Broadcast Research/Newswriting/Presentation Skills

Course Description

Broadcast Research, Newswriting and Presentation Skills provides basic instruction and practice in news gathering, writing and announcing for radio and TV. Students develop a video portfolio demonstrating their live on-camera abilities.

Within the SCNS taxonomy, RTV is the Radio and Television prefix. Daytona State publishes this at 3 credits, offered spring, with ENC1101 as a prerequisite, giving approximately 60 contact hours at the prefix convention.

This course combines three things that are usually taught separately — finding the story, writing it, and delivering it — because in broadcast news one person routinely does all three. The composition prerequisite is not a formality: broadcast writing is a distinct discipline with its own rules, and unlearning essay habits is a substantial part of the work.

Daytona State does not publish a lecture and laboratory split for its RTV courses, but the convention across the prefix is consistent: every published RTV course at this institution runs at approximately 20 contact hours per credit (RTV1000 and RTV1510C at 4 credits and 80 hours; RTV2100C and RTV2600C at 3 credits and 60 hours). These are studio and laboratory courses, and the hours reflect substantial hands-on time rather than lecture.

Learning Outcomes

Required Outcomes

• Describe news values and what makes a story newsworthy.
• Generate and pitch story ideas.
• Conduct research using primary and secondary sources.
• Verify information and assess source reliability.
• Describe public records and open-meeting principles in Florida.
• Conduct an effective interview, including preparation and follow-up questions.
• Take accurate notes and record interviews with appropriate consent.
• Write in broadcast style: conversational, present tense, and active voice.
• Write for the ear rather than the eye.
• Structure a broadcast news story with an effective lead.
• Write to time and meet exact duration requirements.
• Write copy that works with pictures rather than describing them.
• Write voiceovers, packages, and readers.
• Write teases, intros, and tags.
• Apply accuracy, fairness, and balance in reporting.
• Describe defamation, privacy, and the legal limits on reporting.
• Apply professional ethical standards in news gathering.
• Mark and prepare copy for reading on air.
• Use vocal technique: breath support, pace, articulation, and emphasis.
• Read copy naturally and conversationally on camera.
• Present live on camera with appropriate presence and eye contact.
• Perform a live stand-up and an ad-libbed report.
• Accept and apply critique of on-camera performance.
• Assemble a video portfolio demonstrating on-camera ability.

Optional Outcomes

• Describe social media verification and open-source research techniques.
• Report on data and present it clearly on air.
• Perform live remote reporting.
• Describe multi-platform and digital-first newsroom workflows.
• Describe podcast and audio storytelling formats.
• Prepare a professional demo reel for job applications.

Major Topics

Required Topics

• News values
• Story generation and pitching
• Research methods
• Verification and source reliability
• Florida public records and open meetings
• Interview technique
• Note-taking and recording consent
• Broadcast writing style
• Writing for the ear
• Story structure and leads
• Writing to time
• Writing to pictures
• Voiceovers, packages, and readers
• Teases, intros, and tags
• Accuracy, fairness, and balance
• Defamation and privacy law
• Ethical standards
• Copy preparation
• Vocal technique
• Conversational delivery
• On-camera presence
• Stand-ups and ad-libbing
• Receiving critique
• Portfolio assembly

Optional Topics

• Social media verification
• Data reporting
• Live remote reporting
• Multi-platform newsroom workflows
• Podcasting and audio storytelling
• Demo reel preparation

Resources & Tools

• The programme's own studio, control room, and field kit — by far the most valuable resource here, and the reason to take these courses in person. Book open lab time and use it.
• Television Production Handbook (Zettl) — the standard text for studio and field production.
• Sight, Sound, Motion: Applied Media Aesthetics (Zettl) — why shots work, not just how to get them.
• In the Blink of an Eye (Murch) — short, and the best thing written on why an edit happens where it does.
• Grammar of the Edit and Grammar of the Shot (Bowen) — practical and genuinely useful early on.
• Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Audition, or DaVinci Resolve — Resolve has a genuinely capable free version, which matters when you are building skills outside lab hours.
• Frame.io, Vimeo, or YouTube for review, delivery, and portfolio hosting.
• NAB Show and SMPTE — where the industry's technical standards and equipment are set out.
• Florida Association of Broadcasters (fab.org) — state industry body, job board, and scholarships.
• NATAS Suncoast Chapter — regional Emmy chapter; student entries are a realistic and well-regarded credential.
• FAA Part 107 study materials (faa.gov) — free, and the certificate is directly marketable.
• Production music libraries and Creative Commons audio — learn to license properly now, because it is unfixable later.
• Associated Press Stylebook — the standard, and worth owning.
• Radio Television Digital News Association (rtdna.org) — its Code of Ethics is free and is the professional standard.
• Florida's public records law resources — the First Amendment Foundation (floridafaf.org); Florida's Sunshine Law is unusually strong and is a working reporter's tool here.
• Poynter Institute (poynter.org) — based in St. Petersburg, free training and among the best journalism resources anywhere.

Career Pathways

• Film and video editor — SOC 27-4032.
• Camera operator, television, video, and film — SOC 27-4031.
• Producer or director — SOC 27-2012.
• Broadcast technician / audio-visual technician — SOC 27-4012, 27-4011.
• Sound engineering technician — SOC 27-4014.
• Local television news — the traditional entry route, and still a real one in Florida's many mid-size markets.
• Live sports production — a large and growing Florida sector, from college athletics to professional venues.
• Corporate, marketing, and agency video — where a large share of production work actually is, and frequently the best-paid.
• Houses of worship and non-profits — substantial steady demand for competent live production.
• Government, municipal, and educational channels — stable employment with benefits.
• Theme park and attractions media — a distinctively Central Florida employer.
• Freelance and owner-operator work — common in this field; treat it as running a business.
• Transfer to a bachelor's in telecommunication, digital media, or mass communication — ⚠ confirm which of these courses apply, since technical production credit does not always transfer as major credit.
• News reporter, correspondent, or broadcast news analyst — SOC 27-3023.

Special Information

⚠ Broadcast writing is not essay writing — the rules are almost inverted

• Write the way people speak. Short sentences, one idea each, present tense where honest, and active voice throughout. The subordinate clauses that earn marks in an essay are unreadable aloud.
• Read every line out loud before you file it. If you stumble reading it, the anchor will stumble, and the viewer will not follow it. This single habit fixes most broadcast writing problems.
• Attribution goes first, not last. "Police say the driver ran a red light," never the reverse — the listener needs to know the source before the claim.
• Numbers must be simplified. "Nearly a third" beats "31.7 percent" on air, every time.
• Write to the pictures, not about them. The audience can see the fire; tell them what they cannot see.
• Avoid pronouns that could refer to two people — a viewer cannot rewind a live broadcast.
• Time is absolute. A ninety-second package is ninety seconds, and writing long is not a minor infraction.
• Spell out difficult pronunciations phonetically in the copy for whoever reads it, including yourself.

⚠⚠ Accuracy, defamation, and the limits on reporting

• Get it right before you get it first. A retraction never reaches everyone who saw the error, and a reputation for carelessness is career-limiting in a small industry.
• Verify independently. One source is a claim, not a fact, and material that arrives conveniently pre-packaged deserves more scepticism, not less.
• Defamation exposure is real for broadcasters, and truth, opinion, and privilege are defences with limits — a false statement of fact that damages a reputation is actionable even when honestly believed.
• Be especially careful with criminal accusations. "Arrested and charged" is not "guilty," and the distinction is both ethical and legal.
• Privacy is a separate exposure from defamation, and a true statement can still create liability.
• Correct errors promptly, clearly, and without weaselling.
• ⚠ This is a fast-moving legal area. Media law changes, and platform-specific rules change faster. Rule 11 applies — consult current authority and your organisation's counsel rather than a course guide.

⚠ On-camera performance is a learned skill, not a personality trait

• Almost everyone is bad at this initially, and almost everyone improves substantially. Watching your first recording is unpleasant for everybody; it is not evidence you lack talent.
• Talk to one person, not an audience. The camera lens is a single viewer, and the conversational register that follows from that is what reads as natural.
• Slow down. Nervousness accelerates delivery, and the pace that feels too slow is usually correct.
• Breath support carries the voice. Shallow breathing produces a thin, strained sound that no microphone fixes.
• Know the material well enough to lift your eyes off it. Reading visibly is what separates student work from professional work.
• Record, watch, and repeat. There is no substitute for volume of practice, and the recording is a more honest critic than any classmate.
• Take critique on performance without defending yourself. It is about the work, and the ability to hear it is exactly what employers are assessing.

⚠⚠ Florida is an all-party consent state for recording — know this before you record an interview

• Florida Statutes § 934.03 requires the consent of all parties to record an oral communication where the participants have a reasonable expectation of privacy. Many states require only one party's consent; Florida does not, and this catches visiting crews and students who learned the rule elsewhere.
• Violation is a criminal offence, and it also creates civil liability — this is not a formality.
• The practical protection is simple: get consent on camera. Roll first, then ask "do I have your permission to record this?" and keep the answer in the file.
• The expectation of privacy is what governs. A public street where a person can be plainly overheard is different from a private office, a home, or a telephone call — and the closer to private, the more clearly consent is required.
• Telephone and video-call recording needs consent from everyone on the line.
• Consent to be interviewed is not consent to be recorded unless you asked about recording specifically.
• ⚠ This is a fast-moving area and the details matter. Journalism carve-outs, one-party states, and multi-state calls all complicate it. Rule 11 applies — verify the current statute and get legal advice for anything consequential rather than relying on a course guide.

⚠ In this field the reel is the credential, not the transcript

• Hiring in production is portfolio-driven. Employers want ninety seconds of your best work and evidence you can be relied on — the degree opens the conversation, the reel gets the job.
• Treat every course project as a portfolio candidate, which means clearing the music and the releases at the time, not the week you apply for work.
• Keep it short and lead with the strongest shot. A reel is judged in the first fifteen seconds, and padding actively hurts.
• Show your actual role honestly. Misrepresenting what you did on a crew project is found out quickly in a small industry.
• Say yes to crew positions on other people's projects. Credits, contacts, and competence all come from the same place, and this industry hires overwhelmingly by referral.
• Reliability is the actual differentiator. People who arrive early, handle gear carefully, and stay pleasant at hour eleven get called back; the ones with better taste and worse habits do not.
• Local news, live sports, houses of worship, corporate video, and municipal channels all hire steadily in Florida and are where most first jobs actually are — not at the networks.

⚠⚠ Copyright, music licensing, and releases — the trap that ends student projects

• You cannot use commercial music. Not thirty seconds of it, not "for a class project," not with a credit line. This is the single most common serious error in student video work, and it is the one that gets a portfolio piece taken down permanently.
• Fair use is a legal defence, not a permission. It is decided case by case, after the fact, by a court — it is not a box you may tick in advance, and relying on it for background music is not a defensible position.
• "Royalty-free" does not mean free. It means a single up-front fee rather than per-use royalties, and the licence still has terms — read what it permits, especially for commercial or broadcast use.
• YouTube's Content ID will find it, automatically and permanently. A muted or blocked video is a portfolio piece you no longer have.
• Get a signed appearance release from every identifiable person on camera — keep a stack of blank forms in the kit bag, because you will need one at a moment you did not plan for.
• Minors require a parent or guardian signature. No exceptions, and this matters constantly in community and school-based shooting.
• Location permission is separate from people permission. Private property needs the owner's consent; many public spaces require a permit for a tripod or a crew.
• Clear the background too. Artwork, logos, posters, and playing music in a shot are all someone's property.
• Use properly licensed libraries — production music libraries, Creative Commons with attribution honoured exactly as the licence requires, or music a composer has given you written permission to use.
• Keep your paperwork with your footage. Releases and licences you cannot produce are releases you do not have. Rule 11 applies — verify current requirements before distributing anything.

How Florida course levels affect transfer

The first digit of an SCNS number denotes the year of offering, not transferability. Courses at the 1000 and 2000 levels transfer transparently between Florida public institutions, and 3000 to 4000 is unproblematic since both are upper division. The boundary that actually matters is 2000 to 3000, where lower-division credit generally cannot satisfy an upper-division requirement — relevant here because several Florida universities offer upper-division telecommunication and digital media degrees that these courses feed into.

RTV2104 is 3 credits and approximately 60 contact hours, offered spring at Daytona State, with ENC1101 as prerequisite. The video portfolio is the principal deliverable, and it is the artefact that will get you interviews.