Journalistic Languages Lecture 8

Broadcast VS print headline

To have an idea of what is similar and different in the headline writing conventions for the two media (print and electronic)

There are key differences in how broadcast headlines and print headlines function. It isn’t just about the difference between paper and screen. It’s also about the nature of the medium and audience demographics.

With respect to sensory organs

When we write for a print medium, we actually write for the eyes

Broadcast writing is writing for the ear, [for eyes, we add visuals]

In newspaper, our major weapon/tool is text. It is through the choice of words that we create an emphatic picture in the minds of the readers. We don’t have the option to reinforce/strengthen our words with visuals [though we have a limited option of including Picture(s)].

In TV however, we can combine many elements and tools (visuals, sound, text and graphic effects) to serve the same purpose. Although in many ways, this convenience of many options may not make our job easier as there is a continuous demand of creativity and further improving the quality of the reception of contents (news for instance).

Newspapers: longer, more descriptive headlines.

Broadcast: Short, informative, bulleted headlines

Broadcast Headlines are meant to be read out loud by a news anchor rather than internally by a general audience. So they should be full sentences

They are not meant to be spoken so they are not complete sentences.

Broadcast heds should not be written in present indefinite tense. Print Headlines use present indefinite tense.

Sentences in a broadcast news story generally contain just one idea and do not contain multiple clauses and internal clauses. This makes it easier for the anchor to read.

In print, a source is mentioned at the end of a sentence: Northern areas are likely to see more severe weather this month, said meteorologists at the University of Karachi. In a broadcast story, the source is mentioned at the beginning of a sentence: Meteorologists at the University of Karachi say that Northern areas are likely to see more severe weather this month. This emphasizes the informative part of the sentence for the listener.

Broadcast news stories adopt a conversational style. News segments are often short, so information has to be conveyed quickly and simply. Example: Cold weather is on the way for Peshawar. Here are several tips for coping with the cold weather. First, wear warm clothes…

Broadcast news stories take into account the visual and auditory nature of broadcast news. For example, images often accompany a story, and the story needs to be consistent with the image. Moreover, because the audience is listening to a story, rather than reading it, a good broadcast news story appeals to the ear. Broadcast headlines should conjures a concrete visual image and should resonate well with a listening audience.

Print news follow inverted pyramid style while TV/broadcast media, use Dramatic unity (a climax, cause, and effect).The climax of the story gives the listener the point of the story in about the same way the lead of a print news story does; it tells the listener what happened. The cause portion of the story tells why it happened — the circumstances surrounding the event. The effect portion of the story gives the listener the context of the story and possibly some insight about what the story means.

Broadcast stories are structured for multitasking consumers.

For print, space is the central consideration while for TV, it is time

Most important of these techniques is that of condensation. The broadcast writer must learn to select and condense information. The writer must learn that an even higher value is placed on brevity than in writing for print.

Clarity: The listener has no opportunity to go back and “re-hear” a news broadcast to see what he or she has missed. In that regard, clarity in writing becomes one of the chief goals of the writer

Now let’s compare broadcast and print headlines

Here, we will compare practical examples of headlines from Geo TV/Jang Newspaper, Mashriq TV/Newspaper and Dawn TV/Newspaper.

Jang

TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjKiBCeXJ_g&t=151s

Paper: https://e.jang.com.pk/11-30-2020/pindi/page1.asp

Mashriq

TV :https://web.facebook.com/MashriqTvNews/posts/2692170184336833

Paper: https://mashriqtv.pk/e-paper/

Dawn

TV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KvdbPRsWqU

Paper: https://epaper.dawn.com/

Links for further reading