Printed press, radio television, Internet : specificities

7.1 Press : write to be read (7)

Taking into account the general abundance of information, each reader is on the lookout for the least error committed by the editor to give up reading and pass onto something else :

- too long and too vague introduction

- too long sentences preventing a rapid reading

- news drowned in generalities, commonplace.

To be read, the journalist will have to :

- find an attractive title, urging one to read the paper. It can be informative, humorous, mysterious, challenging;

- propose a clear and concise message at least at the beginning of the text;

- enter rapidly into the heart of the matter : useless to go around the bush;

- create a solid structure : the paragraphs follow each other naturally, each sentence has its place, its utility. Nothing is superfluous;

- reply to seven basic questions (see page ?) in the first paragraphs so as to increase chances to get the information passed on to the reader, before he quits;

- give privilege to the human interest of the information : the reader will feel more easily concerned than if confronted only with technical aspects;

- write briefly : a sentence, an idea (but without turning it into a diktat);

- use concrete words rather than abstract ones, short words preferably to long ones:

- avoid jargon, neologisms, scientific unexplained terms, unexplained acronyms, redundancies, hollow formulas.

- But above all … have something to say and consequently to write !

Make it shorter

7.2 Radio : speak to be heard (and understood ?)

In emergency, and more generally in the strict frame of what is news, information on the radio very often is limited to a simple interview, short, generally "hectic" and therefore incomplete as compared to the message you had the intention of getting over.

Where the written press opens up, two to three columns, the radio limits you, except in a report version, to one minute "on air", corresponding merely to two written paragraphs…

The way to communicate via an audio-visual channel is therefore quite different from what the written press allows. And it will also depend from the time your discussion partner is ready to dedicate to this information

1) You are contacted in connection with a news topic.

This being the case, you have to reply to a precise demand of a journalist whishing to be enlightened by you concerning some hot news, or to have your reaction about an event that took place in your area of activity.

At best, he will suggest a meeting on the premises of your work or at the studio, at worst, he will be content with a reaction registered over the telephone : the mobile phone has considerably changed the contact between the radio press and the resource persons. Although the quality of transmissions by phone can be most variable, they offer a rapid and (sometimes) easy solution, more and more appreciated these present days !

But whatever the mode of registration of your replies, here are a few basic rules that will save you from being disappointed on hearing your interview :

- sense of synthesis : agree with the journalist on the length of time made available for you, discuss with him the field of the interview, you will reduce the risks of a "patchwork" reassembly that would no longer have much in common with the ideas you wanted to convey;

- sense of expression : the language is a fearful weapon in radio broadcasting : a shock expression, an image in the figurative sense will have more impact on the audience than a long speech;

- clearness of the message : what is on air is fleeting. Where a reader has the possibility to read a second time a complex paragraph, the listener gets only a one-time hearing. If he doesn’t understand, he quits…;

- do not hesitate if your interview has been lengthened, to agree with the journalist what part will throw more light on the subject treated : don’t be afraid to suggest a remake of the registration if you feel you have been obscure, too long, not sufficiently aggressive Politicians, union representatives, company managers used to express themselves in the media, do the same thing !

- avoid reading a press release, a text prepared in advance : the lack of naturalness is soon perceived and even soon becomes boring !

- don’t think yourself irreplaceable : the importance is to get the message over. According to the nature of the information to be given, examine who, between the educator, the civil servant, the local youngster…, is best able to reply to the enquiries of the press, with respect to the preceding rules.

2) If you are the initiator of information you want to broadcast.

If above advices remain of course valid, they apply also to a wider scope, since the thing is not only to give an answer to a demand, but to arouse the journalists’ interest with a piece of information they have not requested.

In this context other recommendations may be of application :

- In the choice of the media you will contact, do not neglect local radios and televisions, the regional centres of national channels : besides their proximity and therefore their better acquaintance with the field, the journalists belonging to these centres will give more attention to the situation you want to describe, and in many case will be able to grant you more time than the national antenna. And their audience is not to be underestimated.

- The audio-visual media often ask to have precedence over the written press : information has to arrive as quickly as possible on air, whereas the papers finish off in the evening to be on sale on the following morning. Without granting them exclusivity that would irk the written press, you can propose to radios and/or televisions to anticipate a press conference and meet them before the starting time…this will enable them not to have to queue after the common presentation.

- As has been reminded in the preceding chapters, the press does not know everything. It’s you who are the specialist ! You know the district, the youngsters, the inhabitants, the social and economical environment, the nature of the social relations… Show imagination and creativity when you approach the media, especially the audio-visual press for which sound and image constitute additional values in a news report, and even more so in a magazine.

- And since we mention the "magazine" format, let’s stand by it for a moment : no matter if it takes up 3 or 26 minutes, it outstrips what is described in the professional jargon as "hot news". Same as the report in the written press, it gives the opportunity to go deeper in the development of a topical subject. In radio, the report implies a variety of sounds and speakers. It creates a favourable atmosphere for the listener interested to hear a real life story.

In the frame of your profession, these stories are entirely a part of the social life of the moment, with their small and great misunderstandings : co-habitation, integration, emigration, racism, delinquency …

You have there an essential part to play towards the press : your experience of the field, your daily contacts with the youngsters enable you to stimulate press reports liable to modify the caricatured images, the preconceived ideas, put events back in perspective : not to be neglected !

7.3 TV : it’s all about images …and sound !(8)

Roughly, the advices given for your contacts with the radio press remain valid for television: the delays for topical events are shorter than with the written press, the time imparted to these questions on the antenna are just as short.

The illustrations the journalist is looking for will be limited : what interests him foremost is to have a person facing him. But, contrarily to the radio interview, the mobile phone will be of no use to him …

In the treatment of topical news questions, the "power of the image" is not the dominant element : on the contrary even, too much attention given to the illustration of a comment or an interview risks to perturb the general meaning, because in the mind of the viewer it is hard to be simultaneously conscience of what he sees and what he hears.

This notwithstanding, it is seldom that an interview be integrally broadcasted "facing the camera", without being from time to time covered by images. This way of proceeding is also rendered necessary because these images, known as "cutting plans" allow the rearrangement of the sound track of the interview, without having the head of the interviewed person give disagreeable jerks…

However, if you are brought to answer questions in front of a camera, here are a few useful tips :

- try to fix the eyes of the interviewer which are also, theoretically, those of the viewer; do not look from left to right or up and down, the result on the screen will be disastrous;

- be relaxed, but not too much ! Same as for your eyes, avoid to move from one foot to the other, to change the position of your legs or your arms…

- avoid to refer to something you said before the camera was filming (" … as I told you a couple of minutes ago …")

- one idea per sentence : lengthy sentences, where ideas are buzzing, with backward recalls, or involving persons having nothing to do with the subject, have difficulty of getting over on television;

- suggest to the journalist a significant place to do the interview, nothing looks sadder than a press conference room or a forum hall… If necessary, there they will find circumstances offering additional images that can serve if needed as cutting plans or illustrations on the comment, but with the advantage of maintaining a background unity. This being said, this background should not be noisy, as this would risk causing a disagreeable sound mix at the moment of your replies.

… And if the eye of the camera makes you shy, keep in mind that you are not the only one to be uneasy.

Interview on television remains a difficult exercise, the image does not forgive lack of naturalness, and there are many journalists who feel the same anxiety at the moment they get filmed.

Be therefore as much as possible yourself, either on the field of your activity or in a studio.

You will the more be able to be so that you are in "your" element : if the press wants your opinion, it is because of your status of "expert", your acquaintance with the field, your capability of giving testimony on a situation.

And if you feel that one tries to make you talk on a subject you don’t master, or to steer you onto unfamiliar grounds , stop machines and get things straight with your interviewer…

7.4 Internet : a constantly evolving media

As a new media, Internet has its own specificities :

- a system of hypertext links (when one clicks on a word one opens a new window), which usefully complete the information, but entice the reader to quit the text he is in the process of reading to venture elsewhere. Will he come back ?

- An information in real time (one has the possibility of updating the information but beware of the outdated information left on the site).

- A host of available information on a same subject, identified by more and more performing search engines (google, altavista, yahoo…). With a few key words in any language, these search engines will gather for you the supposed most interesting pages (it doesn’t work every time, but with a bit of habit and a bit of luck one quickly lands on what one is looking for).

Where writing is concerned, one will therefore have to be very catchy :

- Write even shorter;

- Do not compel the Internet surfer to make the text appear on more than two or three screens. Above that, there is a lot of chance he will zap;

- Be conscious that every page must be self sufficient : it is better to adopt the "file" approach containing different independent texts treating one aspect of the subject rather than embark on a long article Useless to want to create an ending to your article at the bottom of the fourth screen, the reader will probably never get so far.

- Integrate the hypertext link system at the time of conception and structuring of the information.

For the rest, the writing requirements are the same as for the other media.

With the constant improvement of the technical capacities, it will be necessary to anticipate that Internet will become more and more multi-media and that the integration text-sound-images will bring about major changes in the production of Internet sites. To be kept in mind.

(7) Chapter written by André Zaleski, journalist RTBF, Belgium.
(8) Chapter written by André Zaleski, journalist RTBF, Belgium.