Writing News items
News on Diffusion is usually several short science news items. The script for each item should only take about a minute to read. If the story needs a longer amount of time, then it would sound better if it was explored as a feature.
The news is for reporting, so there's less space for opinion than a feature story, however its OK to add your own spin and comments.
Each news item should start with a headline sentence that grabs the readers attention, and should be read that way. Its no use having a clever headline, and then reading it like its a grocery list.
You can sign up to the Australian Science Communicators mailing list here to have press releases sent to your inbox. However if you see some news online or in a magazine, you can search for the press release to see what they really said, and sometimes its worth looking up the original scientific paper to see if the press release matches the paper. This can apply especially to medical stories.
If you're just using the one source of news, then you need to acknowledge them at the beginning of the report, after the headline.
