Page 75 - Convergent Journalism an Introduction Writing and Producing Across Media

A Closer Look

In television, the story is more likely to look like this:

Video Audio
Anchor close-up Police are searching for two men and
maybe a baby ... who robbed a
downtown convenience store last night.
Video of convenience Maybe a baby because one of the
store masked men cradled what witnesses
said could have been a baby in one
arm—while holding a gun in the other.
Sound on tape (SOT) of “I couldn’t believe it. I just kept looking
Jane Smith back and forth between the baby and
Super: Jane Smith the gun. At least I think it was a real
Customer baby.”
Video of store Police say customers and clerks were
told to lie down on the floor of the
Martin Quick Stop at Jackson and Main. 65
They say the man with what might have
been a baby kept his gun on the
customers while the other jumped
behind the counter and emptied the
cash register.
SOT of Jane Smith “I have never been so scared in my life.”
Video of store (outside) The two got away in what witnesses
described as a 1970s-era, rusted
Oldsmobile.

That’s a pretty simple, straightforward story—in this case, told as a
VO/SOT/VO/SOT/VO.
The various stories and forms are the bits and pieces that then go into
newscasts. The producer’s job is to organize this chaos into a newscast
that seems to flow and make sense.
In radio, the announcer generally puts together short newscasts that
frequently include no sound at all. Since the typical radio station today
has only one person in news, you’re not likely to hear a lot of sound
unless you have a truly tireless reporter or the station subscribes to an
audio service. Radio news operations where the station actually sends a
reporter out to cover an event are becoming increasingly rare and tend