National Talking Newspapers and Magazines

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Good Practice for Talking Newspapers

Introduction
1. Management
2. Infrastructure
3. Editorial
4. Presentation
5. Reading
6. Recording
7. Copying
8. Packing and Posting
9. Returns
10. Reactions
11. Repairs
12. Health, Safety and Electricity
13. Public Relations
14. Finance
15. Development

5. Reading

The art of reading and the complementary skill of recording, taken together form the heart of the Talking Newspaper. The combined end result of these two activities can make a newspaper a pleasure to listen to, or something to be endured or perhaps disregarded. So, if much effort is not to be unavailing, great consideration must be given to these two critical phases of TN activity.

Reading
A very high proportion of volunteers to any TN wish to participate in this aspect of the work. It is not however, wise to accept anyone who offers without a previous trial or test reading, and this should not be on an active session of recording the newspaper, (although, the trial recording could use news items from the current issue).

Quality of voice
The requirement is for someone who has a pleasant voice, a reasonable command of the English language, who does not stutter and stumble over words, nor um and ah between phrases. The persistent lip smacker, throat clearer, sniffer, or someone with a cut glass accent, does not make for good listening. Local accent adds flavour to the readings but correct pronunciation is essential.

In addition to the above, some voices have qualities which just do not lend themselves to a good clear, listenable recording, say someone with a very deep sonorous voice or a very soft one, and certainly two similar voices should be avoided on the same tape.

Selection
It is often said that it is difficult to select readers without giving offence. But, if the person concerned is told at the outset that he or she will be required to undertake a test reading and that the recording will be judged by a small sub-committee (or listening panel) the majority of whom will be drawn from the listeners, some of whom may also be hard of hearing, then there cannot be any exception taken if, say for technical reasons, or for failing to reach an adequate standard they are rejected. Perhaps it might be more tactful to ask them to lend their assistance in some other aspect of TN activity.

The use of a listening panel can be extended to monitoring of the normal output of the TN and to note if the performance of any presenter or reader falls off over a period of time. If this happens then the problem should be pointed out to the person concerned with a view to an improvement being made.

At one TN, a listener occasionally produced written reports which covered not only quality of reading and presentation but also a breakdown of the news stories in each issue. These reports were then pinned up in the studio and were excellent feedback for presenters and readers.

Four P's
Readers should remember the four P's of good speaking - Pitch, Pace, Power, and the use of the expressive Pause.

Fluency
Fluency is essential, long gaps, as distinct from the short expressive pause, should be avoided but if you have to pause a fraction, keep quiet and do not fill the gap with oohs, ahs, ums, ers etc.

Pronunciations
It is important too, especially when a reader is not of local origin, that he or she pronounces local place names, and for that matter, some surnames, correctly. Not to do so is irritating for the local listener.

To avoid this and other pronunciation errors, it is desirable that the material being read should be looked at in advance of the actual recording thus allowing for any doubtful words, pronunciations, phrases etc. to be considered and solved in advance. Also, it may help to have lists of problem local names and unusual words available to the readers giving the correct pronunciation in phonetic form. An expansion on this suggestion is to have the list spoken on to a tape.

Pitfalls
The habit of newspapers to break lines of print and split a word or an apparent end of a sentence only to continue on the next line can be a trap to the unwary reader. Long rambling sentences may be better read as two or more shorter ones. Any grammatical errors which may sound odd when read aloud should be corrected and misprinted words unravelled and deciphered in advance, not during the recording session.

Balance
There should be a minimum of two readers and care should be taken to introduce contrast. Interspersed with the presenter/reader this gives three main voices throughout the programme. Perhaps the easiest way of doing this is to alternate a male and a female reader, but if the same sexes are used, try to alternate readers with differing voices and/or reading styles.

Discipline
A newspaper is intended to relay information to a listener without the unnecessary intervention of a third party's opinion, so there should be NO PERSONAL COMMENTS. This intrudes between written word and the listener, takes up space more beneficially used for extra news items, can irritate if the listener does not agree, and can leave the TN open to being sued if a libel writ is taken out against the inkprint newspaper.

Personal involvement
Where an item alludes to the TN itself give additional information or explanation if appropriate.

Conversation between team members on tape should NOT be allowed. Giggles, laughter and chit chat between readers can become a jumble of voices or leave the listener wondering what it is all about.

Photographs
Where the article is accompanied by a photograph, this can be described briefly to add to the interest of the listener, but it should be done in a factual and descriptive manner. Drooling, lip smacking asinine comments on, say, scantily clad bodies should be avoided.

Mistakes
Always ask yourself, "will this do?" "Is it good enough?" and do not just accept substandard work by saying, "Oh well, that will do". Mistakes should not stand. If tongues are tripped over or other disasters occur, the recording session should be stopped, tape rewound and a retake carried out, unless an appropriate short ad-lib corrects matters.

Aim for as perfect a tape as possible. Remember the voice is a delicate instrument, it needs lubrication with a glass of water after a period of reading aloud, so have one to hand placed away from the microphone, on a sound absorbent surface or mat. Do not drink it noisily.

Technique
Do not turn your head away from the microphone or sway towards or away from it. When reading keep a constant distance (about 6" is a good compromise). Do not fiddle with the microphone stands, the microphones themselves nor the cables as any contact even with the edge of the script, will make a distracting noise on the recording. Clip on microphones can rustle against clothing and bump against the edge of the reading table.

Noises off
Microphones are very sensitive. Extraneous sounds such as the rustling of paper (usually when the reader is turning a page or the stand-by reader is browsing through the cuttings while waiting their turn to read) will be picked up by a live microphone even at a distance. The odd sniff, the nervous cough, the surreptitious throat clearing, can sound like a burst water main or quarry blasting when played back. Pencil tapping sounds like a secret message being sent by morse code. A sound that could be very puzzling to listeners is the 'tummy rumble' which sounds, on playback, like dreaming grumbles of a dog in a deep sleep!

Handovers
Good visual handovers between readers are essential. As the reader comes to the start of the last sentence, he/she should raise his/her hand and drop it as the item finishes. This will give the sound mixer time to partly fade up the incoming readers microphone, then do a cross mix between the two readers when the item finishes.

The new reader should take a beat pause before starting their item which will ensure that the listener does not think that it is a continuation of the previous item.

Chairs
The scuffing of a chair on the studio floor happens most often about 15 minutes before the end of a C90, when the reader's posterior is 'nodding off' and requires waking up by a repositioning. This is inclined to resemble a ton of coal being hurled down a lift shaft, to the listener who only wishes to hear dulcet tones reading the local news.

Demonstration
A good way to illustrate the points mentioned is to record a short tape of readings interspersed at intervals with genuine and not exaggerated 'noises off' and then play it back to the reading team. (If you wish to include the tummy rumble, then some one will have to go without food for a while!) When the tape is played back, listeners could close their eyes to simulate the impact of such intrusions on the ears of the visually impaired listener. In short, a regime of total silence is necessary in the studio during a recording session.

Re-takes
If an extraneous noise e.g. emergency services vehicle passing the studio, is heard through the monitoring system by the recordist, then the recording should be stopped immediately, explaining why. The tape should be rewound to a suitable place in the reading before the intrusion occurred, such as the end of the previous sentence or paragraph where the natural flow of words is halted anyway.

How we communicate
In any communication between two people who have the full use of hearing and sight, well over 50% of the 'message' is communicated NON-verbally. That is, we 'read' the dress of the other person, the gestures, the facial expression, how we are sitting or standing in relation to each other etc. About 40% is conveyed by our tone. If people do not like our tone, they will not listen to us. If we give good news to someone but use an abrupt tone, the response will be 'don't talk to me like that' first, and then maybe delight at the news that they have won the lottery. Such is the power of tone.

A measly 10% or so is made up of the actual words we say - which means they are very important, not the reverse.

Sighted or not, listeners form impressions about speakers. Radio is not without pictures, the pictures are provided by the listeners. We cannot help forming impressions about the people we are listening to. What impressions do we want to give about the TN?

Are we newsreaders?
We are not BBC newsreaders nor should we try to adopt their style. We are not reading items of news in a way that requires us to sound objective about the items. We are a collection of individuals - interesting and different ones as conversations around the table between 'takes' reveal - and that very variety will convey an impression of the TN as an organisation.

Is variety enough?
For all the variety in our voices, though, if we simply read through the bits and pieces from the newspapers, the results will be dull. It is important to comprehend and react to what we read. This is our freedom. Read a serious piece one way, read a humorous piece in a lighter way - smile even. You can hear a smile.

Once there was a newscaster who announced that 'Ringo Starr has had his toenails removed'. The text actually said 'tonsils' - but the newsreader didn't notice. Was he involved in his work?

We do not have much preparation time, but the glimpse that we do get - usually checking for difficult names - will reveal whether the item is serious or light and whether the content makes sense as written.

Avoiding a monotone
A droning monotone will almost automatically be avoided with some expression responding to whether the piece is about a disaster, or a good news piece. Certainly getting a variety in the 'tune' of your voice is important, but avoid an over-enthusiastic sing-song.

Why? One reason is because if all the readers followed this style, the listeners would feel exhausted. And if only one reader does it, he or she will be strangely out of keeping with the rest.

Another is that with a controlled 'melody' only operating through quite a narrow range, just one leap every now and again to a higher note for emphasis carries much more impact.

Comprehension and response in our voices to the news items will avoid a monotone and the impression of simply 'doing a turn'.

Pitch and pace
Varying the pitch makes our voices easier to hear. In an echoing hall, putting a tune into the voice can overcome some of the problems of hearing, for example. A monotone is harder to listen to, especially if someone is hard of hearing. Variation of pitch should be controlled for best effect.

Pace helps clarity, and we should all try to adjust to the same pace of reading in our sessions. Not too fast, certainly not too slowly. This will co-ordinate all our readings. In fact, normal speaking speed for film and television narration is 3 words a second.

Physical factors that help clarity
Warm up your voice. We have the chance when our levels are taken, but ideally we should be able to read the first piece all the way through at this stage to get our eyes and ears working together. Reading scripts is an exercise in reading ahead like none other, and this has to be 'got in to' just as much as clearing our throats.

Keep your back straight-ish at any rate. This will enable better breath control. Sitting attentively helps us to sound attentive. See photograph 1.

Hold the item up in front of you - stop your chin dropping onto your chest as you read. This helps the sound to come more from the chest than the back of the throat and nose.

Know your voice: listen back to those tapes at least periodically and listen to yourself. If you find it hard to be objective, get someone else to comment -ask them to be constructively critical - grit your teeth and accept comments with good heart. We probably all have off-nights, but there may be consistent things we need to change.

A reader with a gap between two front teeth can create a horrid whistle sometimes, so has to remember to turn s's slightly towards a 'sh' sound - but without sounding drunk! Particular problems can be overcome!

Beyond the microphone
These considerations will help create the impression beyond the microphone, i.e. with our listeners, that the TN is a group of varied people who come together to create the programme, and who are involved in what they are doing and, furthermore, enjoy it.

But what about those people beyond the microphone? It is essential, in order to get the best out of how we speak, for us to have a clear idea of who our listeners are. We can describe them - they are blind, or partially sighted, probably elderly. But just thinking about them as 'them' is risky.

In the past, some radio presenters learned their techniques by imagining one listener. In the afternoon, it was typically a housewife with a child at school and one at home. She shopped and cooked and possibly had a part-time job. The problem was, 'she' did not exist - she was a stereotype.

So do not imagine a group, do not imagine an imaginary individual. Can we meet our listeners? Let us have a clear knowledge of who they are. Let us be able to bring a real listener to mind when we are reading.

If it is difficult to arrange meetings, then why not ask them to send us photos so that we can put some of them round the walls of the studio. Then these become the real people beyond the microphone.

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