There’s a bewildering variety of jargon used in the media industry. For anyone new to this world, it’s very easy to confuse your aston with your elbow.
If you’re not careful a simple mistake or misunderstanding can cost you an amazing opportunity to profile yourself or your products to the world.
Thankfully, I’ve translated some of the most common terms so you can blend in and sound like an expert and avoid any blunders. But if you’re ever in doubt about a term, always ask.
Aston / Strap line: Name on screen and brief description. Usually your name and title or profession / or role in the news item.
Case study: A person or people who help bring a story to life. If you’re talking about a service you offer, the case study would be the client or the person you help. That human interest adds more detail and makes a story more relatable.
Colour: Another term for interest or detail in a story. Smell, textures, observations about the context all help paint a better picture of events. This is ‘colour’.
Cubicle: Where radio interviews / audio items are recorded. A small sound proof booth with a mic.
Deadline: Journalists have to submit their reports, articles, interviews by a certain time or risk missing publication or broadcast time. Make sure you’re aware of deadlines - some will be flexible, but most are not. Don’t miss one.
Down the line: Phone or studio interview where the interviewer will be in another location. You’ll usually be sitting in a booth with an earpiece with a producer’s voice who’ll ask you to look at a red dot on a screen in front. They’ll then hand over to the presenter / interviewer. This experience can feel unnerving at first - not being able to see who’s asking the questions - but try to remain relaxed and remember to blink. Don’t stare.
Exclusive: A story which is available first and only from a single outlet. News outlets put a premium on having a story exclusively, it forces rivals and new audiences to come to them for the latest on an event or item. Sometimes exclusives can be shared between broadcast and print, so a major interview could be printed and broadcast on the same day.
Feature / Features: These articles are often longer form and more conversational than straight news articles. Features can be double page spreads reaching thousands of words humanising and elaborating on a topic or issue, whereas news articles tend to stick to the who, what, where, why, when of an event. In print media (magazines and newspapers), features frequently they’ll be accompanied by more photographs.
Gallery: The is the control centre where producers and directors will sit to control the running order, images and audio relayed on television during a programme. Often the voice you’ll hear in your ear during an interview will come from someone in the gallery.
Human interest: The best stories centre on a personal story, the human interest. Always look for this when you’re working out what story you want to tell or are pitching a story to a journalist. The human interest is the relatable element of the story - telling it from a person’s point of view.
In studio / on sofa: Many broadcasters prefer guests and contributors in the studio or on the sofa rather than sending a film crew to your location. If you’re asked to come to the studio make sure you get all the details. Sounds obvious, but some broadcasters have multiple studios in one location.
Live / Pre-Record: Live interviews will go out in real-time. You won’t get a change to redo anything if you make an embarrassing blooper. Pre-recorded, shortened to pre-rec, will be taped edited and usually put into a package which will be broadcast at a later time. Check which sort of interview you’re doing ahead of time! Even the most professional interviewees have been confused and thought they could redo an answer when it was, in fact, live. These terms apply for all broadcast, TV and radio.
News Agency: A news gathering organisation which sells stories, pictures and features to newspapers, broadcasters and other outlets. They will often pick up stories from local papers and sell them on to national titles.
NIB (news in brief): Short news items - often only a few dozen words long - which fill the gaps around main stories on newspaper pages.
Off the record / on background: This means you do not want anything you tell a journalist to be attributed to you. Information you divulge can be used to help a journalist build or stand up a story, but shouldn’t contain detail which identify you. On and off the record are terms which can sometimes be interpreted differently so make sure you clarify exactly what the rules are before speaking.
On the record: On the record means anything said can be quoted and attributed to you. Your name, title and other information identifying and relevant information is likely to be used next to your words. Whenever speaking to a journalist make sure you understand if it’s on or off the record.
On location: The site of a story, so not in the studio. Where something happened.
Out of vision: When on camera, the interviewer will be positioned out of shot.
Package: A news item made up of different elements such as on location report, interview, graphics which will be broadcast later.
Running Order: Where a story or package will feature in a programme, usually based on significance of the item. Top stories run first, more light hearted or human interest items are saved for later on.
Rushes: Unedited videos which need to be reviewed and cut down before being put into a package.
Scoop: Being the first to report a news story. Beating other news outlets to a news event.
Slug: A key worth summarising the new story which enables it to be searched in a database. It’s a simple way of categorising a range of stories, tying all those on a single issue or topic under a keyword.
Stand up a story: Information which corroborates a tip or story. Usually, this will be a second or third source or an official comment.
Still: A photo or image which accompanies a story. This can be a profile photograph or image of products etc. The still will be cut into a broadcast piece.
Stock footage: A generic image or video to illustrate a news item. This is often mocked up by a picture agency and sold. You frequently see these in online stories where reporters don’t have the resources to go out and get images for every story.
Tip: A tip or tip off is a piece of information which gives a journalist the basis of a story. News outlets will often offer money for tips - usually about celebrities.
TX: Short for transmission, the date and time at which an item will go to air / be broadcast. You’ll hear people say “it will TX on Monday”.
VO / Voiceover: Words recorded separately and laid over images. Voiceovers are often used to explain content or bridge between different images.
Vox Pop: Short soundbites from members of the public about a hot topic or current issue. Comes from the latin vox populi - voice of the people or the beliefs and opinions of the majority.
Wires: These are story feeds from news agencies. Most new organisations will have a subscription to “wires”. Some well known providers are Press Association, Reuters, Bloomberg, AFP. They are often the first to break big news. A “snap” or one to two line news line will be pushed to the top of wires when major events happen.
If anyone has any suggestions I’ll add more to this list!
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