Your first writing assignment will be a television news story.   

Here’s the prompt, from the syllabus:

Choose a straight news or feature story.  Collect background material, including at least one online newspaper story.  Adapt the story to television news, as per the guidelines and samples posted by your instructor and any other guidelines you find.  Adapt the story to your local community, and add at least one interview of a BC student, professor or local community member.  The interview could be a “person on the street” or someone who could offer an expert opinion.   Write a 1- to 3-minute script in split-page format.  Read it out loud to make sure your timing is right.  Start with the anchor in the studio, have him/her throw it to the correspondent in the field, who does a live intro to a taped package and a live conclusion.  Make sure your script contains everything your audience will see and hear, including the taped package.  Begin your assignment with a one-line slug identifying the crux of your story and the total running time (TRT).  End it with a separate bibliography of works consulted.  Attach your assignment in MS Word format in an email to grodman@brooklyn.cuny.edu with the file name firstname lastname news (1 or 2) .

Other Key Files (downloadable Word docs)

• Lede Guidelines
• Student Sample
• Checklist

News Blackboard Assignments

1. As soon as you know what your topic is going to be, post it in the “News Assignment” forum with a quick explanation of how you’re going to research and report it.
2. Respond to as many of your classmates’ ideas as you have time for.
3. As soon as you have a first draft, post it in the same forum.  You can post as many drafts as you like.
4. Respond to as many of your classmates’ drafts as you have time for.
5. As soon as you have a final draft, post it in the same forum.
6. Respond to as many of your classmates’ final drafts as you have time for, but make it quick because I will close the grading a day or two after the deadline for final drafts.
7. Remember to submit your final draft for a grade to your professor by email.  That’s the one that will be graded for your final assignment grade.

Three responses for classmates are required for this assignment.  More responses will improve your online participation score, although quality is more important than quantity.  Make your responses substantive, insightful, and helpful.  

Here’s a frequently asked question about the news assignment:

Does my news story have to be a recent story? Are there specific guidelines for choosing the story?

My answer:

Yup, your story has to be current.  That’s why one of your sources has to be a newspaper article.  It doesn’t have to be breaking, because you can update it as per your local reporting.  The idea is to report on what is happening NOW.  So, if you’re looking into a recent murder, you would report on the impact it is currently having on your community, either at home or on campus.

A news story is defined in TVRA 1165 (your prerequisite for this class) as current, interesting and important to your audience.

I could add, many of the questions that come up in this course are some variation of “Hey Prof, are there any shortcuts I can take on this assignment?”  The short answer to that question is “no.”

Having said that, I should add that there’s an A+ standard for each of these assignments, but you can take shortcuts if you want to settle for a lesser grade.  You’ll still get credit for having your assignment in on time and thinking for yourself.

All the information you need is in the readings and the prompts for the assignments, so feel free to ask questions but read those materials carefully first.

For example, the first couple of sentences for your news story prompt could be expanded like this:

1. Choose a straight news or feature story.   
   1. It has to be current, interesting and important to your audience.
   2. It has to be based on a newspaper story.
   3. It has to be a real story.
2. Collect background material, including at least one online newspaper story. 
   1. You can research your story online
   2. You do interviews; you are, in fact, “reporting” this story yourself.
   3. Look for peripheral information.
   4. Figure out what questions will occur to your audience, and answer them. 

Here’s your readings:

1.  General guidelines for broadcast news writing: here and here

2.  Journalism ethics

3.  Objectivity and Fairness

4.  Some script abbreviations and terms

5.  Viewings:  You should be watching local TV news for examples of the kind of package featured in your assignment.  

• News 12
• ABC 7
• NBC NY
• CBS NY

You should also watch some of our Brooklyn College News newscasts, available on YouTube.  Here’s one example:

The lead story deals with one reporter’s personal story, which is one approach that you can take.

Look at the way pictures, words and graphics are used to tell the story, and the way person-on-the street and BC and other local expert interviews are used.

Most of these stories go right to the taped program in the field, rather than a live correspondent, as your assignment requires.

Also, for a satirical example:

Charlie Brooker’s How to Report the News – Newswipe – BBC Four 

6.  Creating a split-page in MS Word:

Different versions of Word work differently, but here is the basic idea. 

Step 1: On a blank MS Word document, write your name, the date, and the assignment title on the top of the page.  Then, find the “Table” button.  You might have to click Insert or Table.

Step 2: Click on Table.

Step 3: On the top left corner (on the toolbar part and not on your document) there is a small table that says New under it. Click on that.

Step 4: Here you should see a box pop up with different numbers of rows and columns for your table. Click on 2 x 1.  That is, 2 columns, 1 row.

Step 5: Now your table should appear like this:

| |

Type in “Video” on the left and “Audio” on the right.  Pull the center divider to the left so your script becomes approximately 1/3 video and 2/3 audio.

Step 6: You can drag your mouse above the bottom line and pull downwards. It would make it look like this:

You now have your 2 x 1 Table or split page script format. 

In Format/Paragraph, left-justify each column.  If you right-justify or center, the sides will look nice but the internal spacing will be damaged.  The internal spacing is more important.

Step 7:  After thoroughly researching your story and its background, and conducting your interviews, write your script in the following approximate format:

Slug should include story name, date, and TRT (Total Running Time)

[Determine TRT by reading aloud and timing how long it takes.]

7.  Sample TV News Assignment

Use the Sample Assignment, “Brooklyn College Drug Dealer,” as a model.  Different news outlets will use different variations via different software applications, but this model will give you a feeling for the general rules.

8.  General writing tips

Not all of these apply to your newswriting assignment, but they will improve your writing generally.

9.  Give the lede special attention.  See the “News Lede Guidelines” downloadable Word doc here.

10.   Use B-roll to increase visual interest.