One “presentation” element that local news producers have never embraced is “packaging” news. You might want to reconsider. Whether we’re talking several national/international stories, health or fitness, tech or virals, putting them together in one quick roundup segment with music and graphics is a great way to “up” your story count as well as stylize your newscast. Here are some examples of packaged segments we used daily on Eye Opener in Chicago:

NEED TO KNOW

This was often played at the top of the show – the stuff you need to know to get your day started. I’m very into putting important health stories into the Need To Know because most of them are of interest to our primarily female audience.

NEWSTREAM

Newstream is usually a collection of national stories that can be condensed into a few lines each. Obviously, you want to choose stories that likely aren’t going to change before airtime because you don’t want to have to recut the video or audio.

 

GONE VIRAL

Gone Viral are the stories everyone will be talking about. I’ll throw a stories in here that aren’t better suited being done “live” by your host(s) to get great reactions and responses from them.

 

Quick and easy segments that look well produced, give your show some pacing and a high story count, and are easy to kill for time if you are running low.