The bulletin should be made up of stories which the audience is most likely to find interesting and relevant to their daily lives. Listeners want a mix of stories, some serious and others lighter in tone, some about major political events and some about ordinary people. The actual mix of stories may depend to some extent on the format of your station; a serious national broadcaster will probably prefer a more serious, slow-paced approach while a youth-oriented music station might use a faster, lighter style.
The order of stories in a news bulletin is crucial, especially the lead story which should attract and hold listeners’ attention. It is important to give the lead story the best possible treatment, writing it well with vivid language and a strong narrative flow. The bulletin should include sound bites (recorded sounds from interviews or speeches) as appropriate, providing a sense of authenticity to the bulletin and making it more credible for the audience. But these clips have to be carefully chosen and used. It’s also worth remembering that the audience is listening for news and not music, so fillers such as jokes or light-hearted stories can detract from your credibility.
It is usually good practice to pause between stories to allow the audience to digest the information being presented. It is also helpful to know the average reading rate of your newsreader so that you can estimate how long it will take them to read a story. This will help you to ensure that the whole bulletin is evenly spaced and not too long or too short.
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