9 Reporting for broadcast

Veteran British Labour politician Tony Benn once said, ‘Broadcasting is really too important to be left to the broadcasters’. Broadcast journalists have a responsibility and a trust: they must be aware of the legal responsibilities that affect their practice; the wider ethical issues that have a bearing on decisions about what to broadcast and how topics should be treated. The language of broadcast journalists must sound responsible and professional and serve the best interests of listener and viewer. The language they use must be objective and neutral. Broadcast journalists use the language of speech – of conversation. Naturalness has to be relearnt both in writing for speech and in speech itself. The language they ...

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