14 Public affairs reporting
Sometimes referred to as current affairs, sometimes as public affairs, these expressions mean the same thing. All the same principles apply to public affairs as to news, but there are additional responsibilities in these programmes. In public affairs the journalist has to explain, analyse and put stories into context.
Current affairs looks at reasons why the news of the day has happened. It isn’t worried about the ‘happening now’ part of the news process, but is much more interested in drawing longer-range conclusions and analysing them. Current affairs follows the news and is involved with news that might be quite ‘old’. Therefore, in these programmes studio links and stories must always be written and constructed with this in mind.
Good current affairs writing and production assumes the news point, and focuses on its importance, relevance and implications. It stops and takes a look while news runs on to something else, and shows why the story is important enough to be run. This requires a different attitude and creativity in setting up the story. The reporter’s job is to expose the story within the story, not to show the story as it is today. News and current affairs is an essential ingredient of any free communication concept, and the ‘mission to explain’ role of broadcast journalism is therefore a vital ingredient of any broadcast journalism process. The reason for current affairs is to explain to the listener, so it has as its basic idea explanation in a simple, clear, interesting way, just like news. In any current affairs story, the reporter must continually ask:
• What is the point of this story?
• What am I trying to say?
• Will Mrs Jones of Southend understand?
Write for the audience, not for Professor Bloggs at the university.
Current affairs reporters try to demystify and clarify. This comes hard to most current affairs journalists because they usually have a university specialist background, while news journalists have at least the intellectual edges rubbed off by the day-to-day journalistic race. Even if you’re an expert in a particular field (politics, economics etc.), be humble enough to make yourself simplify your expertise so that you are looking at it from the point of view of the person in the street. If you understand, you’ll simplify easily. If you don’t understand, you’ll complicate your ideas. Never try to show off your intellectual ability in these programmes. You are still the representative of the people; act like it.
Current affairs programming also differs from news in that:
• subjects are usually covered in more depth
• items are usually much longer
• larger crews are required to put these longer items together
• there is more time to do the story
• there is more time for the programme
• detailed planning of coverage is necessary.
Basically, these programmes are the weekly investigation into the news of the day, often simply longer interviews or a single investigation of a topic maybe lasting from 30 to 50 minutes. There are also the longer-term documentaries or features. Decide on the treatment that will best suit either of these programme formats. In news, shots are often unplanned. In documentary and current affairs coverage, there is a great deal of planning before the shoot.
THE PROGRAMME
Working time on a current affairs programme is divided into pre-production (research), production (story treatment and shooting) and post-production (editing).
Research
In the pre-production stage the reporter:
• investigates the subject
• explores locations
• arranges interviews
• gathers background material.
Story treatment
A draft script will be prepared from the researcher’s findings, listing the main shots that will make up the programme. This is the story treatment. You might well change your plans later, but the treatment offers a road map to show where the team is starting from, where it is heading and how it plans to get there. Producing a treatment gets your ideas out in the open where they can be examined, instead of waiting until you start filming to find they don’t work. Once they are on paper, you knock them into shape. You can add things that you’ve forgotten and take out things that are no longer relevant or important. You can also see if you’ve got enough good ideas to sustain a programme.
Remember:
1 Decide what you want to say and what pictures you want to say it with.
2 Jot down the headings the programme will follow, with visuals on the left and commentary on the right.
3 Allow 15 seconds for each point, and a little longer for points made by interviewees.
4 Add time for opening shots, scene setters and pictures with no narration.
5 Cutaways shown over existing narration will take no extra time.
6 Work out the duration for each sequence of the programme and aim to run up to 25 per cent over length as the assembled programme will probably end up tighter and more polished after it has been trimmed down and things thrown out.
Shooting schedule
After the treatment comes a shooting schedule, to minimize time wasted. Every shot should be listed as it is taken (news can often dispense with this because of pressure of deadlines). This is vital, though, for longer programmes, otherwise you will never know where all the material is.
Editing
Once the shooting is finished an editing script can be produced, listing the takes that are to be included in the final programme. Then it’s into the editing suite with the video or film editor who will translate your ideas into a finished product.
FURTHER READING
Boyd, A. (1994). Broadcast Journalism: Techniques of Radio and TV
News. Heinemann.
Crook, T. (1998). International Radio Journalism. Routledge, 1998.
Gibson, R (1991). Radio and TV Reporting. Simon and Schuster.
Hausman, C. (1992). Crafting the News for Electronic Media. Wadsworth.
Hilliard, R. (1997). Writing for TV and Radio. Wadsworth.
Holland, P. (1998). The Television Handbook. Routledge.
O’Donnell, L., Benoit, P. and Hausman, C. (1993). Modern Radio Production. Wadsworth.
Walters, R. (1994). Broadcast Writing. McGraw-Hill.
White, E. (1996). Broadcast News Writing, Reporting and Producing. Focal Press.
Wilby, P. and Conroy, A. (1994). The Radio Handbook. Routledge.