A news bulletin is not simply a string of stories – it has to be carefully constructed and presented. Two main factors are the overall order or balance of the bulletin, and its pace.
It is essential that the bulletin remains fresh. If listeners hear a rehash of yesterday’s or last week’s news they are unlikely to remain interested. This is especially important when it comes to the lead story – listeners will decide how important a bulletin is by the strength of that lead.
The pace of a bulletin can also be important, with some stories having more dramatic impact than others. It is a good idea to try and vary the pace of your stories in a bulletin, by putting some fast paced stories at the beginning of the bulletin and some slower paced stories towards the end.
It can be a good idea to include some sound bites in your bulletin, either as part of the voice report or in a short audio clip inserted into the report. These can give the bulletin a much needed lift and help keep it interesting for your audience.
Always be sure that you take more copy into the studio than you need, in case you misjudged your timing or have problems with a piece of audio. This can be an extra voice report or even a short audio clip of an interview, and will provide you with a useful reserve in the event that you run out of time.
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