Broadcast Terms

Anchor – Someone who reads the news on set.

Assignment Editor – Someone who assigns stories to reporters and camera crews.

Attribution – The source of a news story.

Audio – Sound used in a radio or TV newscast.

Beat – An assignment given to a reporter on a continuing basis.

Bridge – Words that connect one piece of narration or sound bite to another

B-roll – A film term still often used to describe the use of video to cover an interview or narration.

Chroma-Key – The electronic placement of pictures behind the newscaster.

Cover Footage – Video shot at the scene of a news story; used to replace the newsmaker and/or reporter while their voices are heard.

CU – Close-up camera shot.

Cutaway – A video shot used to avoid a jump cut.

Delayed Lead – Keeping the most important information in a story until the middle or end to create suspense.

Dissolve – Special video effect that slowly replaces one image on the screen with another.

Establishing Shot – A wide shot of a scene, usually used at the beginning of a news story.

Fade – A dissolve from a picture to black.

Freedom of Information Act – Passed by Congress to permit anyone who wishes to have access to all but the most sensitive government documents.

Graphics – Graphs, photos, maps, and other visuals used in a TV news story or newscast.

Hard Lead – A lead that places the most important information in the first sentence.

Headlines – A series of one-line sentences describing news events. Used at the top of a newscast.

Investigative Reporting – Developing news reports in depth, usually about something that someone is trying to hide.

Jump cut – An erratic movement of a head that occurs when video is edited to eliminate some of the speaker’s words.

Kicker – A light story used at the end of a newscast.

Lead – The first line of a story.

Leading Question – Asking a question during an interview that tries to elicit information that the reporter wants to hear.

Lineup – The arrangement of stories in a newscast. Also called the rundown.

Live – Reporting from the scene of a story as it is happening.

Local Angle – Details of a news story that are a special interest to the audience in your community.

Long Shot (LS) – Wide view of the scene. See establishing shot.

Medium Shot (MS) – Between a close-up and long shot.

News Director – The person in charge of the news operation at a radio or TV station.

O/C – Abbreviation for on camera.

Out cue – Last words in a sound bite.

Package – A story put together by a reporter that includes interviews, narration, and cover footage.

Producer – The newsperson who decides which material will go into a newscast and in which order. Also, in larger markets, someone who helps reporters put together packages.

Prompter – Electronic device that projects news scripts on monitors so they can be read by anchors. Also known as teleprompters.

Running Story – A news story in which there are new developments, usually for more than one day.

Shotgun Lead – A news story lead that includes information aboit more than one related story.

Slug – Word or two written in the upper left corner of script to identify the story.

Soft Lead – A lead in which the most important fact is not given immediately.

SOT – Abbreviation for sound-on-tape; used on the video side of the split page to indicate the tape has sound.

Sound bite – Portion of statement or interview that is in news broadcast or package.

Sound under – Keeping the natural sound low when used under the voice of a reporter or newscaster.

Source – Someone who provides information used in a news script.

Split Page – The standard TV news script. The left side of the page is used for video directions, and the right side is for the script and audio cues.

Staging – Unethical practice in which a reporter asks people to behave in a certain way – one that is not natural – when they are on camera.

Stand-up – A report on camera at the scene.

Super – Short for superimposing lettering, graphics, or videotape. Used mostly for the names, addresses, and titles of people being identified in a news package or newscast.

Suspense Lead – A lead that keeps the most important part of the story until the very end.

Talking Head – Colloquial for person being interviewed on camera.

Tease – A short headline that describes a story to follow a commercial.

Two-Shot – Camera shot of two people.

V/O – Abbreviation for voice-over. Used on the left hand side of the split page to indicate that the anchor is speaking over video. Also to indicate a reporter doing narration over cover footage.

Wrap – To complete work on a story.

WS – Wide camera shot.

All references and definitions are from Ted White’s textbook Broadcast News – Writing, Reporting, and Producing 4th Edition