TV NEWS SCRIPT

News written for TV broadcast means writing for viewers and listeners. Broadcast writing must be shorter and more concise than the writing done for print news. Scripts are often no more than 30 to 60 seconds long, and broadcast writers need to think about how much listening and viewing time they will have.

The lead of a TV news story has to be even more concise than the lead of a print story. Including all of the five W's and H would make the lead too long.

Print reporters put facts in descending order so the reader can leave the story at any time. TV news writers want every sentence to count to keep viewers attention.

Here are some guidelines:

Write the way you talk. This doesn't mean use slang, but make your story conversational. Viewers want to be part of the conversation. They don't want a lecture.

Write simply.

Use subject-verb-direct object structure whenever possible. Tim Jones (s) won (v) yesterday's jackpot (d.o.).

Use one idea per sentence.

Use short, active words.

Don't start with a question or a quote.

Identify the speaker before what is said.

Hit the highlights only.

Leave out ages, middle initials, adressess, jobs, titles, etc... unless they are important to the story.

Writing for the Anchor

Write in all capital letters.

Spell things out phonetically.

Hyphenate words that go together. Monster-truck, switch-hitter, actor-director,etc...

Spell out numbers up to eleven.

Use words for big numbers.

Spell out signs and symbols.


Follow the link below to a see a sample of a TV News Script:

https://docs.google.com/document/edit?id=1cYEUQgm57K1p34RIn5VXMmbDQvx6qP4AqNEItZaQl1g&hl=en&authkey=CJGQ6eoC