A news bulletin should stimulate the audience’s interest in current events. It is important to have a mix of stories which reflect all aspects of life: health, education, jobs and homes, science and technology, culture, social developments and sports. It is also necessary to keep up a pace which is ‘newsy’ enough to maintain listeners’ interest.
The voice of the newsreader is a crucial factor in the effectiveness of a radio bulletin. A grating voice can cause the audience to switch off; a pleasant sounding voice will make them want to return to listen again. The newsreader should also be able to clearly pronounce difficult names, and mark pauses in the script.
It is important to calculate the total reading time of all the stories in a bulletin, in order to ensure that they fit in the available slot. A good way to do this is to ask a colleague to time you for 60 seconds while you read a short piece of news script, then add up the number of words you read in that period. Do this ten times, and you will get an average reading rate per second.
It is a good idea to start with the major news stories of the day. This will ensure that listeners who tune in just before the bulletin hear the most relevant and up-to-date information first. It is also a good idea to save lighter stories for the weekend or current affairs programmes, and run these towards the end of the bulletin.
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