News and current affairs is a particular type of factual programme. The process of creating the material is similar to other programmes, although it is usually done much more quickly. However, there are some particular issues with news and current affairs that are worth thinking about.
The term News and the term Current affairs are often used together. However, they do refer to two slightly different things. News tends to mean a straightforward report on an issue, generally delivered by the studio presenter. It may also include short sound bites from some of the key players in a story; it may also include the voice of a reporter. Some bulletins are very short; others can last for up to half an hour. Current affairs tends to involve a lot more discussion and debate and will include opinions from different sides of any argument.
If you log onto the website you can hear some examples of news bulletins and current affairs items.
Whether you are making a news item for TV, print or radio there are several elements which it is vital to get right. Three of the most commonly quoted requirements of a news item are that it is accurate, fair and impartial.
Accuracy is important in all factual programmes but it is particularly important in a news item. Broadcasters can and do make mistakes on occasion but the public is much less likely to forgive a mistake in a news item than in any other type of programme. One of the first duties of anyone involved in the production of news is that their reports are accurate. You should make very sure that you have checked that you have got all your facts correct. You need to be absolutely certain about:
You should be able to verify any of the above and be absolutely sure that they are accurate facts, not someone’s best guess. Figures and statistics can be difficult. You can’t always doublecheck and sometimes figures on the same issue will differ. If, for example, you were doing a report on truancy, you won’t have the resources to literally go and find out how many children are out of school in any one week; however, someone will have the figures. Usually a reporter will attribute those figures, so, for example. The Department of Education says the number of children out of school in any one week is around 7,000. This is much better than The number of children out of school every week is around 7,000. If that figure is challenged or disputed, then at least your reporting is accurate, even if the Department of Education figures are not.
If you are reporting on events you will need to make sure that the things you say happened have actually happened, and if there is any doubt about the events you will need to make that clear. Thus, for example, if there is an accident on a motorway your report might read: Seven cars were involved in a motorway collision on the M1 earlier today. The accident was caused by ice on the road. You need to be absolutely sure that there were seven cars, it was on the M1 and that ice was the cause of the accident. If there is any doubt, then again you should attribute the information and make it clear that there is some doubt, so it could read: At least seven cars were involved in a motorway collision on the M1 earlier today; police say the most likely cause of the accident was ice on the road. Your report is accurate, even if it later turns out that there were more cars and that the cause of the accident was something else.
Fair is a slightly more complicated concept and is rather more subjective; different people might genuinely hold different opinions as to the fairness of a story. As we’ve seen, the first four questions for any news story – who, what, when, where – should be accurate. The next three points that a news report can cover are why, how, consequence.
It’s much more difficult to be factually accurate about these questions. It may not be at all clear how or why something happened and the consequences may be heavily disputed. For these three areas your reporting must be accurate and fair.
It’s the job of a reporter to reflect all the sides of the argument and to reflect them as fairly as possible. Thus with your report on the M1 motorway accident:
At least seven cars were involved in a motorway collision on the M1 today; police say that the most likely cause of the accident was ice on the road. Road safety campaigners are blaming the local council for cutbacks which have reduced the amount of grit on the road.
Your report is accurate. There was an accident, it did take place on the M1, the police do think it was ice on the road, and road safety campaigners have blamed the local council. However, the report is not fair: you are only reporting one side of that argument. For your report to be fair you will need to get a response from the local government who have been accused of being negligent.
At least seven cars were involved in a motorway collision on the M1 today; police say that the most likely cause of the accident was ice on the road. Road safety campaigners are blaming the local council for cutbacks which have reduced the amount of grit on the road. Local government officials responded, saying that they have not cut back on any gritting of major roads or motorways.
Being fair and accurate can be as much to do with what you leave out as what you put in.
At least seven cars were involved in a motorway collision on the M1 today; two of the cars were driven by young women under the age of 20. Police say that the most likely cause of the accident was ice on the road.
Your report is accurate. However, by highlighting the fact that two of the cars were driven by young women you are somehow implying that their youth and inexperience was responsible for the crash. It’s possible that the other five cars were driven by men in their fifties but you haven’t mentioned this and so you may leave the audience with a false impression.
Impartiality is slightly different to fairness; there are very few journalists anywhere who would be happy to say that their reporting is unfair. However, not all journalists would say that their reporting was impartial. In the world of print journalism newspapers have very clear agendas and political alliances. The Daily Telegraph newspaper, for instance, is regarded as a right-leaning newspaper, while the Guardian would be more left leaning. Both newspapers happily accept their different political bias; however, neither would be happy if they were accused of being unfair.
Broadcasters are in a different position; their news output should be impartial, and it shouldn’t have any specific political agenda. It is the job of any public service or terrestrial broadcaster like the BBC, ITV or Channel 4 to be fair and impartial.
While this is easy enough to say, it’s not that easy to do in practice and you will often find yourself having to make judgements. Take the issue of balance, for example. There may be more than two views on a subject, which you will need to represent. There may also be a large body of agreement on any particular subject with only a tiny minority in disagreement. You would need to decide how much time to give to that small minority. They should be represented, but perhaps by allocating equal time, particularly over a long-running story, you may be exaggerating the importance of that point of view. There are times when something is so atrocious that there is no point representing the other point of view; the example which is often used is that of a reporter commenting on a horrific massacre in a war: would they really have gone and got one of the killers to give a balancing view on the atrocities they found? Hopefully though you won’t be dealing with any stories of this kind, so you should be looking to make sure that everything you report is balanced. Generally speaking, if there is an issue over which there is some controversy you will need to represent all sides. If an accusation has been made you will need to allow the person who has been accused of something a right of reply.
A news report is not the place for your own personal opinion. You should think carefully about your wording, in particular using words which imply judgement or value. You should choose your adjectives carefully. For example:
At least seven cars were involved in a horrendous pile-up on the M1 today . . .. Road safety campaigners are blaming the incompetent local council for cutbacks which have reduced the amount of grit on the road.
The words horrendous and pile-up are quite subjective but some news reports might use them. However, look at the word incompetent: did the road safety campaigners actually use this word or was this the reporter’s take on it? It’s not unknown for some reporters to use this kind of language, but a more balanced way of reporting might be as follows:
At least seven cars were involved in a collision on the M1 today. Police say it’s one of the worst accidents recorded on this stretch of motorway. Road safety campaigners say that the council’s approach to gritting has been incompetent and that cutbacks have reduced the amount of grit on the road. Local government officials responded, saying that they have not cut back on any gritting of major roads or motorways.
Remember: as a journalist you can report facts straightforwardly but opinion should be attributed to the person who voiced that opinion and should be balanced by any other opinions on the subject. You should not be reporting your own opinion.
Impartiality and fairness come out of an attitude of mind. In a news piece you should not be writing a story to prove a point. You should go into the story looking for all of the relevant facts. Once you have them to hand you will need to set out the arguments as clearly as you can, giving weight to all the sides of the issue which you think are important. You should see yourself as the outsider looking at what is going on. The phrase often used is that your report should be without favour.
News reports are about telling the audience who, what, where, when, why and how but they tend also to have a structure:
The headline usually comes from the studio presenter. The job of the headline is to grab the listeners and tell them why they want to listen to the rest of the report. The headlines may all come at the top of a news bulletin.
Cues are the introduction to a piece from a studio presenter; they will normally then be followed up by a report from a reporter in the field – the job of a cue is to set up the basic facts and to give the listener a reason to carry on listening to the piece.
This should be the what, who, when, where of the story. These are the things you know; this is not the place for opinion. The facts should come first before any discussion.
If you go onto the website you can hear a number of different news reports. Have a go at deconstructing them.
Language is also difficult in that you have to strike a balance between making your piece interesting and attention grabbing but not letting your own opinions and prejudices start to colour the piece.
Writing for the ear is dealt with in a separate chapter but it’s worth considering it here with specific reference to news. Stylistically, the same three basic principles apply to writing news reports as to writing anything for the ear.
News is a very particular type of factual programme making. It carries with it lots of responsibilities. Journalists tend to work under a lot of time pressure and so have to make decisions very quickly. It’s for this reason that it’s important they fully understand the importance of accuracy, fairness and impartiality. This is not to suggest for a minute that other types of factual programmes are unfair or inaccurate; news, however, does come under a particular scrutiny and therefore merits careful attention.