Broadcast vs Print

A good radio or television story emphasizes certain things newswriting does not. Immediacy is one of the most important factors in a radio news story. In order to present the immediacy broadcast news is generally discussed in present tense. Radio news should also be presented in a conversational style of writing. A good radio or television news story is written the way it would be spoken.

The broadcast version of the news story does not go into depth like a newspaper would. They deliver the facts and allow the listener to turn to the newspaper for more information.

People watching or listening to broadcast news stories generally do other things at the same time. Therefore it is important for the reporter to capture the interest and attention of their listeners. Using tight phrasing makes it easier for the listener to follow the story.

This differs from print writing which generally follows an inverted pyramid format allowing the reader to obtain the most important facts at the top. News writing for print does not tell the story the same way radio or television does. There is a sense of professional writing using more adjectives and adverbs compared to broadcast.