Reference
Glossary
Plain-language definitions of the terms reporters, producers and media guides use, from actuality to verbal probability.
Outlets and guides use several of these terms differently, especially the ground rules. The definitions below are the ones this manual uses, and the chapter named in the last column says where the differences are explained.
| Term | Meaning | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Absolute risk | The actual chance of something, stated as a count out of a total, such as 1 in 7,000. Compare relative risk. | Communicating uncertainty |
| Actuality | A recorded voice other than the reporter's, used in a radio or audio story. | Radio and podcasts |
| Air check | A recording of your own broadcast, played back so you can review how you sounded. | Radio and podcasts |
| Approval | A source seeing a story, draft or quotes, and the source's OK deciding what runs. AP, NPR, Reuters, The New York Times and The Washington Post decline it. | How a story gets made |
| Attribution | Naming where a statement or fact came from: a person, a document, an agency. | Before you say yes |
| B-roll | Extra footage of you, your work or your surroundings that plays over narration. | Video and TV |
| Background | A ground rule for information that may be published under conditions the reporter and source agree first, usually without the source's name. Outlets define it differently. See on the record. | Before you say yes |
| Booker | The person at a show or station who schedules guests. Sometimes separate from the producer. | Video and TV |
| Bridge | The sentence that moves from your answer to the point you want to make. This manual teaches answering first, then bridging. | Hard and unexpected questions |
| Chyron | The name and title shown on screen for a TV guest. | Video and TV |
| Clarification | An added explanation to a story that was not wrong but could be misread. | After the interview |
| Clear | The producer's or host's word that your part is over. Stay ready until you hear it. | Video and TV |
| Correction | A published fix for something an outlet got wrong. | After the interview |
| Deep background | A ground rule for information that may be used but not attributed to the source in any way, as AP defines it. The Post prefers to avoid it. | Before you say yes |
| Denominator | The “out of how many” in a count or rate. In 2 in 7,000, the denominator is 7,000. | Communicating uncertainty |
| Dodge | A reply that sounds like an answer but addresses a different question. | Hard and unexpected questions |
| Doorstep | An unscheduled interview attempt outside a home, shop or office. | Hard and unexpected questions |
| Embargo | An agreement not to publish information before a set time. | Before you say yes |
| Fact-check | The reporter confirms names, titles, numbers and dates with the source before publication. Not the same as approval. | How a story gets made |
| Field interview | An interview where the reporter and camera come to you, or meet you at a location. | Video and TV |
| First statement | A short account of what happened as far as you know, ready before the first call. | Bad news and personal stories |
| IFB | Interruptible foldback: the one-way earpiece that carries the program and a producer's cues. | Video and TV |
| Image bite | Footage of a person shown on screen while they are not heard. | How a story gets made |
| Lavalier | A small clip-on microphone. | Video and TV |
| Live | The audience sees or hears it as you speak. Nothing is edited out. | Radio and podcasts |
| Live-to-tape | Recorded in one pass as if live. Ask whether anything is cut. | Video and TV |
| Loaded question | A question whose wording or assumption makes a direct answer seem to accept it. | Hard and unexpected questions |
| Media kit | The set of sheets this manual keeps in your browser: request, message, practice, setup, uncertainty, statement and log. | Your media kit |
| Message box | COMPASS’s five-part worksheet: Issue, Problem, So What, Solutions, Benefits, built for one audience. | Your main points |
| Message map | One practitioner’s grid of three key messages, each with three supporting facts. | Your main points |
| Moiré | A shimmer or crawl that fine stripes and checks can produce on camera. | Video and TV |
| Not for attribution | The Post’s term for background: the words can be quoted, attributed to a description such as “a police official.” | Before you say yes |
| Off the record | A ground rule that, in AP’s definition, means the information cannot be published. Meanings vary by outlet, and it counts only if the reporter agrees before you speak. | Before you say yes |
| On the record | Anything you say can be used and attributed to you by name. Our default for every interview. | Before you say yes |
| Paraphrase | The reporter’s own wording of what a source said. | How a story gets made |
| Plosive | A pop in a recording when breath hits the microphone, usually on p and b sounds. | Radio and podcasts |
| Pre-interview | A short call or email before the interview so a producer or reporter can judge how you talk. Treat it as on the record. | Radio and podcasts |
| Premise | The assumption inside a question. | Hard and unexpected questions |
| Producer | The person at an outlet who plans a segment and arranges guests. | Video and TV |
| Public editor | A person at an outlet who represents the public to the newsroom. NPR has one. | After the interview |
| Quotation | A source’s own words, in quotation marks, with the source named. | How a story gets made |
| Read-back | The reporter reads you a quotation or a few sentences before publication. Not the same as approval. | How a story gets made |
| Reason line | The true reason you cannot answer a question, what you can say, and what you will do. It replaces “no comment.” | Hard and unexpected questions |
| Relative risk | A comparison of two risks, such as “doubled.” It hides the actual counts. Compare absolute risk. | Communicating uncertainty |
| Room tone | The quiet sound of the place where you spoke, recorded to fill gaps in editing. | Radio and podcasts |
| Soundbite | The short stretch of speech an outlet uses from an interview. | Your main points |
| Speculate | Offer a guess about something you cannot yet support with facts. | Communicating uncertainty |
| Spokesperson | A person who speaks or writes for you or an organization. | Bad news and personal stories |
| Tape sync | You talk to the host by phone while your side is recorded locally, and the two are combined later. | Radio and podcasts |
| Taped | Recorded, then edited or aired later. | Radio and podcasts |
| Two-way | A live on-air conversation between a host and an interviewee. | Radio and podcasts |
| Uncertainty | The gap between what is known and what would settle a question. | Communicating uncertainty |
| Update | A change to a story because facts changed after publication. Compare correction. | After the interview |
| Verbal probability | A word or phrase such as “likely” that stands in for a number. | Communicating uncertainty |
| Audience | One specific group of people who read, hear or watch what a reporter makes. | Your main points |
| Ground rules | The terms under which a reporter may use what you say, set before you say anything. | Before you say yes |
| Issue | The topic in the words a person might type into a search engine. | Your main points |
| Main point | The one thing you want the audience to take away, in one sentence. | Your main points |
| Mock interview | A practice interview in which a person, or a timer and a recording, stands in for the reporter. | Your media kit |
| Playback | Listening to or watching your recording against the checklist. | Practice answers |
| Supports | The two or three facts, examples or numbers that back the main point. | Your main points |