A news bulletin is the most important part of a radio programme. It has to be clear, concise and factual. Writing a bulletin is one of the most challenging journalistic skills. It involves all the normal rules of journalism – being clear, brief and accurate, but also involves the art of prioritising and selecting stories. Getting the order right is vital.
There are many practical techniques that will help with preparing news bulletins. For example, adding up the times of each story will tell you how long your bulletin should be. This will enable you to time it accurately and to provide a good balance of stories, with variations in pace where appropriate.
During a bulletin it is usual to give the most important story first and the least important last. This helps to maintain audience interest throughout the bulletin. A long complicated story may slow the overall pace and cause listeners to lose interest. A dramatic story should be headlined in such a way that it teases the listeners so they want to hear the whole story.
You should always take more copy into the studio than you actually need, in case you misjudged your timings or a piece of audio does not play. This extra copy can be a grab, or an actuality taken from a speech or interview. It is often useful to have a light story or two to run at the end of the bulletin, particularly on weekend bulletins when you might not have as much material.