A news bulletin is a set of stories read by one person, usually a newsreader. A well-produced bulletin should be clear, fast and exciting. It should contain a mix of serious and light stories, some about major events and some about ordinary people. The order and pace of the story should reflect the tone and format of your station; for example, a serious national broadcaster will use more serious stories delivered in a slower, deliberate style whereas a youth-oriented music station may have a brighter and lighter tone with more stories about popular culture.
The starting point for any radio news bulletin is deciding what the most important stories are. Then deciding how to rank them in order to build the bulletin. It’s important not to see the bulletin as a string of self-contained stories; the audience will expect you to keep the news current.
Choosing the correct grabs (audio from interviews or speeches) is another crucial decision. They can be a real boost to the credibility of your news bulletin. For example, if you report that the Government has resigned and a listener hears the Prime Minister saying it himself, they are likely to believe your story more than if they only heard a regular newsreader reading it.
A good tip is to always take more copy into the studio than you think you will need, just in case of misjudgment of timing or a piece of audio not playing. It’s also important to take a few extra ‘briefs’ (small, one or two sentence stories) in case there is a sudden development which requires them.