As we dive into our Spring semester of "Writing for the Ear," I have to admit. I'm not really thinking all that much about class. Sorry. That's what happens when you do the news, and a really big story hits, that shakes up your day. That's pretty much what happened today with the arrest of Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez.
The good thing about all this? It gives us a chance to hear up to the minute examples of the different kinds of reporting we'll be exploring during class. So, here goes...my sermon about terminology you should know:
If you don't work in the business, it's pretty hard to know what people are talking about when they say things like "copy" or "vo-sot."
Newscast: This could be a lot of things...five minutes of headlines read by a radio reporter at 6 a.m. or maybe a full, half-hour television broadcast, complete with weather and sports. For our purposes, a newscast is: The framework within which we place stories. We'll be talking in later classes about how to "stack" a newscast, or choose the important stories in the right order.
Reader: That's when the newscaster reads news copy (otherwise known as a script) directly to listeners. It's news that he has written himself, and doesn't include any additional outside sound. Many radio stations provide newscasts that are little more than a series of readers, strung together taken from wire service copy. It might look something like this:
The state Supreme Court ordered a new sentence today for a man convicted of shooting a New Haven police officer. The high court unanimously upheld the conviction of Arnold Bell, but found part of a law giving him a stiffer sentence as a persistent dangerous offender unconstitutional.
Scripter: That's when the newscaster reads copy, and inserts a soundbite into the the story. Of course, there's a million ways to refer to the soundbite, like: cut, bite, clip, sound on tape (or SOT), tape (that's pretty old-fashioned), audio, and probably a few I'll forget. Here's the same story, written as a scripter:
The state Supreme Court ordered a new sentence today for a man convicted of shooting a New Haven police officer. The high court unanimously upheld the conviction of Arnold Bell, but found part of a law giving him a stiffer sentence as a persistent dangerous offender unconstitutional. Bell's attorney, Joe Blow said the ruling was a victory:
Bell :12 "...will be vindicated."
Bell was convicted of shooting officer Jane Smith in 2001.
Another name for the scripter is the donut...and it's easy to see why. There's some stuff...then a hole where the soundbite goes, then more stuff. Many TV stations (they call them VO-SOTs, or voiceovers with sound on tape...catchy, no?), and some radio stations dispense with the second bit of "stuff" and just move on to the next story.
Spot (or Wrap): Basically, it's the same idea as a scripter, but a reporter is delivering the story...not a newscaster. A spot is short (for our class, :50 to 1:30) and it usually breaks news. It's the first reporting on a story, and is meant to get the basics out there. That doesn't mean spots can't be full of information. Each spot includes a "Host Lead" or "Host Intro" read by an anchor. It gives a description of what's to come. Here's an example from today by WNPR reporter Anna Sale. First the Host Intro:
Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez was arrested today on charges of bribery and fabricating evidence in connection with renovations at his home by a city contractor. WNPR's Anna Sale reports. Here's the link to the story itself.
Here's another spot from today's coverage by Lucy Nalpathanchil. First, the host intro: While Mayor Eddie Perez maintains his innocence on corruption charges and says he won't resign, Hartford City Council may have a say in Perez's future. WNPR's Lucy Nalpathanchil reports.
Now, the link to hear the story.
It's still a spot that's breaking news...but it's taking a different angle. Some people might call this a "sidebar" story - an old newspaper term. I just call it good reporting...following up on all aspects of an important story.
Feature: This is what you'll be producing by the end of this class. It's a longer story than a spot, although it has some of the same elements (news at the top of the story, background, voices of stakeholders, a conclusion that moves the story forward) as a spot, but takes more time, and provides more depth. Here's a good recent example of a story driven by a need to more fully develop an ongoing news story. And, another example, where we took a "micro" look at a bigger problem.
You can do more listening here to different kinds of stories that fit into these categories.
Okay, now those terms make sense, but we can't do much with them, unless we first explore the "Basic Rules of Broadcast Writing."
For next week - we'll get more depth on these subjects by tearing into our textbook, "Sound Reporting" - and reading the first four chapters.
