Always read your script out loud in a conversational tone so you can judge if an audience will be able to understand it. Unlike a newspaper story, your broadcast audience only gets one chance to understand your story.

Also, beware of words that sound alike but mean different things. For instance, words like cite” might be confused with “site” or “sight” and should be avoided. You may have noticed when listening to a newscast that short sentences are easier to digest than long-winded sentences. Just be sure to make your sentences sound lively and interesting—as opposed to flat and monotone.

Avoid the Passive Voice

Passive voice writing jumbles up the usual sequence of subject, verb, object in active voice writing. This sounds like a lesson from English class, but it really makes a critical difference in broadcast news writing.

An active voice helps distinguish between verbs and subjects. For example, an active sentence would be, “The burglar fired the gun,” as opposed to a passive sentence such as, “The gun was fired by the burglar.” You can see in the passive sentence that viewers have to wait until the end of the line to know who did what.

Use Present Tense Wherever Possible

TV news is timely as opposed to print news writing that relates a bigger story, putting facts and information into context. In other words, a 6 p.m. newscast must sound fresh and “of the moment.” You need to bring the viewer into the news piece as it’s unfolding.

For example, let’s look at a mayor’s news conference that you covered at 2 p.m. that afternoon to appear on the nightly news. You might want to write, “Mayor Johnson held a news conference earlier today.”

However, if you shift the focus of the sentence to the subject of the news conference, you end up putting the sentence in the present tense. This gives it more immediacy and makes it sound less stale. For example, “Mayor Johnson says he intends to slash local taxes by 20 percent. Johnson made the announcement at a news conference.”

That example above works because it starts out in the present tense and creates the hook, then shifts to past tense.

Write Stories for People

It’s easy to get mired in what your writing and forget who you’re writing for—the people watching your newscast. Viewers need to feel your stories are directed at them, or else they’ll turn away. When writing, it’s a good idea to pretend that someone is sitting across from you. Direct the story to them.

Let’s say your local department of transportation announces plans to overhaul several major thoroughfares in need of repair. Don’t just present the institutional information the DOT provided you with. Transform the information into something of consequence for the viewers at home.

For example, you can say, “Your drive to work or school will soon be smoother, thanks to a big project by the DOT to fill in potholes and uneven streets suffering from wear and tear.” This way you’ve telling viewers how an upcoming project will change their lives—for the better.

Befriend Action Verbs

In news writing, verbs are your best friend. Verbs are the part of speech that adds life and verve to your stories.

For instance. Instead of saying, “Residents are requesting information.” Say something like, “Residents want to know.” That slight change makes the information more compelling.

If you can, always avoid words like “is, are, was, and were.” All of these dilute the impact of the action. “