Writing of broadcast short messages

Nowadays, broadcast short messages have become the most widely used and frequently used news genre in radio news programs at all levels. There is a strict time limit on the length of broadcast short messages. The Detailed Rules of China Radio and Television Awards stipulates that the length of broadcast short messages should be within 1 min 30 seconds. In order to make "things" clear in such a short time, broadcast short messages generally require the whole manuscript to say one thing, the theme should be concentrated and the key points should be prominent; Let the facts speak for themselves, and it is generally unnecessary for the author to discuss them more. To make the broadcast information short and pithy, I think we should grasp the following three aspects.

Write a concise and tasteful news lead

Gorky once said: "The first sentence at the beginning is the most difficult, just like the tune in music, it takes a long time to find." Ancient China literati also had the saying of "Phoenix Head". It can be seen that the beginning of the article has always been valued by writers. For broadcast short messages, it is more important to write a good lead, because the lead is novel, vivid and charming, which can first attract the attention and interest of the audience and attract him to listen.

There are many ways to write radio news leads, but there is no standard formula. The author believes that we should grasp the following three points:

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

The introduction usually highlights the most critical facts in a few sentences to attract the attention of the audience. Therefore, it is impossible to summarize all the news elements, but to emphasize and extract the "one" that the audience is most concerned about. Generally speaking, for event news, the introduction emphasizes "when" and "what"; For non-event news, the introduction mainly prompts "why" and "how", while other elements are explained in the main body. For example:

Kongzhuang Village, Xiaozhi Town, Pingyin County used to be famous for its poverty, but now it has become the envy of people: the whole village has moved and every household has lived in a beautiful two-story well-off building.

This is a short message reflecting the achievements of new rural construction in Pingyin County. The introduction emphasizes two news elements: "Why" and "How".

2. Choose vivid and concrete facts or language.

The introduction needs to be highly concise and general, while avoiding abstraction and conceptualization. Therefore, depending on the content of the report, we can describe vivid details and write a "statement" lead, or we can choose one or two classic languages of news parties to write a "quote" lead.

On February 27th, 2002, Shandong People's Broadcasting Station broadcast a short message of "South-to-North Water Diversion Project starts today". The brief introduction is as follows:

Zhu Rongji recorded "Now, I announce the start of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project!"

In the applause, the sound pressure of music mingled with the audience. It's the morning of February 27th 10, and the reporter is reporting for you at Guiping Pass, Jiping main canal in Jinan. With Premier Zhu Rongji's order at the Beijing main venue, the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, the largest water conservancy project in the world, started construction in Shandong and Jiangsu at the same time.

The South-to-North Water Transfer Project is an important infrastructure for building a well-off society in an all-round way, and its symbolic significance is self-evident. When designing the lead, the reporter of Shandong People's Broadcasting Station did not adopt the general inverted pyramid structure, but chose Zhu Rongji, then Premier of the State Council, to deliver an "opening speech" at the main venue in Beijing, which made the news more solemn and ceremonial.

3. Set suspense to attract the audience

The news lead takes attracting the audience as the first priority. Setting suspense in the introduction of broadcast short messages can arouse the audience's interest and desire to listen to the news.

The main point of this kind of lead is to put forward targeted questions that the masses are generally concerned about in the lead according to the main contradictions in the news content, thus forming fascinating suspense to attract the audience and seek the answers to the questions.

For example, the news of "Zhuxi creates high benefits with high investment" is to set suspense by asking questions.

The value of 500 grams of tea rose from a few dollars to tens of dollars and hundreds of dollars; The yield of an acre of corn ranges from 200 kilograms to more than 500 kilograms. What's the secret?

The raising of this question will certainly arouse the interest of the audience, at least the cadres of government departments and agricultural science and technology personnel, and farmers who make a living by farming will also have the desire to find out this problem. Who doesn't want to find a way to make money? The reporter used questions to write the lead, and at the beginning he used suspense to attract the audience.

Refine the theme carefully

In the process of radio news writing, the first thing is to refine the theme. The theme is refined, the content is concentrated, and the length is naturally short. On the contrary, the more dispersed the theme, the wider the coverage and the more dispersed the content. To refine the theme, we should practice the basic skills of "making a mountain out of a molehill and making a big problem small".

1. Try to explore news topics that can make a mountain out of a molehill.

The so-called "making a mountain out of a molehill", that is, seeing the big from the small and meeting the big from the point, refers to the analysis and comparison of micro-activities under the national macro-background to form an in-depth report that can reflect the law or essence. In other words, "making a mountain out of a molehill" means making a big fuss about a small topic.

For example, the broadcast short message "The education funds are seriously withheld and misappropriated, but the finance director fell asleep at the provincial education conference" won the second prize of the 16th China Journalism Award. The full text of this broadcast message is less than 500 words, only a short 1 minute and 30 seconds. Although the length of the work is small, it is to the point and has distinctive broadcasting characteristics. The events disclosed in the works are not big: several people fell asleep at a provincial education work conference. However, the author digs out a very profound theme: not paying attention to education. Quite a few people pay attention to education on the surface and verbally, but actually ignore it, and therefore appeal: "The whole society should pay attention to education, and paying attention to education should be reflected in action, not just in words."

The theme revealed by the author is of universal significance in Guangdong province and even the whole country. Leaders in many places will claim that education is a century-old plan and the source of development in high profile at conferences and documents. However, in practical work, they put the development of education behind, give priority to projects that are easy to produce economic benefits or image projects that are easy to show political achievements, and even misappropriate and squeeze education funds. This kind of "saying one thing and doing another" situation is not uncommon in the country. The "trivial matter" of work disclosure and criticism seems to be accidental, but it contains universal significance.

2. Correctly grasp the opportunity of "making big problems and doing small things"

The so-called "big topic and small work" is to condense the connotation of a big topic in one point, so that an activity is the most vivid, vivid and lively in front of a wide audience. All the work or decisions of the party and the government are very comprehensive and rich in connotation, and news reports often publicize some decisions, policies or ideas of the party and the government through specific micro-activities. If we stick these decisions, policies or ideas intact on micro-activities, it is equivalent to putting an adult hat on children's heads. This simplified news report lacks individuality and pertinence, which is the staple food. On the contrary, if we can condense or reduce a large-scale news propaganda topic into several small topics, and choose a side or angle that best conforms to the essence of news facts and can reveal its laws, we can write better news reports.

Focus on highlighting the theme with typical details.

Broadcasting is an attractive way of communication. In order to leave a deep impression on the audience in a short time, it is necessary to write short messages vividly to avoid being boring and boring. Writing short messages vividly, choosing typical characters to reflect the theme of the event and highlighting the theme with typical details are effective methods that are easy for the audience to hear.

The short message mentioned earlier, "Education funds were seriously detained and misappropriated, but the financial director fell asleep at the provincial education conference", used scenes, detailed descriptions and other means to see things and people in a very short space. For example, one of the details describes: "Shanwei City Finance Director leaned back against his chair and hung his head. Zheng Taode's words failed to wake him up, and the person next to him gave him a poke, and he suddenly woke up. " This detailed and vivid description, like Focus Plane, shows the "sleeping state" of the CFO to the audience in a panoramic way. From these descriptions, the audience can clearly see that these people are indifferent to education. Then, the author skillfully uses the contrast method. "The director of finance is asleep, but Zheng (director of education) pointed out:' The problem of detention of special funds for education is also very serious, and the utilization rate of funds in Zhanjiang, Shanwei, Qingyuan and Shantou is less than 50%.' "On the one hand, it is serious detention and misappropriation, on the other hand, it is sleeping soundly. This sharp contrast is a powerful criticism, which can naturally resonate with the audience and achieve the ideal communication effect.

Grasping typical details plays an obvious role in expanding factual judgment, and typical details can often add luster to reports. And the details reflect the essence of things in an intuitive form, which is easy to leave a deep impression on people. Many times, instead of providing a bunch of general materials, it is better to provide one or two characteristic details in the report, which is more convincing and impactful.

References:

① Zhang Mo, editor-in-chief: News Interview Writing, Wuhan University Press, 1 Edition, 2000.

② Radio News and TV News, edited by Wang Zhen, Wuhan University Press, 1, 20065438.

(Author: Shandong Journalists Association; Pingyin Radio and TV Station)