

Public radio seems to be doing well, but commercial radio, on the other hand, is not, unless local radio stations (94.7 - Alternative Portland) being taken over by big national conglomerates is considered “doing well.” Public radio still has challenges, but at the moment it’s a thriving source of news.

As an example of where broadcast media is headed, Jeff Mapes, a political writer for The Oregonian, maintains a political commentary blog on OregonLive.com where he interacts with readers. This is where a kind of “hybrid” is occurring between citizen-source news, and journalism. “His Blog is journalistic, not trivial. He is informing the public about vital, civic issues. While journalism is changing, I do think there’s always going to be a role for good, informative, responsible, journalistic writing,” says Beth.

News writing jobs often involve long, irregular hours and pressure to meet deadlines. Many broadcast employees have erratic work schedules, sometimes having to work early in the morning or late at night. In 2008, workers in broadcasting averaged 35.8 hours a week, compared with 33.6 for workers in all private industry. Workers in television worked longer hours than those in radio broadcasting. Only 7 percent of employees work part time, compared with 16 percent for all industries.

Employers impart that practical experience is the most important part of education and training. Upon graduation, many students should already have gained much practical experience through part-time or summer jobs or through internships with news organizations. Fortunately, most newspapers, magazines, and broadcast organizations offer reporting and editing internships. Work on high school and college newspapers, or on community papers is also valid training. In addition, journalism scholarships, fellowships, and assistantships awarded to college journalism students by universities, newspapers, foundations, and professional organizations are helpful.

Experience as a freelancer or stringer—a part-time reporter who is paid only for stories printed—is advantageous. Beth Hyams did grant writing after college and says that all that writing helped. “I was comfortable as writer. I didn’t go to journalism school; I just dove in and did it.”

Job postings from news agencies looking for writers usually include pitching ideas to editors, researching and collating evidence to support a story, writing scripts for bulletins, selecting appropriate locations, pictures and sound, and exercising editorial judgment on the best angle from which to approach a story. As a writing career, radio is much different than print. There are no pictures to supplement the words and the writing is minimal. The listener needs to hear what the newscaster says the first time. “Our writing has to be simple but not dumbed down. Simple construction of writing is important so it’s easy on the ear.” Beth stresses that simple sentence construction is key. “If you see too many commas, you need to break up those sentences.” On air reporters use active, not passive voice and write in present tense (past tense when necessary). “The writing is very now. And adjectives and adverbs are low on the totem pole,” Beth says. However, feature writing (i.e. This American Life) can break the rules a bit.

Beth Hyam’s show airs at 4pm on weekdays, so a lot of people are driving when they listen. Her concern, primarily, is to write so listeners don’t get lost in complicated language or disengage if it is too mundane. Beth says that any writing is good preparation for a career in radio broadcast writing, but you must unlearn some things when you make the transition from print to broadcast.

Here is a recent job posting from the Canadian Broadcasting Company for comparison:

We are looking for a candidate with the following:

- Bachelor's degree or equivalent.

- Journalism experience is an asset.

- Keen interest in journalism, and excellent general knowledge.

- Knowledge of communications methods specific to the media (radio, TV and the Web), as well as interview techniques.

- A driving license could be required for some assignments.

All candidates must include a letter of interest detailing how their experience would be an asset to us, as well as what contribution they'd like to make.

Candidates may be subject to knowledge testing


News stations and its writers feed from other news sources. The Associated Press and OPB’s own reporters are their primary sources. They have a morning meeting at 9am where the reporters and editors decide who’s doing what that day, and every Friday there is a news department meeting which involves the daily news staff – reporters, editors, Think Out Loud crew.

Beth recommends taking a look at prndi.com and poyntr.org. These are two of many sources radio journalists use for writing tips. She also recommends “trying things you may not initially be interested in. See if you can just observe or shadow a reporter for a day.”

Most importantly, she suggests listening and reading news sources you are interested in working for. If you’re really serious, listen to the nightly news and type/write the broadcast verbatim so you can get an idea of what works in terms of sentence and story structure. Beth’s final bit of advice: “Have a critical ear.”

For a different perspective, I talked with Janice Salvador, Senior Writer at KATU News in Portland. Janice began as a writer for KATU and was then promoted to producer. “I wanted to get out of the stress of producing so I went to being a senior writer. Now I just write and edit. No on-air stuff.” She majored in journalism at the University of Oregon, graduated in 1981 and interned her senior year. She claims that her on the job experience was “invaluable.”

The hours of a television news writer can vary. “You can work around the clock. 9am-6pm, 2:30pm-11:30pm, or overnights. Depending on what show you work for will determine writing schedule,” Janice says. Writers work with producers for the most part, and instead of writers pitching stories, the stories come from the Associated Press wire service, CNN feeds, and “beat” calls/police calls. In other words, the stories are assigned to the writers.

But writers are responsible for other elements of the final broadcast. They are responsible for finding video clips, sound, and with internet there are all kinds of outside sources (Google News and Twitter are common for television too). Lots of time is spent doing research on stories you’ve been assigned. Janice says, “I go home and watch other newscasts and I can tell who write verbatim from a newscast and who digs a little deeper. You cannot just rely on one source.”

Writers for KATU do not do their own interviews. Janice, for instance, stays “in-house,” or does “desk-reporting.” Certain writers will go out and gather news, but in general, writers use the phone to contact sources. “Writing is most important element of a newscast. It must sell itself – it has to be something that grabs your attention; the language must be very simple, very conversational. Not like newspaper writing. It has to be compelling and interesting, not complicated or long or belittling to the listener,” Janice says.

So how is a story for KATU news born? Janice explains that a story starts at the assignment desk, the assigning editor assigns a reporter to the story, then assigns a writer to it, the writer makes a phone call, then sends a photographer to a scene (if there is one), and the producer makes final changes to the story.

Janice, like Beth, also recommends getting an internship, learning to write more conversational, using job-shadowing to figure out how a newsroom works, listening to network news and type down their stories; noticing how their sentences are short, clear, and conversational.

But, the ever-pressing question looms: how is television news doing in the dire wake of print journalism? Janice says information, obviously, is gravitating toward the Internet. So KATU, for instance, is working in tandem with it. Broadcast news can be updated to the second on the internet when, for broadcast, all the preparation and on-air time can be time that the story is actually changing. Janice is confident that broadcast will wane, but the public still wants a personal connection to news, “They don’t want to sit in front of a computer all the time.”

When asked about pressures of the job, Janice says, “We get 2.5 hours of news to broadcast every night. I must be organized about how I do things. February, May, and November are rating periods so they’re particularly stressful.”

Also, she notes, that our culture has moved from 10 channels to 600 over the years. So reporters have to assume people already know what you’re going to report. “You gotta make it more compelling than the other guys. Learn to branch out original stories.”

Janice’s final bit of advice: “Start small. Look at what is happening in small towns. And, in television, be prepared to work with a lot of egos and gregarious characters. It helps to be social.”


Works Cited

The Bureau of Labor Statistics Web site

MediaBistro Web site

Prospects.ac.uk Web site

The Canadian Broadcasting Company Web site

Beth Hyams – Oregon Public Broadcasting, Portland (personal interview)

Janice Salvador – KATU News, Portland (personal interview)

(Researched and compiled by Carrie Johnston)