A news bulletin is a short piece of recorded audio used in radio to deliver information about current events. It is usually broadcast on a regular basis and consists of a series of headlines, followed by briefs and finally a tail-ender.
A good bulletin requires careful planning. It’s necessary to know what your audience will be interested in. It’s also important to remember that a good bulletin should be well-paced, not too long and with variations in pace to keep listeners engaged.
The headlines must be clear and interesting, preferably written in such a way that they will stand out on their own without the need for background text. Then, deciding what stories to include in the bulletin is crucial – a three minute bulletin may only have space for about six stories so there’s a real need to make tough decisions about what goes in and where. It’s a good idea to start with the most important story and then work down, but each story has to be given equal importance – it has to have a reason for being included.
Short segments of actuality, such as interviews or speeches, are known as grabs and they add variety to the bulletin. They should be short (between 20 and 40 seconds) clear and well-edited – a dull minute-long grabber will force the listener to switch off. Any grabs in a language other than English should be overdubbed with the voice of a translator to make them easier to understand.