In this article, we are going to share with you practical tips on how to find your voice if you are a newbie journalist.
It’s not easy but with fervent practice, you can achieve it.
Have you ever listened to the radio or watched the news and observed how reporters sound? Have you ever noticed how these guys sound energized and confident? What about their body language? Do you notice how the reporter’s face mirrors the tone of the story?
When you watch the news on TV or listening to the radio, you will notice that journalists are good communicators especially when it comes to reading the news to the public.
Do you think it’s easy to tell stories eloquently and objectively as journalists do?
Well, if you are an aspiring journalist, you must be ready to put the time and effort in developing such a skill.
Remember that to earn the trust of your listeners, you must be accurate and trustworthy.
So how do you develop these skills?
That’s exactly what John Miguel, the author of top resume reviews, shares with us in this blog post.
Let’s get started.
Close your eyes to minimize distraction and feel a reporter’s tone and voice when they are telling a story in the news.
From their tone, you can feel when they are telling an exciting, sad or important story. You can also feel whether it’s something you ought to pay attention to or not.
Pay attention to how they are conveying the news and not what they are saying.
Notice the following:
Observe the reporter’s sitting posture and where their hands are placed.
As mentioned earlier, finding your voice as a newbie journalist is not something you can develop overnight. You have to practice, try; experiment and fine-tune where necessary until your perfect it. That’s why you have to pursue a thorough journalism course from a reputable learning institution.
Now, find an interesting piece of writing and type it yourself then print. Use sans-serif style font and keep it 1.5 to 2 inches tall.
Practice reading that piece of writing your eyes are still while standing some distance away from the printed paper. You could ask someone to hold the paper in front of you as you read or place the paper on a table and read while moving your eyes slowly. Sounds crazy!
That’s how to find your voice as a newbie journalist.
You must have seen reporters holding papers in their hands while reading the news. But oftentimes, they keep their eyes on the public and not on the papers.
Practice reporting by just glancing at the papers as you convey the news.
A study by the top essay writing services suggests that practice helps to identify your weaknesses to see how you can improve.
Now, using your smartphone or camera, record yourself as you read the news then play it back to see where you are going wrong.
Watch a reporter in the news or listen to radio news then make a comparison of your tone and voice versus that of a reporter.
Now take a piece of a story and read from the first word to the last one silently. This will help you notice where you are stumbling while reading so you can improve. Note that stumbling may steal your confidence while reading the news. You must make sure you can read as fast as you can without stumbling over words.
If you aren’t confident while reading the news, you won’t be able to read it out loud.
You can read a story from a newspaper or use an interesting news piece on the internet.
Once you have developed confidence while reading a report silently…
Reporters are always confident and energized when reading the news whether on the radio or the TV. But as a newbie, you can be that confident.
Find a confidential place where you can read out the news loud several times until you develop a smooth and natural sound.
You can read in the loudest voice and strong tone as possible as long as you’re alone.
Check yourself in a mirror as you read the news loud. This way, you will tell whether your body language and face mirrors the tone of the story.
You will also learn how to read the news by just glancing at a piece of paper instead of reading directly from it. You must have seen how reporters glance at a paper while looking straight to the listeners.
You could ask your friends or family members to listen to you as you read the news later and tell you where you need to improve.
Usually, when reading a somber story, you need a quiet voice. A story may include a combination of sad and exciting moments. As you read, try to adjust your tone voice to mirror the tone of the story.
Convey confidence with your sitting posture. Remember, as a professional reporter, you will be required to project confidence in your body language as you will sit for longer hours. You must build this confidence by practicing fervently.
“As a reporter, your body language should mirror the tone of the story”, advises Lucas Grahams, a professional news reporter who also offers essay help.
This includes your eyes, hands, and your sitting posture.
Hand gestures help to reinforce the meaning of the story you are reading. Don’t just throw your hands anyhow. Make sure your hand movement adds meaning to every word you read in a story. For instance, you can’t put your hands on a raising posture when you are reading a story that shows a dwindling economy.
Ideally, some hand gestures aren’t to be used at all. So, you need to know what hand gesture to use and what not to else you will look like a robot.
It’s worth noting that as a journalist, you will use hand gestures from time to time so if you aren’t used to it, you need to start practicing slowly with one hand and add the other one as you get used to it.
Your eyes need to be in contact with the camera as always when reading the news. This is especially important for TV news broadcasters.
Normally, you will be reading off of a card or teleprompter, but you need to make eye contact with the camera to connect with the audience as you tell them the news.
When co-reporting, you will always look at your colleague from time to time, especially if it’s a discussion. But as a rule, always maintain eye contact with the camera.
You will read sad, interesting, and entertaining news but in all that, you should always be a human being. For that reason, you need to use natural facial expressions. This will help you seem more relatable while telling the news to your audience or listeners.
You don’t have to laugh uncontrollably to look human but you need to show a warm and friendly smile once in a while or use a serious or moaning expression while reading news about an accident or death.
You need to develop your vocabulary as much as you can. This way you will speak each word correctly so you don’t end up sounding unprofessional.
This will help to convey a clear sound of yourself as you read the news.
When speaking with friends or family members, you will realize that you speak fast but with news reporting, you need to slow down your pace so that you can spell each word carefully.
Don’t speak too slowly though as this will make your audience lose interest in you.
Try to listen to news reporters and try to imitate the pace.
Usually, most news reporters pace around 150 words per minute.
When anxious, you may find yourself reading too fast. Breathe in and out deeply or meditate.
It is normal to have a strong accent as a reporter but you need to use a neutral accent as much as you can for news reporting.
You could try listening to a reporter then pay attention to their accent and tone. This will help you know how to improve your accent.
As a rule, always read from the script. It is normally formal and perhaps you are used to jargon and vulgar language but your audience expects to hear what is written in the script.
We hope our tips will help you find your voice as you start your journalism journey.
Author bio: Michael Gorman is a professional journalist and essay writer who works with the best essay writing service UK Company. If you are looking to buy essay, then Gorman is the guy to reach out to. Being interested in journalism and news reporting, Gorman writes various blog posts, especially on essay writing service UK firms.