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Additional information for Broadcast Engineering articles

Jul 12, 2006 8:00 AM

           

Editorial direction
Broadcast Engineering is a technical journal directed toward the technical information needs and interests of field engineers and technical and corporate management at television and related facilities.

A station engineer, operator or manager has a limited amount of available time. To interest this reader in our publication, Broadcast Engineering must deliver material that is on-target, interesting and usable in the reader’s everyday work.

General style

• BE uses a tutorial style. Meaning tight copy without unnecessary verbiage. Do not write a narrative manuscript.
• Do not use a “reporting” style of article construction. The magazine rarely runs quotes from individuals.
• Do not give your personal opinions unless they are backed by hard and convincing documentation. If you do express a personal opinion, clearly identify it as such in the manuscript.
• Write about topics that provide useful information to the user or discuss an important developing technology. The editorial director looks for articles that readers can use in their daily work. Articles should discuss how equipment works, how it can be used and how to repair it when a failure occurs.
• As a general rule, include one photo, illustration or chart for every page of manuscript you submit. Product photographs or illustrations must have a specific need to be included. If the equipment has a unique feature that can be seen in a product shot better than it can be described in the copy, it will be used.
• Do not list the names of individual persons involved in a project at a facility unless they add something to the story.
• Use the active voice rather than the passive voice in article construction. For example, write “Check all transformers for overheating” rather than “All transformers should be checked for overheating.”
• Use the first paragraph of the story to draw the reader into the article. Avoid beginning the article with dry statistics or broad generalizations. Instead, pick something unique about the material to be presented that will pique the reader’s interest. Tell the reader something that he or she can identify with.
• Develop a short and interesting headline for the article. Avoid long, dry headlines. Search for a headline that will make the reader want to learn more.
• Stick to the point.
•  Select a topic that is broad enough in scope to interest the greatest number of readers. Yet, keep it narrow enough to make the subject matter manageable within the space provided.

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