Building a Broadcast Reading Plan for the Darker Months Ahead

Why autumn suits a reading plan

The clocks are about to go back, the evenings are closing in, and most of our students tell me the same thing at this point in the year: outdoor shooting gets harder to fit around work and daylight. That makes mid autumn a sensible time to lean on the study library. The books and guides we keep are chosen for students working through our programmes at their own pace, and the coming months give you a natural stretch of indoor hours to use them well.

I am Tom Ashworth, and I look after the library as well as timetables and enquiries. I see which titles come back dog-eared and which sit untouched. The pattern is clear: students who settle on a small, steady routine in October reach the new year with far more confidence than those who try to read everything in a fortnight in January.

This note is about planning that routine, not about any single book. Think of it as a way of deciding what to read, in what order, and how to connect it to the sessions you already attend.

Start from the course you are on

Our reading lists are grouped around the programmes we teach: field camera technique, on-camera reporting, live coverage planning, and broadcast writing and editing. The simplest rule is to begin with the list that matches the course you are currently taking, because you can test what you read within days in the classroom or on a shoot.

If you are a camera operator, your first weeks might go to guides on framing, exposure and audio capture. If you are a reporter, begin with material on scripting to picture and delivery. Resist the urge to start with the most advanced title because it looks impressive on the shelf. Foundations read first make the harder books easier to follow.

Where you are unsure, ask me. Part of my work is helping students choose the right course, and the same conversation usually settles which reading list to open first.

• Match your first list to your current course
• Read foundations before advanced titles
• Ask the coordinator if two lists seem equally useful

Pacing yourself through the coming months

A realistic pace beats an ambitious one. Most students manage a few chapters a week alongside work and sessions, and that is enough. Set a fixed slot, perhaps two evenings and one weekend morning, and protect it the way you would protect a shoot call time.

Short reading sessions of thirty to forty minutes tend to stick better than long ones, especially with technical material. Stop while a chapter is still interesting; you will return to it more willingly. Keep a single notebook for the whole term rather than loose pages, so that notes on audio, scripting and live planning sit side by side and you can see how they connect.

Do not worry about finishing every title on a list. The lists are deliberately broader than any one student needs. Treat them as a menu, and choose what serves the work in front of you.

• Two or three fixed reading slots each week
• Thirty to forty minutes at a time
• One notebook for the whole term

Turn reading into something you can practise

Broadcast skills live in the hands and the voice, so every reading session should end with one small task. After a chapter on handheld stability, spend ten minutes holding a camera or a weighted bag at shoulder height and noting where you tire. After a section on scripting, rewrite one paragraph of old copy to fit twenty seconds of picture.

This habit is what separates reading that changes your work from reading that merely fills time. It also gives you something concrete to bring to a tutor. A marked-up page or a rewritten script is far easier to discuss than a general impression that the book was useful.

Darker afternoons are a good excuse to practise indoors: record yourself delivering a short piece to camera against a plain wall, then compare it with what the guide describes about pace, eye line and breathing.

Keep a short log of what you have read

A reading log need not be elaborate. For each title, note the date you started, two or three points you intend to use, and one thing you disagreed with or found unclear. That last item is valuable: broadcast practice varies between newsrooms, and a point of disagreement is often the best starting question for a tutor.

Bring the log to a conversation with me or with the relevant tutor when you finish a list. It helps us see where you are strong and where another course or another book would help next. It also makes it easier to recall, months later, which guide explained a technique you now take for granted.

Over a term the log becomes a modest record of your own development, written in your words rather than ours.

• Date started and finished
• Two or three points to use in practice
• One question to raise with a tutor

Borrowing, returning and asking for help

Library titles are there to be used, so plan your borrowing around your pace rather than hoarding books you will not open for weeks. Take what you will read in the next fortnight, return it, and take the next. That keeps popular guides moving between students on the same programme.

If a title turns out to be too advanced or too basic, say so; swapping it costs nothing and saves frustration. If you cannot tell which book answers a particular problem, such as unsteady audio on location or nerves before a live cross, describe the problem to me and I will point you to the likeliest chapter.

Contact details are on the contact page, and the form is the easiest way to reach me with questions about the library or about timing your reading around a course.