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TV
News Reporting and Production MCM
516
VU
LESSON
18
EDITING
OF THE NEWS
The
word edit is synonymous to prepare, correct,
tidy up, check over, revise,
amend, change, alter,
modify,
adjust, transform and this all is done
while editing any written
item as well as the
news.
The
editing desk of a news channel is the
hub and center around
which all activities of news
production
revolve
and upon which news team
ultimately concentrate.
The
gathering of news is an interesting and
peculiar job and for this
purposes a large crew is engaged
in
every
quarter of the world, reporting to
their principal news
stories, momentous, interesting
dull, sad
and
funny.
News
is a short-lived and ephemeral commodity,
yet it is regarded as essential to
civilization and in the
making
of that commodity a sub-editor
plays an important role in shaping it in
to form, attractive and
pleasant.
Media
has no control over the
events taking place all
around, but they have to
present the sum total
of
the
day's happening in a digestible
form. Great occurrences are
few and far between and
minor
happenings
are more numerous.
A
particular day may be full
with great events or even one event
may overwhelm all other
happenings.
The
next day may be very
insignificant from the news
point of view but the
sub-editor has to produce
the
bulletin and has to make it as
interesting as possible to the large number of
people who listen
and
watch
it.
Although
the sub-editor cannot determine the nature or the
quality of the material gathered of the
day
but
one can control the use of
news. S/he has to choose
enough for filing the time
of different news
bulletins.
Keeping that limitation in
view, the sub-editor can
pick, choose and reject the
news but it
cannot
be arbitrary or random.
Throughout
the whole process of selection, he has to
take care of the policy of the
news channel. The
quality
of resultant production depends on
wisdom, the judgment and the skill of
group of sub-editors
producing
the news bulletin.
The
reporters exercise an initial
discrimination in the selection of the news
and in shaping it according
to
the policy and time available
with a news channel, but it is in the
newsroom where it is finally
dressed
for bulletin. It is here
that the news is polished and
improved and errors that
creep in reporter's
copy
are corrected. It is in the newsroom that the
news takes a new
form.
Thus
the sub-editor has to be ever
vigilant. Competent handling of the copy
is essential to every
news
channel
and an inefficient sub-editor can
nullify the efforts of a best
reporter and a very
efficient
direction
of the superior staff. While
efficient and experienced sub-editors can correct the
errors of the
reporting
staff if any and can recover the
indifferent and loosely worded
copy.
Since
the sub-editor has the last word in the
production of the news bulletin,
their inefficiency, lack
of
knowledge
and failures mar the
finished product. For these
particular reasons they have to be
careful,
intelligent,
knowledge able, alert and
skilled.
The
sub-editing of a news, the cutting of the
news according to time
available on any given day,
the
formation
of suitable headlines, and arrangement of news
bulletins require a very
high grade of news
sense,
but also a sound education,
a lot of general knowledge and a long
practice of news making,
competence
in international affairs, and a sense of
balance and proportion are the
attributes of a good
sub-editor.
73
TV
News Reporting and Production MCM
516
VU
Editing
the news
The
first essential of news
editing is accuracy.
Every
news producer and sub-editor
should remember the channel's
reputation for fairness and
reliability
rests upon an accurate presentation of
facts.
A
sub-editor has to keep in mind the number
and class of people who
would be interested in these
news
as
well as need for telecasting them
while they still have news
value.
The
geographical nearness of an event
does at to the interest for the
viewers.
The
viewers have interest in all sorts of
contests and
conflicts.
Characteristics
of good news
It
is the briefest possible summary of a
story.
It
includes five Ws and H that
are important.
It
should consist of one paragraph
preferably but it often has
more than one paragraphs.
It
has all the main points of
the story.
It
quickly summarizes the most
important fact of the story in
first few words.
It
begins with specific interesting and
affecting words.
It
is distributed in small sentences
when too much information
would make an excessive long
sentence.
It
cites the source from where the
news is generated.
It
identifies the persons
mentioned.
It
relates to previous news if it is a
follow-up story.
Process
of editing a news
The
process of editing is intended t
make it easier for the
newscaster to read the copy. Corrections
must
be
indicated clearly and matter inserted
written legibly. All letters should be
written carefully.
The
sub-editor first reads the
story to get the general sense. He may
mark a mistake here and there in
first
reading but he reserves his
efforts mostly for the
second reading. He should
read it again for the
third
time to eliminate the possibility of
over sight and to see that
he story reads coherent. Then he
gives
the
headline.
An
experienced editor may edit he
news story in first reading
but it is recommended that a
story should
be
read once again after
marking out the mistakes and
corrections.
Reporters
should be instructed to end each
page of copy on a complete paragraph. It
makes for good
speed
in the composing room and eliminates the
need of cutting the story
into parts in the composing
room
as each page may be given to
different compositor.
If
the writer has not observed
this rule, the sub-editor
should rewrite the copy to
make each page a
complete
unit.
Editing
the news copy, which in
journalistic term is called
"Subbing", is a progressively becoming
more
important
as the speed of news coverage increases
and the news horizon
broadens.
The
sub-editor can make a first
rate newspaper out of a third rate
copy. On the other hand a poor
sub-
editor
can spoil the work of the
best reporter. It is he who
reconstructs and reduces the
news to its
proportional
time.
The
different sub-editors on the desk also
specialize in different sort of news but
quite often they have
to
handle
all type of news coming to
the news channel.
74
Table of Contents:
- CREATIVITY AND IDEA GENERATION FOR TELEVISION:Video Procedures
- PRE-REQUISITES OF A CREATIVE PRODUCER/DIRECTOR:SET-UP RESPONSIBILITIES
- REFINING AN IDEA FOR PRODUCTION:Drama, Magazine Shows, Documentary
- CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT:Variable. Pure and applied research
- RESEARCH AND REVIEWS:Research Procedure, Review of available literature
- SCRIPT WRITING:Elements of a successful story, Characters, Effects
- PRE-PRODUCTION PHASE:Indoor production, Outdoor production, Essentials of PBE
- SELECTION OF REQUIRED CONTENT AND TALENT:Camera rehearsal
- PROGRAMME PLANNING:Checklist, Electronic Field Production (EFP)
- PRODUCTION PHASE:Floor plan, Traditional set, Representational set, Design elements
- CAMERA WORK:Movement of lens of camera, Types of shots
- LIGHT AND AUDIO:Importance of sound in TV, Use of microphone, Loudness
- DAY OF RECORDING/PRODUCTION:Rehearsals,Point to ponder
- LINEAR EDITING AND NLE:Episode, Scene, Editing, Production Switcher
- MIXING AND USES OF EFFECTS:Live Sound Effects, ARROW STRIKING
- SELECTION OF THE NEWS:Elements of news, Timeliness, proximity
- WRITING OF THE NEWS:The inverted pyramid, Lead, Credit line
- EDITING OF THE NEWS:Characteristics of good news:Process of editing a news
- COMPILATION OF NEWS BULLETIN:Hard news, Soft news, Investigative report
- PRESENTATION OF NEWS BULLETIN
- MAKING SPECIAL BULLETINS:Agriculture, Show biz, Fashion, Drama
- TECHNICAL CODES, TERMINOLOGY, AND PRODUCTION GRAMMAR
- TYPES OF TV PRODUCTION:Magazine Shows, Specific audience programming
- DRAMA AND DOCUMENTARY:Documentary film, Defining documentary
- SOURCES OF TV NEWS:Reporters, Correspondents, Monitoring, News Agency
- FUNCTIONS OF A REPORTER
- BEATS OF REPORTING:City reporter, Social reporters, Show-biz reporter
- STRUCTURE OF NEWS DEPARTMENT:Beat Reporters, Online media
- ELECTRONIC FIELD PRODUCTION:Sports, Electronic news gathering
- LIVE TRANSMISSIONS:Studio floor, Switcher, Master control room, Camera control units
- QUALITIES OF A NEWS PRODUCER:Determination, Awareness, Sharp an active
- DUTIES OF A NEWS PRODUCER
- ASSIGNMENT/NEWS EDITOR:Accuracy, Fairness and Reliability, Conflict
- SHOOTING A NEWS FILM:The Influence of telecast News
- PREPARATION OF SPECIAL REPORTS:Uncovering Truth, Reportage
- INTERVIEWS, VOX POPS AND PUBLIC OPINIONS:INTERVIEW, Information
- BACK GROUND VOICE AND VOICE OVER:Natural or Raw Sound, Sound Effects
- SPOKEN WORDS AND RELEVANT VISUALS:Digital Audio, Quantizing Error
- TALK SHOWS, FORUMS AND DISCUSSION PROGRAMMES
- FUNCTIONS OF VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS OF A TV SET UP
- PROGRAMMES DEPARTMENT:Program content, Television series by genre
- NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS THE PROGRAMMING & SCHEDULING
- COORDINATION AMONG DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS OF TELEVISION
- COORDINATION AMONG DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS OF TELEVISION - 2 SUB-DEPARTMENTS AND SMALL SECTIONS
- COORDINATION AMONG DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS OF TELEVISION 3