Broadcast News Production Fundamentals
What You Get
Newsrooms move fast. Stories break, priorities shift, and you need to deliver polished content on tight deadlines. This program walks you through the entire production pipeline—how stories get selected, researched, shot, edited, and broadcast.
You'll learn the roles within a production team: producers, reporters, camera operators, editors, and how they coordinate during breaking news. We cover editorial meetings, story pitching, scripting for different formats (packages, live shots, voice-overs), and the technical setup for studio and field production.
What you'll actually work on
Expect hands-on exercises with real equipment. You'll operate broadcast cameras, set up lighting for interviews, record clean audio in noisy environments, and edit packages in industry-standard software like Avid Media Composer or Adobe Premiere. We also cover live production workflows—how control rooms function, how directors call shots, and how technical directors switch between cameras.
The program includes a section on editorial judgment: what makes a story newsworthy, how to verify sources, and how to avoid common legal pitfalls. You'll analyze real broadcast segments to understand pacing, shot selection, and how graphics support storytelling.
News production isn't just about gear—it's about making quick decisions under pressure while maintaining accuracy.
By the end, you'll have produced several news packages and participated in a simulated live newscast. This gives you a portfolio piece and experience working under real-world time constraints.
Workshop Structure
Program structure
- Weeks 1-2: Newsroom operations
- Editorial process, story selection, assignment desk workflow, daily planning meetings, understanding news values and audience targeting
- Weeks 3-4: Field production techniques
- Camera operation for news, interview setups, B-roll gathering, audio recording in challenging environments, working with reporters on location
- Weeks 5-6: Editing and post-production
- Non-linear editing workflows, scripting to video, sound mixing, color correction basics, creating graphics and lower thirds, package assembly
- Weeks 7-8: Studio production
- Control room operations, camera switching, teleprompter use, lighting for studio environments, managing live segments, working with anchors
- Weeks 9-10: Live production and breaking news
- Live shot coordination, satellite and fiber transmission, managing breaking news situations, producing under tight deadlines, editorial decision-making
Workshop Price
Includes access to editing suites and broadcast equipment. Materials fee of $150 covers media storage and archive access.
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