Learning to write for the Web just got a little easier. Posting on the RTDNA site, reporter Lynn Walsh put together this terrific list of eight elements for online writing. 1. Keep it short and sweet. Keep sentences short. Omit…
I’m a sucker for lists, especially lists for journalists. So I had to read the 25 commandments for journalists posted by a former editor of the Guardian. Tim Radford’s “manifesto” is a useful reminder of what really matters in journalism, and…
It’s easy to criticize TV and radio news. So much of it is shallow, sensational or both. It’s also easy to dismiss the criticism as uninformed, ill intentioned or both. Much of it is. But when the criticism comes from…
A lot of the best writers in the broadcast news business come out of radio, says CBS’s Harvey Nagler, “because you need to think on your feet and write concisely.” Want some examples? CNN’s Candy Crowley, ABC’s Robert Krulwich and…
Have you ever watched a television news story or read something in print or online and wondered afterwards what on earth it was about? It happens all too often when stories have no focus. Reporters who spend much of their…
Bob Dotson is one of the most respected storytellers in TV news. In his three decades at NBC, he has produced a mountain of memorable content, mainly by talking to everyday people and revealing what makes them special. At the…
Plenty of broadcast journalists fall into traps when it comes to writing scripts, but if you think the audience doesn’t notice, think again. Rob Owen, a TV critic at the Pittsburg Post-Gazette, recently asked people to submit the “most overused TV news…
Mike Schuh has been covering daily news at the same station in Baltimore for 17 years, winning a Murrow and several Emmy awards along the way. His official title is general assignment reporter at WJZ-TV, but he prefers to describe…
Sometimes it’s fun to poke fun ourselves and British humorist, and journalist Charlie Brooker is particularly good at it. In the following segment, he explains how to put together the essential elements of a TV pkg. The truth can be…
Okay, I admit it. I’m a grammar-and-spelling nut. And I think it’s critically important for journalists to get it right. In my view, “little” mistakes on the air, in print or online matter because they can dent our credibility. After…
