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Gone in 60 seconds

So, you've got your stories, chosen the order and collected your audio - how do you put it all together?

Don't think your news bulletins have to be a particular length - and definitely don't stretch them to fit a predetermined time. The worst thing you can have is a bulletin which the last minute or so is filled up with vacuous stories just to fill the time. If it's a busy news day then stretch your bulletin to two minutes - otherwise 60" or 90" should be sufficient. Remember the bulletin is an "update" rather than there to give the complete story.

Work with your station programming team to get the news to sound integrated into the station. Get it wrong, and it can sound like news is something that has been imposed onto your station - get it right and it sounds entirely natural. Wherever possible get the presenter to name-check the newsreader at the top of the bulletin and if they are doing the bullie live then some interaction at the end of the read can sound really good.

Writing the bulletin

How you write a news bulletin is very important and the style should be decided by the station management. Because most of us have grown up with them, we assume bulletins should sound like BBC Radio Four, but you don't have to.

- Kipling's Six Honest Serving Men: WHAT happened, WHERE, involving WHO, WHEN and HOW did it happen and WHY? But you don't always have to use all six.

- Keep your stories short - you should be able to tell the story in 15-20 seconds. KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid!

- Use words that you'd use in real life; don't say "University" when you can say "Uni". Use contractions wherever you'd use them in real life.

- Are you answering the question the listener wants answered? (Cash machine issuing £20 notes instead of £10 notes. Listeners will want to know whether it is still happening and whether the people who took the free cash out will have to pay it back?)

- Use language that can be understood easily and can be visualised - "four football pitches" instead of "4 hectares".

- Keep your sentences short and make sure they still make sense when you read them out loud. Sentences should only deal with one element, and these should be sequential. Avoid subclauses.

- Don't all need to be straight reports. (eg you can start with a question or a statement. Radio 1 Newsbeat do this all the time. Not usually for leads (as they tend to be reports) but follow-up stories can sound more interesting with a different approach).

- Make sure it is clear when one story ends and another begins - use link phrases such as "meanwhile" and "also happening in AcmeTown"

- Use lots of placenames and specific references to reinforce the locality.

- Remain impartial but not aloof. Depending on your style you can say "We're being reminded not to walk alone at night following another attack" but not "Remember not to talk alone at night"

Voicing the News

Put emphasis in your voice is really important. Stories can be lost within seconds if the reader sounds uninterested. Keep your style pacy - think Newsbeat and FiveLive rather than Radio 4 or local radio. But don't rush - make sure all your words are individually pronounced and don't merge into each other.

I always suggest people stand up to read bulletins because they it's a lot easier to speak stood up (you crush your lungs sat down).