Writing for Broadcast Journalists

'This is a superb book which combines the rare mixture of high quality information with humour. The style of writing engages the reader from the introduction and the experience and insight of the author occasionally makes it difficult to put down, a rare feature of a textbook. I would unreservedly recommend this book not only to those studying journalism but to students of language and all who use the spoken and written word as the ‘materials’ of their work.' Barry Turner, Nottingham Trent University
'Rick Thompson's guidance manual is packed with advice to would-be writers for this medium. He's someone with years of experience at the top level of the national and international profession, and he's smack up to date with his references. The book is aimed at journalists, but anyone with a serious interest in developing their literacy will learn a lot about professional writing skills from what he has to say.' Roy Johnson, www.mantex.co.uk
Writing for Broadcast Journalists guides readers through the significant differences between the written and the spoken versions of journalistic English. It will help broadcast journalists at every stage of their careers to avoid such pitfalls as the use of newspaper-English, common linguistic errors, and Americanised phrases, and gives practical advice on accurate terminology and pronunciation, while encouraging writers to capture the immediacy of the spoken word in their scripts.

Writing for Broadcast Journalists includes:



practical tips on how to avoid ‘journalese’, clichés and jargon
guidance on tailoring your writing style to suit a particular audience
advice on converting agency copy into spoken English
writing to television pictures
examples of scripts from some of the best in the business
an appendix of ‘dangerous’ words and phrases to be avoided in scripts.

Rick Thompson has held senior editorial positions with BBC News at the regional, national and international levels in television and radio. He now trains journalists in central and eastern Europe, and is the Visiting Professor of Broadcast Journalism at Birmingham City University.

Selected Contents: Acknowledgements 1. Introduction 2. Good Spoken English 3. The Language of Broadcast News 4. Writing Broadcast News Scripts 5. Different Techniques for Radio and Television 6. Writing Online News 7. And Finally… Appendix: Dangerous Words: An Alphabetical Checklist Further Reading Index