Sometimes it’s helpful to listen to one sentence, pause the recording, and repeat it a few times yourself, then listen to it again. If you find you have a strong accent, you can listen to reporters or anchors who read the national news-those reading to the entire country have to be the most linguistically neutral-and practice speaking like them. Some people already do this, but for those with a strong accent, becoming more linguistically neutral can be difficult. While there is no single correct accent for American English, most broadcasters prefer reporters speak with a General American accent (most common in the mid-west and on the west coast)-or as close to it as you can reasonably get. If you learned English as a second language, you may have an accent associated with your first language. Depending on where you grew up, others may perceive an accent. There are many different “accents” and regionalisms associated with American English. After all, if viewers wanted to hear the news in a monotone, they could just ask Siri to read the day’s headlines. This can be difficult, especially if you’re also trying to speak more slowly or enunciate more clearly, but sounding natural is an important aspect of reading the news. You don’t want to ad-lib or change the wording (which may be more formal than the way you normally speak), but you should otherwise talk conversationally. You can practice by reading a news story and pretending that you’re telling it to a friend. It’s also very easy to sound robotic when you’ve been reading for a long time and your attention has started to wander, which can easily happen to an anchor, particularly during a slow news day or a repetitive morning show. Most of us sound very different when we read something aloud than when we’re having a conversation with friends. Sounding Natural and Conversational Photo by New York Film Academy.Īnother common problem students face when learning to read the news is learning to sound as if they’re not reading - something that is much harder than it sounds! (Practice this for a while when you’re not actually on-air!) If you’re practicing by yourself, you can try reading from a computer or tablet screen and scroll through the words a little faster. Talking too slowly is less common for students learning to read the news, but if this is a problem you can ask the teleprompter operator at your campus station to intentionally go a little faster than you. Of course, people often talk faster when they’re anxious, and your first time reading a story on-air can be nerve-wracking, so sometimes the problem resolves itself after you’ve simply spent more time doing the job. If you find you’re talking too fast, it may be helpful to concentrate on enunciating clearly - sometimes this helps people slow down. Typically, news anchors read between 150 and 175 words per minute, and some stations may time new reporters or anchors to get a baseline for that individual’s usual reading speed. If you read too fast, viewers may have a hard time understanding you. If you read too slowly, viewers may get bored and impatient and consider changing the channel. Speed is one important consideration when reading the news. Does your reading sound natural? Is it hard to understand for any reason? Would your listeners want to hear you read more? Things to Work On It’s hard to be objective about your own reading, so it’s a good idea to ask others their honest opinions. You can also record yourself with various apps on your phone. If your school has a student TV station, doing some on-air work there is also helpful, as you’ll probably be able to get a recording of it afterward. The best way to start is to practice reading news stories that you’ve written for class. Practice Makes Perfect Photo by New York Film Academy. Reading news like a professional news anchor requires skill, practice, and training. Anchors and reporters have to develop a reading style that seems natural, but isn’t too fast, too slow, too nuanced, too accented, too high-pitched, too quiet, or any other extreme. Reading the news off a teleprompter may sound easy, but it’s actually more complicated than it seems.
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