Week 7 - Writing for broadcast

Sky Tower Stories: TVNZ from above. Photo: Danielle Hutchinson.

This week we looked at how writing for broadcast differs from writing for the page.

A key consideration is that copy must be written to be spoken, as ‘news reporters may write their stories, broadcast reporters need to tell theirs’ (Block, 1987, cited in Alysen 2012).

Alysen’s chapter explores the balance between writing that sounds ‘natural or conversational’ yet has ‘a little bit of an edge to command listeners’ attention’.

Whilst I was aware that audiences may be listening passively to a programme in the background of their daily lives, I hadn’t considered how this is factored into the script.

For example, writers must clearly signal a change in topic or story, enabling the audience to (re)engage without losing access to the meaning of the piece.

---

References

Alysen, B. (2012). Broadcast writing style. In Electronic reporter: Broadcast journalism in Australia, 3rd Edition (pp. 97-130). University of New South Wales Press.