NPR v. The New York Times

NPR has been called (right or wrong) the "New York Times" of the radio...for many reasons, including the depth of the coverage, and the quality of the writing. For a sense of how two journalistic organizations - with very similar styles and missions - approach things from a print and broadcast point of view, here are some examples. They use a sad current story - the death of movie star Heath Ledger.

The Times' A.O. Scott writes about Ledger's career in today's paper. Scott is one of their film critics, and he takes it from a critic's point of view. The paper also ran several same-day news stories, including this one by James Barron.

NPR's online package includes two stories. One is by Kim Masters, who is "reporting" on the death - the other is by film critic Bob Mondello.

So, in reading (and listening) - what do you hear that's different? Can you tell the "broadcast" approach versus the "print" approach? Do you see the way they're using language differently?

Leave a comment for us to discuss...

Basic rules, terminology...

One of the great mysteries of entering any new world is the terminology. In a broadcast newsroom, you can quickly be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of strange terms. I've made a list of some of the ones we'll be using most in class for you to refer to.

I've also outlined some basic rules for broadcast writing. It's not a complete list, and I'm sure we'll amend it throughout the semester. But, it's a good start.

Spots, Features...

Here are some examples of the types of reporting we'll be doing this year...from the most basic, to the most complex. These stories are all centered around the basic broadcast writing rules of brief, but descriptive. The first piece is what we call a "spot." It's a short news story, with a lead paragraph written for the host, or "anchor" to read. It contains short "sound bites" or "actualities" within it. Heres' the script - click on the link to hear the story.

The State Legislature has gathered for a special session to enact criminal justice reform.
WNPR's Lucy Nalpathanchil reports.

State Legislature debates criminal justice reform spurred by Cheshire home invasion
The State Legislature has gathered for a special session to enact criminal justice reform.
Speaking on WNPR's Where We Live program, House Speaker James Amann says the Democratic majority and Governor Jodi Rell have reached a consensus on most issues in the reform proposal. Two sticking points remain, including disagreement between the Democrats and Republicans over a so-called, 3 strikes law that would send repeat violent offenders to prison for life. Amann says the problem with a 3 strikes law is that it would take away judicial discretion. But House Minority leader, Larry Cafero says the Republicans disagree with the need for flexibility when sentencing repeat violent offenders. He says the Governor has an idea that may help the Legislature reach a compromise.

Cafero: "That after 30 years that sentence should be reviewed, that is a compromise, a hybrid if you will as I've called it. And I think our caucus would certainly be willing to go along with that as well."

The special session was prompted by the deadly home invasion this past summer in Cheshire that killed 3 members of the Petit family. Two men have been charged with the crimes.
House Speaker Amann says the reform package includes investing money to improve technology and info-sharing between law enforcement agencies. Amann says this kind of investment could have prevented the Cheshire tragedy.

Amann: "The problem wasn't 3-strikes. The problem was information sharing, lack of sharing important data and information to Parole that probably would have kept these 2 individuals in jail."

The legislators are also trying to reach a compromise on how to label certain crimes so they fall under the definition of a violent offense. If the reform package is approved, the state could be spending up to an additional $25 million dollars in the next 2 years. For WNPR News, I'm Lucy Nalpathanchil.

You see the way Lucy wrote into those soundbites, making the story flow from her voice into that of the speaker. The whole piece is very short, only about two minutes, but still much longer than much of what you'll hear on commercial radio.

****************************************************

Now, here's a story that's different, and one that uses natural sound, or "ambience" to really put you IN a place. The reporter sets "scenes" that introduce you to the different speakers, and actively describe the place where they're talking. It's called "Many British Muslim Women Embrace Political Islam" by National Public Radio's Sylvia Poggioli. Go to this link to hear the story, and read along with the script they've provided. For the web, it's in "print form." Listen for the ways in which the broadcast version is different.

Welcome!

It's a new semester of JRN 521 "Writing for the Ear" - and I want to welcome you with an introductory blog post here on listeninglab.org.

We're primarily a broadcast news writing course - with audio production included. Here's a short handout to get you started writing "short and tight" - the way you'll need to for Radio & TV. Radio coach Valerie Geller contributed this very handy checklist of things to ask yourself:
How does this story affect my listener?

• How can I describe things more visually?
• How can I make someone care about this?
• How is it that I'm putting this story on air?
• How can the presented problems be solved? What are the solutions?
• How did this happen? How could it have been prevented?
• How else can I tell this story?
• How would I tell it to a friend?
• How can I make it better?
• How would I tell it if my life depended on NOT losing a listener?

Setting the scene

The "scene" in a broadcast report is an elusive thing, I've found. No matter how I try to describe it, it seems to be misunderstood. Perhaps what we can do is look at a scene for what it's NOT...

1. Random sound: A scene isn't the disconnected sound of the ocean, birds, a screaming car or an angry mob, just for the sake of hearing something. It's got to be described...to matter.

2. Anything outside an interview setting: While walking and talking in the great outdoors can actually be a scene, it's got to have purpose...why are we talking to this person there? What are they describing? If we take someone out of a studio and office and have them walk down the sidewalk for no reason, it will sound chaotic, disjointed...

Instead, here's what a scene IS...

1. A chance to hear something about a story that words alone can't convey. The sound of a bulldozer knocking down a building takes you there, in the way someone telling you a story about a bulldozer knocking down a building never could.

2. A chance to break up the narrative flow. If all we ever heard was: Reporter talks/Soundbite/Reporter/Soundbite/etc....it would get pretty boring. A scene lets you go elsewhere in the story...and really separates what we do from print reporting.

3. A chance to SHOW and not TELL. A scene should be constructed to create a visual image that shows you something about a person's life or character...about a situation or controversy.

Here are a few examples of scenes in radio stories. The first one's light...a story I did for NPR about a new rule in Connecticut high school football. This next story has at least one disturbing scene...Nancy Cohen reports on a broken sewage system.

Public Radio News Directors Statement of Ethics

It's always good to have a philosophical, or ethical underpinning for the work you do. It helps to keep you grounded, and asking the right questions. That's why I share with you the "Statement of Ethics" from Public Radio News Directors Incorporated (PRNDI), the news organization I'm most closely aligned with. Everything here applies not just to this class...or to radio reporting specifically...but to journalism in general. You can find our more about PRNDI by clicking here.

STATEMENT OF ETHICS
Public Radio News Directors Inc. is committed to the highest standards of journalistic ethics and excellence. We must stand apart from pressures of politics and commerce as we inform and engage our listeners. We seek truth, and report with fairness and integrity.
Independence and integrity are the foundations of our service, which we maintain through these principles:
TRUTH
Journalism is the rigorous pursuit of truth. Its practice requires fairness, accuracy, and balance
We strive to be comprehensive. We seek diverse points of view and voices to tell the stories of our communities.
FAIRNESS
Fairness is at the core of all good journalism.
We gather and report the news in context, with clarity and compassion.
We treat our sources and the public with decency and respect.
Our reporting is thorough, timely and avoids speculation.
INTEGRITY
The public's faith in our service rests on our integrity as journalists.
Editorial independence is required to ensure the integrity of our work.
We identify the differences between reporting and opinion.
We guard against conflicts of interest - real and perceived - that could compromise the credibility and independence of our reporting.
We are accountable when conflicts occur. We disclose any unavoidable conflicts of interest.

Thompson makes illegal immigration issue once again

For those of you following illegal immigration as your "issue" story, some interesting news just out from one of the leading Republican candidates, actor Fred Thompson. I guess somebody DOES want to make this an issue...

As so often happens, one candidate decides to make a campaign statement, and now others need to keep up. Rudy Guliani's campaign was ready for Thompson's immigration plan ahead of time.

By the way, this David Greene piece on NPR gives a good example of political issue reporting.

Some interesting "issues" stories from Sunday papers...

...especially for those of you writing about religion or values issues.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports on how so-called "values" voters are approaching the 2008 election. Meanwhile, in the Washington Post, Rudy tells conservatives they have "nothing to fear" from him. The New York Times take on the "straw poll" of conservatives is that it raises more questions than it gives answers.

McLean Interview

Have a listen to Quinnipiac Poli-Sci professor Scott McLean talking about issues in the 2008 Presidential Election.

First part of writing...the "vision"

Story "visioning" is an idea I heard about from a fantastic radio reporter named Melanie Peeples. In her training seminars she talks about this idea, which is really a more complex version of a story outline. Before we get into her visioning idea, let's listen to a recent political story she did for NPR, called Republican Leads Race for Louisiana Governor.

Here's the story visioning worksheet that Melanie has so generously allowed me to borrow from:

Questions for Story Visioning...before you start

1. What is this story about?
2. Who stands to win/lose in this story? Who are the stakeholders?
3. What is my focus statement? (A short description, no longer than a few lines)
4. Who do I need to interview: Side 1, Side 2, Real Person, Expert, etc.?
5. What is this story REALLY about? What's underneath it all?
6. Where should I interview the subjects? What does the place look like, how can I describe it?
7. What questions should I ask?
8. What more do I need to learn before I start working on this story?

Now, for our political reporting project, we've already jumped over some of these hurdles...we've given you some of the questions, we've picked some of the stakeholders...but the same ideas apply. These are good questions to be asking as you jump into any reporting project.

Listening, and getting ready to write...

Writing for broadcast is really a two part process...what you write, and then how effectively you edit your own work. You should be a very critical editor at all times in the process, from when you first formulate a theme for your story, to just before you hand it over to another editor to get his or her take. So, it's a good idea to have a vision for your story...we'll go over that in a bit.

Before we get too deep into the idea of "story visioning" - it's important to know what to listen for in your own work, and in the works of others. You have a chance to model your work after a story you admire, and use some of the same techniques a favorite reporter uses. So, how to listen?

Here's a very handy guide to listening...it's called:

Questions for Listening

Courtesy Andrea DeLeon, National Public Radio

What is the specific focus of the piece...what's it about?

Did the piece make us care?

Are the stakeholders all here? Are their points balanced?

Is there too much information? Not enough?

Is the piece written for the ear...you know, to be listened to, not read?

Are there scenes in this piece? Visuals? Can you see what's going on?

How could more sound and more scenes improve this story?

Could it be made simpler?

Is the structure of this story the best it can be?

Ask yourself these questions as you listen to stories being told, and you'll be teaching yourself to think like an editor.

Talking about the issues....

At this early point in the 2008 presidential campaign, South Carolina's African-American voters get special attention from the Democratic presidential contenders. Churches, hair salons and barber shops are sure venues to stump for votes. NPR's Audie Cornish has this report.

President Bush’s popularity is still low in New Hampshire. According to the latest poll from the UNH Survey Center, only 29 percent of NH adults says they approve of the job the President is doing. How those numbers will translate into support for Republicans in the upcoming election is unclear. But a recent Wall Street Journal poll shows GOP backing within the business
community is eroding. And as New Hampshire Public Radio’s David Darman reports, many Republican business people in the Granite State are not happy with their choices.

Doug Schwartz Interview

Here is the interview that our "Writing for the Ear" graduate journalism class conducted with Quinnipiac Poll Director Doug Schwartz. So...

• What themes does he discuss that could make a good "issue" story about the 2008 Election.
• What "sound bites" or "actualities" does he give us that could help illustrate an expert point of view?

Latest news on 2008 polls

Today's Hartford Courant has an article by David Lightman about Hillary Clinton's strength in the Northeast.

The Washington Post's Election Blog has info about the role of women voters in the 2008 election. It coincides with the latest Post-ABC poll that shows strong support for Clinton. Their GOP shows a much less clear picture, with Rudolph Guiliani in the lead.

Getting Political: The assignment

Okay, the "Writing for the Ear" class has done a great job writing short newscasts. I know...not very creative. Using someone else's words (in wire copy) to fashion a newscast gives us only a small sense of what broadcast writing is all about. Now, we've started to take our reporting outside the newsroom to find our own stories...focusing on the very important 2008 Presidential election.

We've done a series of interviews with people we've met on the street, and some "officials" about the issues that are most important to them. Now, we'll start to craft this information into longer, "feature" radio stories.

First things first: You've transcribed all of these interviews. Please post them as comments on this blog. That way, everyone can see everyone else's interviews. We'll share the info we've collected, and pick out soundbites that will best help us tell our story. So, what is our story, you may ask?


For a good example listen to the stories by NPR's Linda Wertheimer in the previous post. Her reporting uses some of the same voices we will:

1. The voice of a "real person" - meant to illustrate a trend or idea

2. The voice of a "stakeholder" - an official person whose work affects us all
3. The voice of an "expert" - meant to uncover truths, point to trends, debunk myths

The basic outline of the story will let us identify an idea: "Many people are talking about the 2008 election, but they aren't talking about the issues."

We'll get to solve a problem: "So, we wanted to find out what issues are important to people."

We'll ask for expert verification: "Political scientist X says that national polls are clear. ____ is on the minds of most voters."

We'll get real people to address this basic premise: "I agree that ___ is the big issue." Or, "What really matters to me and my family is ___."

The stakeholder might have a different take, based on her profession: "As a schoolteacher, I really thing the next President needs to address ________." You get the idea...

So, here's the assignment for next class (October 9):

1. Listen to the Wertheimer pieces.

2. Please make sure you post your transcribed interviews, along with the person's name, town and occupation (if important) as comments on this blog entry. Please post these soon, so that we can all have a chance to peruse the interviews for trends, ideas...and great soundbites. During our next class, we'll go over these, and start to come up with ideas.

3. We'll also have a special guest. Doug Schwartz of the Quinnipiac Polling Institute. He's an expert on political polling, and has a better idea of what voters are thinking than most voters. Given your previous interviews, and the transcriptions of others interviews, and the regular newspaper reading that you're doing, it will be easy to come up with some questions for Mr. Schwartz. Please prepare at least two questions pertaining to the 2008 elections. Try to focus your questions on the issues, not the "race." Example: "Do most Americans consider immigration to be a major issue in this upcoming election?" We'll record our interview with Doug, and use it in our story. Next week, another expert will join us, political scientist, Scott McLean.

Some sample political reporting...

NPR's Linda Wertheimer is one of the network's longest-serving reporters. In her latest role there, she spends a lot of time covering politics much in the way we are right now. She does pieces where she mixes analysis by experts with the voices of everyday people, talking about their concerns. Here are three stories to listen to that might give you ideas about how to format a similar radio feature.

1. Iowa's Republicans have factions, like everywhere else. Right now, what unites them is a deep foreboding about their party's chances in Iowa in 2008. But there are different kinds of Iowa Republicans. One thing they differ on is how to proceed in Iraq. A new Pew Research poll for shows 53 percent of Americans want the U.S. to start bringing its troops home now. That has cast a pall over the GOP in other states that vote early in 2008.

2. Sen. Hillary Clinton is the first woman frontrunner for president in either party. But right behind her looms Sen. Barack Obama, the most competitive black candidate for president ever. What conflicts might this pose for black women in Democratic primaries?

3. Groups of Democrats gathered last night to watch candidates for their party's presidential nomination debate in Manchester, N.H.

2008 Polls in 2007...how sure are we?

Here's a sample story that we're going to write into our "Writing for the Ear" newscast. It'll be the last story in a newscast that's full of Washington-based political and government news. We're going to include two soundbites that you gathered during the week, one to prove...and one to disprove this basic idea: Most voters have already made up their minds about who they'll vote for in the next Presidential election. Here's the basic print story you can use to write around:

Recent national polls pitting Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton against Republican leader Rudolph Guiliani have Clinton leading by between 2 and 7 points. When asked to choose between those two, only 3 to 5 percent pick another candidate, and less than 10 percent say they are unsure.

So, given that story - let's insert some soundbites from our interview subjects. Say who they are, and where they're from, and whether they've made up their minds. Say who they're voting for...or, if their unsure.

A few things about writing soundbites into a story: Let the tape say the interesting stuff, you can handle the rest. Get people saying something emotional, or controversial, or exciting. Don't use an a piece of tape to just roll off a series of numbers, or boring facts. And, don't let the tape say the same thing you're saying in your copy. Some examples....good:

John Doe from Hamden is a lifelong Republican, but he said he made up his mind weeks ago

Doe: "I'm voting for Hillary. I'm just sick of the war, and Bush, and I think she's the best one to get us out."

Here's a bad example:

John Doe from Hamden says he knows who he's voting for - Hillary Clinton.

Doe: "I'm voting for Hillary."

You see the difference. The first example uses tape to help tell the story...the second example just sticks it in to no effect. Oh, and that format works pretty well. Identify your soundbite, then write it out in quotes.

Newscasts...and the common errors that plague them

In our "Writing for the Ear" class, we've only just started writing newscasts, and some of the most common broadcast writing problems are cropping up...but that's okay, because most of these same problems appear in almost every newscast on radio. Here's a little sampling of things I found:

1. Punctuation: Sure, it's for broadcast, not print. But that doesn't mean punctuation isn't important. In fact, it might be more important. Emphasis and pacing matter when reading...so, "On the anniversary of the September eleventh attacks memorials were held..." is read differently than "On the anniversary of the September eleventh attacks, memorials were held..."

2. Spell it out: Here's one thing that is different than the AP print stylebook. You've got to write out words "September" not "Sept." Or, in a story about gas prices, "Two-seventy-seven" not "$2.77." "Triple-A" not "AAA." Imagine getting to that part of a script, and having to figure out how to say something...

3. Conversational writing can't be confusing. Some case studies:

"The names of victims could be heard from speakers that piped in the sound from the stone plaza where they were being read."

"The weather mixed in with the emotions of the memorial with tears streaming down many faces in remembrance."

"Bush does seem intent on placing conditions on reductions, insisting that conditions on the ground must warrant cuts and that now-unforseen events could change the plan."

In cases like this, the writer has violated multiple rules of broadcast writing. Sentences are too long, and they're using unnecessary words. Read these out loud to yourself or someone else...and you'll realize quickly what's wrong.

4. Tenses need to agree. "...attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people and impacting American's and the world forever." Well, there's a few problems there...the number should be spelled out...and "American's" doesn't have an apostrophe...but the tense is the real problem. Pick one for the story, and stick with it.

5. Attribution issues. We need to always be sure we're attributing statements to the right people...and that our opinion as newscasters doesn't come through. You might not mean to give your opinion...but some writing makes it sound that way: "His address to the nation is coming on the heels of Sept. 11th, which caused America to go into Iraq." Really?

"After hearing from Petraeus and Crocker, he has decided on a way forward that will reduce the U.S. Military presence but not abandon Iraq to chaos." The key thing missing here is..."he says." By saying "He says that he has decided..." it puts the statement in his mouth...not yours.

One more: "The setting of a park across the way failed to evoke the same emotions as years passed, leaving mourners dissatisfied." Turn it around, and it's "Mourners said the ceremony in the park failed to evoke the same emotions as years passed, leaving them dissatisfied."

6. Cut, trim, do away with words you don't need. "U.S. intelligence agencies are probing over bin Laden's...." becomes "U.S. intelligence agencies are probing bin Laden's...."

7. When we're writing for our own voice, we can't really read quotes. When we start using soundbites in our newscasts, direct quotes will become very important. But when we're writing for ourselves to read, they just sound wrong. Paraphrase quotes within "readers" in a newscast...and only very sparingly use quotes. For instance: "President Bush called it 'a day to mourn.'"

8. The active/passive thing. "Osama bin Laden's voice was heard..." or "Questions have been raised about..." Look, you can't always avoid the passive voice, but in cases like this it really matters. Find the person who's doing the acting (like Osama releasing a tape) and credit him with doing something. In the Cheshire story, lawmakers are raising questions. Not only does it make for more active writing...it helps you write shorter, and attribute news correctly.

WNPR reports on Tuesday's primaries

It's about a day later than I wanted, but I'm posting some of the audio from Tuesday's primary election. WNPR's Av Harris and Marie Kuhn reported live from Bridgeport, as State Senator Bill Finch beat State representitive Chris Caruso by a slim margain. As you can hear in this piece by Marie, Caruso isn't accepting the loss. Av's feature story took a larger look at the race - and includes comments from both campaigns.

Contrast these stories, obviously written for broadcast, with some Associated Press reports from that night.

We also talked with the Secretary of the State, Susan Bysiewicz on Where We Live. She told us the new optical scan voting machines worked well, and very few problems were reported.

The basic rules of broadcast writing

The world is filled with books about how to write...for print, for broadcast, and now for "new media." If you took everything I've read about writing for radio and television, and distilled it into a few simple rules, it'd be something like this:

1. Use short sentences. By breaking up long sentences into more manageable bites, reporters can get the point across more effectively. There's no chance of someone getting lost in a sentence, and failing to follow the main story points. It helps with pacing and rhythm, keeping listeners interested. Also, because so much of broadcast news writing is very condensed, short sentences allow you to easily restructure a story.

2. Be Conversational. The cliche (we'll deal with those later) is: "Tell a story like you're talking to your grandmother" or someone else in your family. That's the basic idea of conversational storytelling...but it's a bit simplistic. Obviously, newscasts are a more formalized style than sitting across the kitchen table...but the concept is the same. You're telling a story - not just reading words. Read your copy aloud to someone else...and you'll hear very quickly when you're not being conversational.

3. Use simple, powerful language. A broadcast news report is not the place to try out fancy words or obscure references. People only have one chance to hear your story...don't confuse them. Now, this doesn't mean you should communicate like a fifth grader. It does mean that you should always find the most direct, understandable, and descriptive language to convey your point.

4. Write in active, not passive language. Some people have trouble understanding active writing....here's a pretty simple example: "Somebody did something to someone else." That's in contrast to a passive construction, where "Somebody had something done to them by someone else." The problems with the passive? The sentence is longer by nature, violating a key rule. Also, there's a question over who the "actors" in the story are. Active writing helps us to establish attribution in the story very early on. Of course, as in all things, rules can be broken.

5. Get rid of unnecessary words. This is the editing process in action. Almost every news writer has to write fast and on deadline...and must meet strict story lengths. So, after you've written a nice news story, read it aloud - and start to pull out the words that don't need to be there. The extra adjective that isn't really descriptive; the redundancies; the long-winded titles of public officials; everything that doesn't serve the listener in understanding the story.

6. Avoid cliche. They're everywhere. You can't get away from cliches, especially when you're writing the news. Luckily, if you're following some of the other rules, you don't have to worry about using cliches. A "firestorm of controversy" isn't conversational...so don't use it. Calling people "inner city youth" isn't direct or descriptive - it's a cliche...so find a simpler way to say what you mean. Sometimes you can't avoid them...but I try to avoid cliches "like the plague."

Note: The links in this post are all taken from stories on poynter.org. Poynter is a great resource for journalists of all types. Click on the links, and you'll find yourself in some very interesting discussions of writing, journalism, ethics and broadcasting.