10 Broadcast presentation: looking and sounding great!
If listeners don’t like what they hear they won’t listen, or listen only with difficulty for a short time. Good broadcast journalism gets the listener to stay with the news for as long as possible. The language used is fundamental, and so is the way it is used both on radio and TV. Good broadcast speech must be conversational, intimate, one-to-one and credible, and transmit clearly and simply facts and information. However, the language of broadcast news is not just verbal. It’s non-verbal as well. News is determined by a set of values, and the kind of language in which news is told reflects and expresses those values, and also the values of the journalist collecting, analysing and writing the news or information.
The way we use language affects content and message. For us all the language is always accompanied by the voice; the vocal quality and style of presentation affects the listener or viewer, sometimes more than the language itself. In broadcasting, news consists mainly of a number of brief items of hard news gathered into a short bulletin or, a couple of times a day, a longer bulletin (often 30 minutes). In the longer bulletins there is a combination of short and long items, giving background to the news, interviews and colour packages. However, there isn’t much. On a 24-hour news station, for example, only about 10 per cent is actuality news. The rest is comment and information.
BROADCAST LANGUAGE
There are two types of broadcast language:
1 Prepared (scripted, can be a talk, a piece of news copy or a scripted reporter’s piece).
2 ad lib (a piece of unscripted, unrehearsed conversational reporting or speech on radio or TV; it can also be an interview, both questions and answers).
Broadcast journalists may have to shift without pause from direct newscasting to interviewing a newsmaker guest in the studio or ‘down the line’, talking off air to guest or technician or answering phones. Broadcast language needs to be appropriate for individual newscasters to read aloud, adapting the language style to individual vocal styles within the tight constraints of difficult pronunciation and familiarity of vocabulary for the audience, who get only one chance to hear and understand.
If the first few words get the attention, listeners will keep listening. Clarity, shortness and colour (interest and enthusiasm) are needed to grab attention.
Good broadcast language is made simple by the use of various formulas:
1 Delete unnecessary or complex information (remove details of place, age or time).
2 Generalize whenever possible (a list becomes a category: a dog, cat and canary become ‘pets’; there is no need to give all the names).
3 Use lots of concrete words and verbal actions (active not passive verbs – people do something. In broadcast language there has to be lots of action, so there must be action verbs, and they should be active not passive).
Go for certain facts to lead with, followed by an explanation of the action of the event (adding perhaps some conflict or criticism) in as short a timespan as possible.
Other aspects of broadcast language include:
• time and place (the where and when)
• facts and figures
• talking heads
• high rate of speech verbs (say, tell, according to, announce, declare, refuse, threaten, warn etc.)
• direct quotes (soundbites)
• lots of modifying expressions (according to; speculation etc.).
Good broadcast language has lots of soundbites. It is also full of sound effects that show the listener particularly that the reporter is really at the scene. Lots of good pictures replace these sound effects on TV.
The most common speech verbs include said, told, reported, asked, called on, expressed, spoke to, confirmed, issued and noted. Verbs also often appear in the present tense or in some form that shows that the action is happening now.
Examples of two types of good broadcast language are:
• narration: the words spoken by the newscaster working from a script
• actuality: the words spoken by the newsmakers (the electronic equivalent of print quotations; in radio news, the audio equivalent of newspaper pictures or television illustrations).
Soundbites take on additional functions in news; they call attention to non-verbal aspects of the story and are used so that the listener can hear or see the speaker’s emotional reaction to the words being spoken more than to the language itself. They also refer to the sound of the story, and this forms a part of overall broadcast language used by journalists.
The language of broadcast news, therefore, is much wider in impact and interpretation than the words used. All news stories on both radio and television require a use of verbal and non-verbal language, which can also be seen in the way presenters speak and in their own non-verbal language. News reporters have to sound and look credible. The language and look are the basis of this authority. The pronunciation has to be acceptable and accurate and the vocal delivery pleasant and approachable. Broadcast credibility is a combination of the right language and the right speech for the medium and the occasion. Ultimately it is the presenter, the newscaster, the anchor, who is responsible for the success or failure of a news operation. The newscaster is the one people believe. News is not background noise. When listeners put the news on, they want to listen. The newscaster therefore has a responsibility to the listener and viewer, and news credibility hangs or falls on their words.
DELIVERY
A presenter or reporter who stumbles, corrects words and has to apologize, or just doesn’t know how to communicate properly, is irritating and annoying to the listeners and viewers. They give up and switch off. They say to themselves: ‘If this reporter is making so many mistakes, how can I be sure that the facts aren’t also mistakes?’
Delivery shows the newscaster’s confidence in the truth and importance of the message. The sound and the look need to be relaxed, without being too chatty or cosy. Chattiness detracts from the importance of what is being said. Suit the style of delivery to the story; deaths and tragedies need a different approach from good news. At the same time, the delivery must remain impartial and neutral and personal convictions, likes and dislikes should not show. However, detachment should not be taken too far. Newscasters are human, and every now and then their humanity should show through, particularly if the piece is a light-hearted one. However, the change of tone should always be subtle. Often all that is needed is a well-placed pause.
Phrasing
This means putting words together that belong together, in sense groups. Careful grouping of words can help you say exactly what you want to say. For example, read the following sentences and pause at the spaces:
The first sounds confusing, because the second phrase seems tacked on as an afterthought. It sounds as though you have announced a victory, then suddenly remembered that you ought to explain what the victory was. The second reads well, if the intention is to distinguish the victor. It tells two things: who and what. Number three reads even better if the intention is to identify three things: the person, the victory, the nature of the victory. Four sounds choppy and singalong.
Phrasing involves not only identifying word groups, but also speaking the groups smoothly. Usually it is unnecessary to come to a complete halt between phrases unless a sentence is so long that breathing is essential. In each of the above sentences you can easily say all six words in one breath and with continuous tone. By varying the speed,
you achieve a sensible, natural, meaningful phrasing. If you understand what you are trying to read, the phrasing will follow automatically. Understanding is the key.
Emphasis
By emphasizing something you give it increased importance; you point your speech to bring out as much detail as you can. There are four ways of emphasizing something:
1 Volume: more breath gives a louder, fuller tone. Don’t shout, simply use more volume in the word or phrase you want to emphasize. It doesn’t, however, work in broadcasting, and is by far the least imaginative or creative way of emphasizing something.
2 Pausing: this is a change of rate to arouse the listeners’ or viewers’ interest. Whenever they hear a pause, they immediately prick up their ears to find out what’s happening. Silence is a most effective means of emphasis and of getting the attention of listeners or viewers.
3 Rhythm: this is the indefinable something that makes speech musical, alive, interesting, exciting, listenable. Rhythm brings together phrasing, pace and emphasis. Try to throw your voice around, so that it has a musical quality. Monotonous delivery results from a lack of rhythm. However, at all times it must be natural speech rhythm. Don’t think that rhythm is letting your voice go up and down like a ship on a rough sea.
4 Pitch: variation of pitch, so important for good speech and reading, is called intonation. This variation of pitch is controlled by the speech patterns, family and regional, unconsciously acquired from your surroundings and background, and by the meaning of what you are saying. Again, as with rhythm, there is nothing worse or more unnatural than a speaker who tries consciously to throw the voice around in an attempt to be interesting, without any reference to the meaning.
Broadcast speech
Broadcast speech is like a one-way conversation with an individual person, the listener or viewer. In other words, you are talking to a person, not to lots of people. The words you use should be written conversationally, but spoken with authority and interest. In order that broadcast speech will reach out to the listener and inform without displeasure, there must be two things: good articulation and good voice production. Otherwise people will have difficulty following what you are saying, and won’t find it interesting to listen. Good articulation means using the lips, teeth, tongue and palate properly. These are what we use to form both vowel and consonant sounds. Specifically, good articulation means good consonant sounds. Careless articulation results in speech that fails to meet the one great demand made of the broadcaster: to be easily understood by the viewer or listener.
Pace is also important. Everyone has heard speakers who speak too quickly or too slowly; too fast and it’s difficult to understand, too slow and it’s boring. Pace, speed, is important. The overall impression that a reporter is speaking fast can be given by a proper use of pauses and phrasing. That way you don’t actually have to speak fast, but just give the appearance of doing so. If there is a reasonable pause between sentences and stories, the listener can catch up with the thoughts you are expressing. Try to go from the beginning of a sentence to the end without stopping – hence the importance of short sentences. That way the listener stays with you. If you break up the sentence, and therefore the meaning, the listener gets annoyed and stops listening.
Once you have digested the theory of good speaking on radio or television, the techniques and practices, and have made them a habit, then forget the theory and just speak. It will come out right. If you spend the entire news bulletin or report thinking about all you have been told and learnt about voice production and breathing, consonants and vowels, your newscast will be unintelligible and meaningless. You will be far too worried about the sound of your voice and not worried enough about the message you are trying to get across. The emphasis, inflection, speed and the sense will all be wrong. You will be emphasizing all the wrong words – verbs and adjectives, for example – instead of letting the meaning speak for itself. Before you can tell the listener what has happened, you must know yourself. As a test, sit down and read a story to yourself. Throw the page away and try to repeat it in your own words. If you can, then you understand it and can communicate it. If you can’t, then you haven’t got the faintest idea of what you have just read, and the listener or viewer won’t either.
The presenter is the focal point of any news programme and introduces, reads the stories and is responsible for the smooth running of the show. If anything goes wrong the viewer thinks it’s the presenter’s fault, although it often isn’t. Viewers look at more than the words spoken, or the pictures around the news story: they are impressed by major presenter characteristics such as dress, facial expressions, gaze (eye contact) and sex (of the presenter). Audience perceptions are significantly altered by physical appearance. Eye contact is usually direct because the presenter uses a teleprompter and appears to be looking at the viewer. These non-verbal aspects are all part of broadcast speech.
Audiences are unforgiving of presenters who make mistakes in their speech. Research shows that errors such as:
• slurs in pronunciation
• repeated words or phrases
• mispronunciations
• hesitations in responding to an on-camera cue
• looking off to one side of the screen when the shot returns to the studio are all considered negatively by viewers, and the programme suffers a severe loss of credibility.
Language speed
Experiments show that listeners and viewers need a certain amount of time to understand what is being said. If the word rate is too slow (or if the words don’t connect together naturally and sensibly) they get bored. If the word rate is too fast they can’t understand and get lost. They need time to catch up (full stops). The delivery rate also has to be right for individual presenters. It is clear that delivery rates and the language used interrelate. The words have to be simple and easy enough for the presenter to say them fast, without fluffing.
Broadcast journalists must be aware of two problems with language:
1 it can easily be misheard
2 it can easily be misunderstood.
Listeners tend to hear what they want to hear, and interpret what they hear in terms of what they think and believe. Therefore, if the speed of the language isn’t right, the listener doesn’t understand or gets a meaning different from the one the reporter wants to convey. Listeners only recall about 25 per cent of what they hear in a news bulletin. Recall of stories improves when they are written logically according to the who–what–when–where–why – how technique and spoken in natural, conversational language at the right pace and with the right pronunciation. Listeners have greater difficulty in understanding longer sentences with too many clauses. Simple sentences have the most impact. It is much easier for the presenter to speak at the right speed (in English, about 180 words a minute) if the sentences are simple.
Conclusion
The language of broadcast news is very different from the language of print, that of newspapers, and is both verbal and non-verbal. Non-verbal language, particularly on TV, can incorporate meaning that may differ from the words spoken. It is also evident that listeners and employers look for a good, fast pace of delivery (in English, about 180 words a minute) with an intimate one-to-one approach. Radio and TV are tools, and will be no worse or better than those who use them. Technology doesn’t make things better; if reporters can’t write, they can’t write, whether with quill pen or computer; if they can’t report, they can’t report, and all the technology in the world won’t save them. Reporters who can write, report, analyse and ask the bright, right question are needed in radio and TV today more than ever. The vocal tools of the broadcast journalist are as important as the literary, journalistic ones. The ability to construct the news story so that its message is spoken with the maximum vocal credibility and conversational intimacy is of paramount importance. It’s not a question of public speaking, elocution or of speaking ‘properly’. It’s a question of being able to report with the necessary authority, and this means vocal quality and intimacy linked with the right kind of professional language.
THE NEWSCAST
Radio newscasts differ from TV newscasts. They are shorter, and are repeated with greater regularity during the day. Lead stories are changed and all stories are shuffled around a lot between bulletins. The lead of the 0700 bulletin might not be the lead at 0730 hrs.
Story order
Radio changes story order a lot so listeners don’t think they’re hearing the same things over and over, and to give a more immediate sound. Don’t lead with an unimportant story and bury the important one down the bulletin just to make a change. If you need variety, rewrite the important story (and many others as well if time permits). Use different actuality and soundbites. Always try to present stories in order of importance; the more important stories are those that have the greatest listener impact on the largest number of people, which means usually the most local stories. Live stories are usually better suited to being lead stories. The important story, the lead, for a radio bulletin is usually the story that is most important or relevant at that particular time.
Bulletin stories are better remembered when they are grouped in some logical order, usually by subject or theme or geography. International, economic, crime, flow more naturally within the newscast when they are in similar blocks. Groups focus the listener’s attention on one general theme and the newscaster can write logical transitions between stories in a group … another sign of bad economic times … Geographic groupings may be local then overseas etc. Actuality groupings may be a group with soundbites, then a group of newscaster copy etc.
Lighter (and finally) stories are good at the end of a bulletin or before a commercial in the middle of a bulletin.
Radio actuality
The radio newscaster has a great advantage over TV: you can handle a complex newscast by yourself by just pushing buttons (either cartridges or digital). Radio is great at using live material at the last moment, but the live material must be perfect and accurate to be credible.
Remember: 30 seconds is a long time in radio. In an unplanned live report remember to cue the reporter at the other end: Charles, what did the jury say?
TV appearance and dress
Successful dress on TV is mostly knowing what not to wear. Don’t ever wear anything – clothes or jewellery – that is distracting and gets the viewer’s attention. You want their attention on you, not your clothes. You want them to listen to the news, not watch your earrings or latest tie.
Remember:
• Avoid anything bulky or patterned; heavyweight clothes tend to make you look chunky and big patterns have the same effect
• Small patterns make the camera strobe, a wavy pattern on the screen
• Suits (men and women) shouldn’t be too dark or placed very close to a light shirt or blouse; black with white is difficult for the camera to handle
• Clothes should fit
• Frilly blouses or collars can cause distraction
• Bulky jewellery or earrings or rings appear awkward or can jangle
• Wear clothes that are comfortable and look good but are not over-stylish or dressy; you have to be accepted by the ordinary viewer and are not a model (male or female)
• Stick to basic clothes that don’t have to be (in fact should not be) very expensive (particularly reporters).
Navy is a good colour, and lightweight jackets are good too. Light-coloured outfits are fine, but stick to the darker shades of beige and don’t choose the extremely light varieties of blue and grey. Very light clothes tend not to photograph well. Remember the seasons. Men should avoid too colourful, ostentatious ties.
Open-collared blouses and those without a collar are fine for women, but not plunging necklines.
For men, haircut choice is simple. Women have a wider choice, but keep it natural and simple. Don’t be too flashy. News anchors are news people, not top fashion models. Your clothes should never say ‘I can afford expensive clothes’. Most viewers can’t.
Talking to the camera
Look directly into the lens when you look up; even a small deflection of your gaze will be obvious to the viewer. It takes practice, because we don’t normally look straight into the eyes of the person we’re talking to, and certainly not for long. Side-to-side movements of eyes on camera look terrible; the camera vastly magnifies such movement. It’s fine to look down from time to time; in fact it is necessary to break the monotony of looking straight at the camera (through the autocue). Viewers expect you to look down at your script every now and then. If you are not working with an autocue but with cue cards, have them held beneath the lens and not to either side.
Movement of head and body is fine when the shot is right. For example, with a CU you should hold your head very still, but with a medium long shot you must have some restrained movement and gesture of body.
Facial expression is difficult. Avoid stiff, mechanical expressions. Don’t look concerned every time there’s an accident story (the same applies in radio with the voice). This colours the story and takes away your objectivity. Likewise, don’t overuse your beaming smile when someone’s won the lottery. When you do use an expression, hold it for a fraction longer than you think is necessary. Dropping your expression immediately you complete your line is amateurish and distracting.
Working with a microphone
These tips apply to both radio and TV.
Keep a standard distance from the microphone. Don’t move your head in and out or move the mike closer and further away. It changes the sound level. How close to the mike? That depends: but about 20 cm (the length of an outstretched hand) is fine.
In noisy situations you must move much closer to the mike so that your voice is more obvious than the background noise. Wherever possible use clip-on mikes on TV when you are doing pieces to camera. These are usually clipped about 15 cm below the chin, and they are less distracting than hand-held mikes. Be careful of noise if you use a hand-held mike. Cables transmit noise too, so don’t touch, kick or jiggle them. If you are wearing a clip-on mike, be careful not to brush hands or papers against it or wear any jewellery that will knock against it. Remember: with a clip-on mike, take it off before you leave the set or location. Otherwise you’ll break it, and they’re expensive to replace.
Using the Autocue™
Autocues (teleprompters) project the image of the script onto a one-way mirror that covers the lens of the camera. You can dictate the speed at which the autocue rolls; get it right for you. This allows you to maintain eye contact with the viewer. Using an autocue is a skill that requires practice:
1 Pick the same line and read that rather than work your way down the page.
2 Maintain a reasonably steady pace throughout.
3 Make sure you can see the autocue. You must have the camera positioned so you can comfortably read the screen. You need to be able to read with precision, and not have to stare or peer or frown to read the words because they are too far away.
4 If you can’t read the words, ask for the camera to be moved closer (that’s fine). Make sure it is at the right height so you aren’t looking upwards.
Moving between cameras
1 When you shift your look from one camera to another, make the transition smoothly and naturally by looking down and reading from your script while the director switches cameras. If you look down on cue before the switch, then after a phrase or two look back up at the other camera, the switch will happen without you appearing to have moved too early or too late.
2 If there are two of you, remember visually to acknowledge each other.
3 If the anchor is leading into a story that you will report live on the set, look at the anchor. Only after the switch has been made from the two-shot to the CU should you look again at the teleprompter.
4 If you are co-anchoring a newscast and the director begins with a two-shot as you read the headlines, look into the camera lens, then, when your co-anchor begins to read, turn your head to look and listen to the other. If you look steadily at the teleprompter while the co-anchor is reading, your audience may think you don’t like each other; it looks unreal.
Reading from scripts
If you’re reporting live with a script it will be less obvious if you hold it where it can be seen. Hold it away from you, at arm’s length. Then when you look you only have to drop your eyes, not your head. Don’t hold it close to your chest because you then have to drop your head. You can gesture with your notes, and you can visually punctuate by lowering and raising them. Sometimes, in a court story, you should actually be seen reading the script word for word. Discuss camera movements before you shoot. Decide in advance where you’ll look when you lead into tape or a live report. If a monitor is placed so you can see it to the left or right of camera, you can look directly towards it to anticipate video footage. Your eye movement in this direction gives a visual cue to the viewer that something is about to happen, and it also saves you the embarrassment of staring at the camera when you have nothing to say. Concentrate on what you’re doing, both in the studio and in the field. Don’t let things distract you. In the studio, concentrate when you’re not on camera. React to unexpected happenings.
REPORTING LIVE
Reporting live is one of the most profound differences between print and broadcast. Reporting live is usual and daily for radio reporters. Immediacy has always been the big advantage of radio. New technology now means that TV can do this too. It can put a live signal into the home almost as quickly and easily as radio does.
Organize your thoughts. Broadcast reporters have to learn early in their career to organize their thoughts quickly and say them fluently and quickly. They also develop ad lib skills. Broadcast reporters are expected to report from the scene of a breaking news story, often without a script. The best way to organize your material is with a notebook. You must also learn to take notes quickly (speed writing or teeline). However, never get so involved in taking notes that you lose track of what’s happening. Reporting live, radio reporters work alone. TV reporters need a crew and a microwave truck or a satellite phone. TV reporters going live will sometimes send the news conference or individual interview back to the station unedited as it is actually happening. Someone at the station will monitor the feed and make notes of good soundbites or pictures etc. When the feed is over, producers can talk with the reporter and decide which soundbites etc. will be used to go with the reporter’s live piece. The reporter then does a live opener from the scene and cues in the soundbites, which are played from the control room, followed by a cut back to the reporter live for the closing scene/words. Today it is also common to do it all from a mobile truck. New technology allows TV crews to record and edit video in the truck, add the reporter’s narration and play the story live without using any of the support station equipment.
For the live report, it is common with a big story for the anchor to continue the story for the ‘latest’ by asking the reporter live at the scene for additional answers to questions or comments. Today in, say, an earthquake disaster, reporters can be at the scene within hours, together with a portable satellite earth station, and can put on a wireless mike and report live as soon as they are ready. They use a digital sky phone that connects to the satellite and is then downloaded to the earth station and to the TV station. The satellite dish and antennae now fit into a box slightly larger than a briefcase. ENG is great, but it also increases the risk of one-sided, inaccurate reports.
The stand-upper
Stand-uppers are also called pieces to camera. Reporters in TV can enhance their reports, and their reputations, by appearing on camera. These short stand-uppers usually feature the reporter standing in front of the scene, talking. If that’s all that happens, it’s boring. If it is a story with lots of colour and movement, the TV reporter should never indulge in motionless speech looking at the camera. Use the action as the backdrop and, whenever possible, take part in the action; you are there and the viewer isn’t. Viewers want to see the face behind the voice, doing things they aren’t able but would like to do. This kind of reporting adds variety and shows viewers that the reporter is where the action is, reporting the action. Otherwise, you may as well do it in the studio.
The piece to camera (stand-upper) may be used at the beginning of an item to set the scene, in the middle to act as a bridge linking the threads of the story or at the end as the reporter’s way of signing off in a human way. Stand-uppers are usually short.
Stand-uppers should never be static, motionless. Television is the movies, so move. As you talk, move, look, show the viewer what you are talking about. Don’t worry what your hands are doing; let them look after themselves. However, try not to clasp them in front of you. Gesture in a natural way.
Very often in stand-uppers reporters are in shot holding a huge microphone in front of them, with trailing mike cable in shot as well. It’s distracting, looks untidy and stops the reporter from actually doing things in a normal way. Try to get some other type of mike, such as a radio mike or an out of vision mike held by someone else.
FURTHER READING
Boyd, A. (1994). Broadcast Journalism: Techniques of Radio and TV News. Focal Press.
Chantier, P. and Harris, S. (1992). Local Radio Journalism. Focal Press.
Crook, T. (1998). International Radio Journalism. Routledge.
Gage, L. (1999). A Guide to Commercial Radio Journalism. Focal Press.
Holland, P. (1998). The Television Handbook. Routledge.
Wilby, P. and Conroy, A. (1994). The Radio Handbook. Routledge.