Use paragraphs liberally, and indent paragraphs at least five spaces.

Do not abbreviate the names of states, street addresses, and titles
(except for the courtesy titles Mr. Mrs. and Dr., which may be used sparingly.

Avoid using the initials of organizations unless they are well-known by their initials.
Examples of acceptable abbreviations are F-B-I, Y-M-C-A, G-O-P and F-C-C, which
may be used in a first time reference. When you use initials for these or other
organizations, forget the period after each letter and use a hyphen to separate each
letter. This tells anyone reading your copy to pronounce each letter separately.
However, some organizations that are well-known by their initials are pronounced as
a word, so hypens nor periods should be used to separate the letters. Some examples
are NATO, SEATO, UNICEF, HUD.

Use contractions freely to make your writing more conversational. But be careful that the
contractions you use don't cause confusion and perhaps mispronunciation, such as a
news reader saying "ill" instead of "I'll."

NEVER start a story with an unfamiliar name because the listener may miss it. Set the
name up first (delayed identification), then provide it in a subsequent sentence. You may
begin your story with the name that most people are familiar with, such as President Clinton,
Governor Bush, Senator Gramm, etc.

If a person is well-known, the first name may be omitted, such as President Clinton, Governor
Bush, etc. Omit the middle name or initial of a person in the news unless the person is normally
known by the full name, such as George Bernard Shaw, Martin Luther King, etc.; or in a case
where the middle initial is needed to complete the identification of person, as in cases of very
common names, such as John ( ) Smith, James ( ) Jones, etc.

Normally use a person's title before his or her name. However, if the title is long, such as the
Director of Parks, Streets and Highways, then you produce a "freight-train" effect when the
person's name is also hooked onto it. In a case like this, use the person's name first and then
the title with dashes or commas to offset the title. Titles are usually not repeated after the first
reference.

In the case of a married woman, use Mrs. only if the story mentions both husband and wife. In
such case, the courtesy titles (Mr. and Mrs.) are needed for the listener to be able to distinguish
which person is being referred to.

For a man, Mr. is NOT USED in news copy except on rare occasions. Examples: to distinguish
between husbands and wives as described above; in obituaries; or in the titles of some clergy.

The words "Junior" and "Senior" after a man's name are not abbreviated and are not set off by
commas from the man's name.

Be sparing in the use of pronouns in referring to previously mentioned persons or groups. Make
sure the listener will not be confused to whom the pronouns refer.

Punctuation in broadcast news is for the news reader, not the audience. Therefore, FOUR
PRINCIPAL PUNCTUATION MARKS are used in broadcast news: the period, comma, hyphen
and dash (the dash is two or three hyphens ---). Forget the colon and semi-colon. They are rarely
used. Use the hyphen between letters of a word when you want it spelled out on-air. Use the
hyphen in telephone numbers and auto tag numbers to indicate they are to be read slowly and
distinctly. The dash is used to call for a longer pause than the comma (and the ellipse, three
periods..., can sometimes be used in place of the dash of this purpose.)

Hyphenate words such as semi-annual, anti-pollution, co-defendant, non-fiction, non-proliferation,
for the ease of the news reader, despite what the dictionary may say.

Avoid using the words, "quote" and "unquote" to indicate you are quoting material until you can
prove to yourself that there is no other way you can let the listener know that this is a direct quote
of as newsmaker. (Yes, you will hear on radio and at times on T-V newscasts, these words:
"quote" and "unquote", but, even if they are used as such, they provide an abrupt break in the
story. Learn how to get the point across WITHOUT using them.) Rephrase direct quotes into
indirect quotes or paraphrases: "The President says he will veto the bill unless it has been changed
from its present form."; break long quotations into indirect and direct quotes. Use phrases like
"As he/she put it," or "He/She continued," or "In his/her exact words," or "To use his/her words," etc.
Normally you can end the quote without calling attention to it, except for an inflection or brief pause.

Regarding numbers, WRITE OUT the numbers one through eleven. USE FIGURES for the numbers
12 through 999. BEYOND 999, use whichever of the above rules apples to the first part of the
number, and WRITE OUT the words thousand, million, billion, etc. EXAMPLES: one-thousand,
12-million, 750-thousand, etc. (One exception is permitted: We sometimes handle hundreds in
like manner, such as 12-hundred dollars or 25-hundred dollars, but not in the lower figures. Not
one-hundred dollars, but 100 dollars, not six-hundred dollars, but 600 dollars.)

NEVER start a story with a number. However, you may begin a subsequent sentence with a
number as long as you write it out. In such cases, even the numbers 12-999 would be written out.
So, an exception to the 12-999 rule is followed when the number is used to begin a sentence.

AVOID using long lists of numbers. Round off large and detailed numbers where the story content
will allow such. Simplify large numbers by such generalizations as "about," "nearly," "almost,"
"approximately," and "more than," etc.

ALWAYS spell out fractions and hyphenate them (one-fourth, one-half, three-fourths or
three-quarters, etc.)

In writing time, use figures (8:30, 2:15, etc.) followed by the time of day. For example: "in the
morning," "tomorrow afternoon," or "last night," etc. The use of a-m or p-m is allowed, but, to
avoid redundacy, do not use a-m or p-m in conjunction with the more specific time references listed
above.

In writing addresses, dates and ordinals, spell out "first" through "eleventh" and use of the figures
for those 12 and above, followed by the appropriate "th," "st," "nd," and "rd." Hyphenate numbers
in addresses as you want the news reader to pronounce them (27-18 Melrose Avenue).

Forget the dollar sign ($) on your keyboard. WRITE the word "dollars" at the end of the amount.
Example: 250-thousand dollars.

Forget the percent sign (%) on your keyboard. WRITE "percent" after the amount.

DO NOT substitute "a" for "one" when it can sound like "eight" on the air, such as in "a million
dollars," which could be misunderstood as "eight million dollars." Instead, write it as "one-million
dollars."

AGES. Use the exact age if it is a part of the story. (Ages which are routinely included in
newspaper stories are frequently omitted when not needed in broadcast stories.) When included
in the broadcast story, the proper form is "21-year-old Herbert Smith," NOT "Herbert Smith, 21" or
"Herbert Smith, age 21."

You should avoid using the first person perspective (I, me, we, my, our, etc.) in your news stories.

Your lead, if possible, should be in the present tense.

You should avoid starting your stories with unfamiliar names in leads.

Avoid writing leads with long introductory phrases or clauses.

Attribution in broadcast copy should come before the statement

It is a good idea to separate individual letters with hyphens when writing an abbreviation, unless the abbreviation is a recognized acronym.

In broadcasting, reporting is delivered as readers, voicers, VO/SOTs, wraparounds and packages.

In writing lead-ins for the anchor to read preceding a voice report or wraparound, one must avoid "parroting" or the "echo chamber" effect.

In broadcast style, how would you write the initials of the following organizations?

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION

NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

GRAND OLD PARTY

Good broadcast writing has oomph. Active verbs are preferred. Two versions of partial scripts are listed below.  Select the better of the two statements by either placing a "X" beside your choices or italicize them:

Change the formal words listed below to more conversational words that are used more commonly in broadcast news copy. You may use the dictionary.

FORMAL                 CONVERSATIONAL