Venezia Broadcast News Analysis

CNN recently did a story about how Nevada is “dumping” their mental patients into San Francisco so that they will not have to deal with them. Click here for the link. Overall, I believe that this is a solid example of writing for broadcast journalism.

The popular saying goes, broadcast journalism is written for “the ear, not the eye”. Kyung Lah, the reporter breaking the story, speaks in a very conversational tone, and invites the viewer to engage in the story. The feature piece is much more “friendly” than print journalism, as the latter is usually more fact-oriented. In addition, the CNN video takes a while to get to the main point of the story, while in print it would come at the beginning.

The language is extremely dumbed down, almost as if it is being told like a school report. The sentences are short, to the point, and easy to say out loud. Lah makes the story seem very important; despite it’s lack of physical relevancy (CNN is an internationally broadcast news channel), the human-interest aspect of the story, as well as the clever writing, makes it very relevant. There are also lots of visuals that aid the story, and that only adds in clarifying the writing.

The Nevada “dumping” story was a cleverly written CNN news story, and remains an excellent example of broadcast journalism. The writing is much more conversational than print, and is told as if the viewer is speaking to a close friend. While writing may be obviously more noticeable in print journalism, writing “for the ear” remains an important craft in it’s own right.