A news bulletin is a summary of the latest stories that have happened or are happening. It should be clear, concise and well organised. It should not be too long as listeners can only keep up with so much. It should have a variety of stories; some serious and some light-hearted, some human interest, some ‘tugging at the heart strings’ and some amusing ephemera. It is important to have a balance of these elements as the audience will expect to hear something for them to relate to and care about as well as the big national stories. This will vary according to the type of station, for example a serious national broadcaster might use more heavy stories whilst a youth-oriented music radio station might have more light-hearted stories covering popular culture.
The order of the stories within the bulletin will also vary depending on the type of station. The audience will expect the most important stories to be placed in the first half of the bulletin, and the lighter stories at the end of the bulletin. It is important to rank the stories in order of importance and look at them afresh regularly, adding and dropping stories to achieve a balanced and varied bulletin.
It is good practice to have a small amount of extra copy with you in the studio for the bulletin in case something unexpected happens. Glancing at the studio clock as you read each story will help you to get a feel for how long it takes to read. Once you have practised this, you will be able to glance at a piece of copy and estimate in a second how long it will take to read. This is called timing and is an essential skill for a newsreader.