Listen Up and Read On!

By Mariam Traore, October 8^th, 2019

As society progresses, the use of various technological devices has become more popular, as well as an increase in access to news. With printed news being the “go-to” for morning commutes to work while sitting in public transportation, the radio is the “go-to” for another audience who had access to cars or listened to the radio at their job or home. The ability to read and comprehend a printed news source requires time and no distraction because there are many details included in printed news.

On the other hand, the news on the radio can be listened to in various settings and does not require the amount of attention needed to read a newspaper for example. Therefore, the job of the journalist/reporter is to be thoughtful in the way they communicate the information. The reporters on the radio will need to have concise and straightforward details that can capture the listener’s attention, as well as provide them with enough information. A printed news reporter has the flexibility to add as much detail as they want and even use the inverted pyramid if they want to have a similar effect on the reader.

One way, in which the radio and printed news differ, is the radio’s ability to use sound, which provides “texture and context” along with “the actual experience” (Dear and Scott 2015, 109). Since the radio uses skills of listening over reading, what the listener hears needs to be information that is, “conveyed quickly and simply” (New York Film Academy 2014). For example, the National Public Radio’s episode, “Phoenix Tries to Reverse its ‘Silent Storm’ of Heat Deaths” has a lead, throwaway lines, and sound bites that distinguish it from a printed article. The lead for this episode was, “Over the past week, heat waves have broken records around the world and in some places, they have been deadly. In fact, heat kills more people than all other extreme weather events”.

We have the majority of the 5Ws answered in this lead, specifically the who, what, when, and where. The why and how is later stated by the reporter. The lead, in this case, is a summary lead, specifically direct because all though it’s not stating Breaking News, the fact that people are dying is a big breaking news statement. This episode uses sound bites from a primary source, a young male who had a near-death experience from the heat. As him, his grandfather and mother told the story, we hear the recording of their voices stating what had occurred and how concerned it had them. Either before or after the sound bites were played, the listener is told who is/has just spoken. I wouldn’t say there are throwaway lines in this radio episode or at least noticeable because the majority of the information stated is said with importance.

A radio’s print news tries to use the feature from a radio episode to help tell a story, but it does not have the same effect. The State Impact Pennsylvania section of the NPR news incorporates quotes in the body of the article and assumes you remember who was saying it from previous body paragraphs. Which if it was to occur on an actual radio episode, the listener can forget what had been said and can’t go back (in terms of live radio not on modern devices); a negative aspect of this article. The lead in this article is mainly the title of it, “An Erie biology professor felt like he couldn’t control what’s happening in Washington. Then he led a campaign against a polluting coke plant in his community” (Ed Mahon 2019).  This lead is also a summary lead but a delayed lead specifically because there isn’t much urgency in the content of the story. The quotes embedded in the transcript could be interpreted as sound bites but since this is not audio, it’s just quoted. There aren’t Throwaway lines in this article because we can’t use the tone of the author to tell what he emphasis. However, there are quotes that are bolded and put in a larger scale, which can be interpreted as putting an emphasis on certain details, but it’s not the same as a tone in the voice.

The story on Phoenix has more of an inverted pyramid structure than the Erie Coke story. The Phoenix story introduces the facts and then the anecdote that relates to the main information. For the Erie Coke story, the story starts with not so important information such as the physical actions of the person who the story is focused on. The inverted pyramid structure affects both forms of news reports. We now have advanced technology, where you can both read printed news articles and listen to the radio from your mobile devices or other forms of technology that give you the flexibility to not sit in one place. Depending on what environment you are in, a printed news article may be best or listening to the news on the radio can be better.

Sources

Mahon, Ed. 2019. An Erie biology professor felt like he couldn’t control what’s happening in Washington. Then he led a campaign against a polluting coke plant in his community. State Impact Pennsylvania. Online Accessed October 7th, 2019.

National Public Radio. 2018. Phoenix Tries to Reverse its ‘Silent Storm’ of Heat Deaths. Online Accessed October 7th, 2019.

New York Film Academy. 2014. Print vs Broadcast Journalism: Understanding The Differences. Online Accessed October 7th, 2019.

Scott, F., Dear, J. 2015. The Responsible Journalist: an introduction to news reporting and writing. Oxford University Press.