Broadcast News Writing, Reporting, and Producing, 4th Edition

14  Putting the Television Story Together

When reporters leave the newsroom on assignments, they never know how their stories will turn out. The producers and assignment editors may be looking for a package—a story that includes one or more sound bites, the reporter’s narration, and video. Sometimes they must settle for less, however, because the story itself turns out to be less important than they originally thought or because the interviews are not strong or the video is weak. When that happens, the story often becomes a voiceover-sound on tape (VO/SOT), or is relegated to the simplest type of picture story, a voiceover (V/O).

There also are times when the assignment editor knows in advance that a story is not worthy of a package. A cameraperson ...