Aiming for Comprehension

Experimental sessions conducted under conditions in which there are no distractions prove the comprehension levels of audiences watching television news to be depressingly low.

Many viewers have great difficulty in recalling the content of programmes they have only just witnessed, are unable to remember in detail what individual stories were about, confuse the identities of personalities and mix up geographical locations.

Neither are matters helped by the professionals’ own disinclination to allow for the circumstances in which their programmes are normally viewed. They forget that interruptions of all sorts impinge upon the concentration of even the most sophisticated audiences, who are probably only half-listening anyway.

Keep in touch

There is a broadcast journalist’s adage which goes: ‘Say what you are going to say; say it; then say what you have said.’ That has become perhaps too simplistic, but it remains a useful reminder of the reporter’s priority aim–to keep in touch with the audience. What you write must be easy on the ear, understandable at the first–and presumably only–hearing, with the story as a whole built up progressively in sequence.

Signposting

Unlike the reader of a newspaper, who has come to expect the Who, What, Where and When of every story to be packed into every opening sentence, the viewer is denied the luxury of a second glance. The first duty of the writer is to tune in the audience mentally by use of a ‘signpost’. This device is especially useful as an introduction to a story, or as a means of indicating a change of pace, subject or idea, as it is intended to delay the most important information just long enough for the viewer to register the context.

‘Signposts’ do not need to consist of more than a short phrase or word or two, especially when they are used in the body of a story. They should not be falsely contrived, but their use should be developed consciously by every writer as part of story construction technique.

Facts and figures

Don’t be guilty of assault by detail. Trade and budget figures, the fluctuations of currencies, stocks and shares–statistics of any sort–are notoriously difficult to get across with real clarity. As a general rule it is easier to take in figures as round numbers, so it is far better, for example, to describe the monthly total of unemployed as being ‘nearly two million’ instead of ‘one million, eight hundred and fifty four thousand, six hundred and twelve’. Leave the full details for any accompanying graphics.

Signposts

Crucial facts are easily missed by viewers, particularly at the beginning of news stories. Carefully chosen signpost words or phrases will alert them to what they are about to hear or see.

 

Signposted	Not signposted
Interest rates are down again, this time by half of one per cent …	Another half-per cent drop in interest rates …
Floods have led to the evacuation of a thousand people from their homes in the West Country …	A thousand people have been evacuated from their homes after flooding in the West Country …
The world heavyweight champion, Mike Tyson …	Mike Tyson, the world heavyweight champion …

Signpost side-headings

Tonight’s headlines …

Now the economy …

Next, the Middle East …

Back home …

So to tomorrow’s weather …

And the main points of the news again …

Facts and figures

Stick to round numbers in your commentary and let the accompanying illustration take the strain.

Figures out this morning show the number of unemployed fell last month to just below two million

 

Europe’s wine lake has grown again. Last year the wine-making countries produced nearly fifteen million more litres than they sold …

 

Places

The same principle applies to places. It is easier to refer to general geographical locations and put the detail on accompanying maps.

The by-pass is being built to relieve traffic passing the historic school buildings on Harrow-on-the-Hill …