/80-30_files/80-3000001im.jpg" width="696"
height="1033" useMap="#Map">
Radio
News, Reporting and Production
MCM515
VU
LESSON
30
ESSENTIALS
OF A NEWSCASTER
Newscaster
- The Anchorperson
Newscaster
is the person who reads the
news to the listeners on radio
and conducts interviews if
needed.
Essentials
of a Newscaster
A
good news caster must
posses the following
essentials:
1.
Authority
Authority
as defined by David
Dunhill, BBC Voice Trainer,
Former Newscaster.
"Authority
is not a sound. Authority is a
state of knowing what you
are talking about and
being
able
to explain it convincingly and
readily to somebody
else."
2.
Credibility
A
newscaster must be a good
journalist not a good actor.
Good journalist means that
he has got ample
knowledge
of what he is reading out to the
listeners. It must appear
from his tone whatever he is
reading
out,
he must know its worth as
well otherwise he has ample
chances to commit mistake. Sometimes
it
happens
that the composer of the news
script makes some errors in
the spellings or in the names of
the
proper
nouns. In such cases, if the
newscaster is ignorant of basic
facts and figures, he will
not be able to
correct
the information and wrong
information will go on air.
From event to the broadcast, a news
story
passes
through many hands but the
newscaster is the person who
enters into the scene at the
end and holds
the
final presentation. It implies
that manifold responsibility lies
with him/her. Knowledge is
confidence
and
knowledge is credibility.
A
newscaster must have an insight of
national and international
issues. He must know the
names of
presidents
of important countries, prime ministers,
capital names, currencies,
etc. He must know the
names
and
respective departments of federal
and provincial ministers,
secretaries and other
important government
officials.
Harry
Ratliff Bureau Chief, CBS
News
"I
am not interested in newsreaders
actors reading the news
it debases the news.
Many of them
don't
know what they are
reading. When they interview
someone they read questions
somebody
else
has written. That's wrong.
The news ought to be told by
journalists--they have
more
credibility."
Language
We
talk about language in terms of
grammar, pronunciation and
accent. As far as grammar is
concerned, a
newscaster
must be well versed in the
rules and principals of the language he
is reading news in.
Some
important
areas regarding grammar to be
concentrated by a newscaster are:
Tenses; Nouns; Verbs;
Adjectives;
Structures; Use of conditionals;
Causatives.
Pronunciation
Whatever
the language is if the pronunciation of the
speaker is bad it gives bad
impression and sometimes
it
changes
the meaning of the word as well. For
instance,
Sentence
(noun)
means a set of words that
carries a subject and a verb;
and conveys a message.
Sen`tence
(verb)
means to announce punishment.
Rebel
(noun)
the person who fights
against the government of his
country.
Re`bel
(verb) the
act of fighting against the government of
his country.
82
/80-30_files/80-3000002im.jpg" width="696"
height="1033" useMap="#Map">
Radio
News, Reporting and Production
MCM515
VU
A
good and professional
newscaster is always curious about the
pronunciation of any new
word that comes
to
his knowledge.
To
be accurate regarding a professional
newscaster knows the art of looking up
dictionary for which
the
knowledge
of Phonetics, Vowel Sounds,
Consonant Sounds, Syllables,
and Stresses- Primary, Secondary,
&
Tertiary
stresses, is a must.
Accent
Accent
is not necessary to be followed
but pronunciation is something
that must not be
compromised.
Unbiased
A
professional newscaster is the one
who is unbiased at least when
he/she is reading out news
bulletin. He
must
be able to hide his feelings of hatred or
liking for any one
whose news he is reading
out.
Punctual
Rain
or storm, a newscaster is in form.
What may come in the way, a
newscaster has to reach the studio
at
least
30 minutes before the bulletin starts so
that he may go through the
script well in
advance.
Voice
As
far as the voice quality of a newscaster
is concerned, it must
be:
·
Good
but not necessarily exceptionally
good.
·
Comfortable.
·
Confident.
·
Clear.
·
Healthy.
·
Lively.
·
Microphone
friendly.
83