Broadcast short message writing

Nowadays, broadcast short messages have become the most widely used and most frequently used news genre in radio news programs at all levels. There are strict time limits on the length of broadcast short messages. The detailed rules for the China Radio and Television Awards stipulate that the length of broadcast short messages should be within 1 minute and 30 seconds. In order to explain "things" clearly in such a short period of time, broadcast short messages generally require one draft to say one thing, with the theme focused and the key points highlighted; to let the facts speak for themselves, the author generally does not need to comment too much. To write broadcast messages short and concise, the author believes that the following three aspects must be grasped.

Write concise and tasteful news introductions

Gorky once said: "The first sentence at the beginning is the most difficult, just like setting the tone in music, it takes a long time to find it. " Ancient Chinese literati also had the saying "crested head". It can be seen that the beginning of an article has always been valued by writers. For short broadcast messages, it is even more important to write a good introduction, because if the opening sentence is novel, lively and charming, it can grab the audience's attention and interest and attract them to listen.

Broadcast news introductions can be written in various ways, and there is no standard format. The author believes that the following three points must be grasped:

1. Highlight the news elements that the audience is most concerned about

The introduction generally uses a few words to highlight the most critical facts to achieve the purpose of attracting the audience's attention. . Therefore, it is impossible to summarize all news elements, but to emphasize and refine "the one" that the audience is most concerned about. Generally speaking, for event news, the introduction focuses on "when" and "what"; for non-event news, the introduction mainly emphasizes "why" and "how", and other elements are explained in the main part. For example:

Kongzhuang Village, Xiaozhi Town, Pingyin County, which used to be notoriously poor, has now become the envy of people: the entire village has been relocated, and every household has moved into a beautiful two-story well-off building.

This is a short message reflecting the achievements of Pingyin County’s new rural construction. The two news elements of "why" and "how" are highlighted in the introduction.

2. Choose vivid and specific facts or language

The introduction needs to be highly condensed and summarized, while avoiding abstraction and conceptualization. Therefore, depending on the content of the report, you can describe vivid details as a "statement-style" introduction, or you can choose one or two classic words from the news subject to write a "quotation-style" introduction.

Shandong People's Broadcasting Station broadcast a short message on December 27, 2002, "The South-to-North Water Diversion Project Starts Today." The introduction reads:

Zhu Rongji's recording "Now, I Announcing the start of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project! ”

Applause and music are drowning out the audience. It is now 10:14 a.m. on December 27. The reporter is reporting for you at Guiping Pass of Jiping Main Canal in Jinan City. Following Premier Zhu Rongji's order at the main venue in Beijing, the world's largest water conservancy project, the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, started construction simultaneously in Shandong and Jiangsu.

The "South-to-North Water Diversion" project is an important infrastructure for building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way, and the symbolic significance of its commencement is self-evident. When designing the introduction, the reporter from Shandong People's Broadcasting Station did not adopt the general "inverted pyramid" structure. Instead, he chose the speech delivered by Zhu Rongji, then Premier of the State Council, announcing the "start of construction" at the main venue in Beijing, making the news more solemn and ceremonial. feel.

3. Set up suspense and attract the audience

The first priority of the news introduction is to attract the audience. Setting suspense in the introduction of a short broadcast message can arouse the audience's interest and desire to listen to the news.

The key to writing this type of introduction is to raise targeted issues of general concern in the introduction based on the main contradictions in the news content, forming a fascinating suspense, so as to attract the audience and seek questions. answer.

For example: The message "Zhuxi relies on high investment to create high benefits" uses questions to set up suspense.

The price of 500 grams of tea has increased from a few yuan to dozens or hundreds of yuan; the yield of corn per acre has increased from 200 kilograms to over 500 kilograms. What's the mystery in this?

The raising of this question will definitely interest the audience. At least the cadres of government departments and agricultural scientific and technological personnel will be interested. The majority of farmers who make a living by farming will listen to this question. There will also be a desire to get to the bottom of it. Who doesn’t want to find a way to make money? The reporter uses the method of asking questions to write the introduction, and attracts the audience with suspense from the beginning.

Elaborately refine the theme

In the process of writing broadcast news, the first priority is to refine the theme. When the theme is refined, the content will be concentrated, and the length will naturally be shorter; vice versa; , the more diffuse the topic and the broader the coverage, the more abundant and diffuse the content will be. To refine the theme, you need to develop the basic skills of "making a big deal out of a molehill and making a big deal out of a molehill".

1. Efforts should be made to discover news topics that can "make a fuss out of a molehill"

The so-called "making a fuss out of a molehill" means to see the big from the small and to see the big from the point. It means to put micro activities in the Under the national macro background, analyze, compare and form in-depth reports that can reflect the patterns or essence. In other words, "making a big fuss out of a molehill" means making a big fuss about a small topic.

For example, the short broadcast message "Education funds are seriously detained and misappropriated, but the Finance Director fell asleep soundly at the provincial education conference" which won the second prize of the 16th China News Award. The full text of this broadcast message is less than 500 words and only 1 minute and 30 seconds. Although the work is small in length, it is relevant to the current situation, has strong criticism, and has distinctive broadcast characteristics. The incident disclosed in the work is minor: at a province-wide education work conference, several people fell asleep. However, the author unearthed a very profound theme: the lack of attention to education. A considerable number of people seem to pay attention to it, but in fact they ignore it. From this, he issued a call: "The whole society must pay attention to education and pay attention to education." It must be reflected in actions, not just words.”

The theme revealed by the author has universal significance in Guangdong Province and even across the country. Leaders from many places have spoken at conferences and in documents. The city loudly claims that education is a century-old plan and the source of development, but in actual work, it puts the development of education at the back, giving priority to projects that can easily generate economic benefits or image projects that can easily show political achievements, and even does not hesitate to misappropriate and squeeze out education funds. , this situation of "saying one thing and doing another" is not uncommon across the country. The "little things" disclosed and criticized in the work may seem accidental, but they contain universal significance.

2. Correctly grasp the opportunity to "make a fuss out of a molehill"

The so-called "make a fuss out of a molehill" is to condense the connotation of a big topic into one point and express it so that it can be expressed in a small way. A certain activity is displayed in front of a broad audience in the most realistic, vivid, vivid and lively way. All work or decisions of the party and the government are highly comprehensive and rich in connotation, and news reports often promote a certain decision, policy or idea of ??the party and the government through specific micro-activities. If these decisions, policies or ideas are attached to micro activities intact, it is equivalent to putting an adult's hat on a child's head. This kind of simplistic news report lacks individuality and pertinence, and is a generic product. On the contrary, if you can condense a relatively wide-ranging news propaganda topic into several small topics, and choose an aspect or angle that best suits the essence of the news facts and can best reveal its laws to express it, you can Probably write better news reports.

Focus on using typical details to highlight the theme

Broadcasting is a method of communication that appeals to hearing. Broadcasting short messages should leave a deep impression on the audience in a short period of time. , to impress the audience, you must make the short message vivid and avoid being dull, dull and dull. To bring a short message to life, choosing typical characters to reflect the theme of the event and using typical details to highlight the theme is a very effective method that can easily attract the ears and hearts of the audience.

The short message mentioned earlier, "Education funds are seriously detained and misappropriated, but the finance director fell asleep soundly at the provincial education meeting." The work uses scenes, detailed descriptions and other means in a very short space, see Things, meeting people. For example, one of the details described: "The finance director of Shanwei City leaned back on his chair with his head drooped. Before Zheng Detao's words could wake him up, someone next to him poked him, and he suddenly woke up." This kind of detailed and vivid story The description is like a movie shot, showing the finance chief's "sleeping state" in front of the audience in a panoramic manner. From these descriptions, the audience can clearly see the indifference of these people to education. Immediately afterwards, the author cleverly used a contrasting technique, "The Finance Director fell asleep soundly, but (Minister of Education) Zheng Detao pointed out: 'The situation of special funds for education is also relatively serious, and the fund utilization rate of Zhanjiang, Shanwei, Qingyuan, Shantou and other cities is lower than 50 %'. "On the one hand, there is serious retention and misappropriation, and on the other hand, it is a deep sleep. This sharp contrast is a powerful criticism, which can naturally arouse the audience's screams and achieve the ideal communication effect.

Capturing typical details has a significant effect on expanding factual judgments, and typical details can often enhance reports. Moreover, details reflect the essence of things in an intuitive form, which can easily leave a deep impression on people. Many times, instead of providing a bunch of general materials in a report, it is better to provide one or two distinctive details to be more convincing and impactful. .

References:

① Editor-in-chief Zhang Mo: "News Interview Writing", Wuhan University Press, 1st Edition 2000

② Editor-in-chief Wang Zhen: "Broadcasting" News and TV News", Wuhan University Press, 2001 1st Edition

(Author's unit: Shandong Journalists Association; Pingyin Radio and Television Station)