A news bulletin is a short radio or television programme covering current events. A well-structured bulletin gives the audience an accurate overview of what has happened and what is happening now. The key is to understand your listeners and what matters to them. This will determine the order of stories and the amount of actuality (recorded sound such as interviews or speeches) used. In addition, you need to know how long a story should last. In this way you can avoid the frustration of a story being cut short as the bulletin ends and also make sure that all your important stories get treated properly.

There is never enough time on radio or television for all the stories a journalist would like to use, so you need to be selective about which ones you include. This will depend on the importance of a particular story to your listeners and whether it can be told briefly or needs a detailed explanation. You also need to be clear about how much time you want to devote to each story, how many grabs you are going to use and whether you will use a closing theme.

The style of a news story is also important. A radio audience cannot rewind so they need to be able to hear the information clearly. This requires a slow and steady pace. The newsreader should not rush, practice difficult pronunciations and mark pauses in the script to maintain the right pace.