How to Write a News Bulletin
A news bulletin consists of short, sharp stories that are well written and presented. Its pace should be varied to keep listeners interested. Its content should reflect the style of the radio station; serious national news programmes should have a more sober tone while youth-oriented music stations will favour a brighter style with stories about popular culture.
The most important stories will be headlined. A good headline should hint at the story’s drama and encourage listeners to stay tuned to hear it. The rest of the bulletin will be built around that lead story. You may also want to include a few dramatic sound grabs during the bulletin. These will be recorded audio which you play back over your script to give a more realistic feel to the news.
Actuality grabs are short segments of real people speaking which can add interest and realism to your bulletin. They should be clearly introduced and if possible, should be voiced by someone who is known to your audience. Long, dull or foreign voices will slow the pace of the bulletin and make listeners switch off. Grabs in languages other than your own should be overdubbed, with the original voice faded down until it is barely audible and then spoken over by a translator.
You should always take more copy into the studio than you need, in case you misjudged the timing of a piece of actuality or a story does not play. You might use these extra stories as briefs to add variety to the bulletin, or to run if you have more than enough time for the main stories.
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