I'm a student putting together a news piece on the council cuts in Leeds, I'm trying to write a cue (the intro summarising a story) to be read out before my interview with an MP but I can't seem to muster the words. Just wondered if anyone had any ideas? Probably needs to be around 50 words?
The content of the interview consists of the following questions:
Leeds City Council is set to cut 3000 jobs to save £90million are the gov cuts too severe?
So what would you say to those people who say that Gordon Brown and other members of the cabinet knew the recession was coming but kept spending regardless? – Swap this section with Leeds Crisis Centre?
So wasn’t one of the key failures of the Labour government that you were a part of the fact that there was little bank regulation which therefore had a major impact on the severity of the recession?
What are you doing to try and keep open vital services that are being threatened with closure, like the Leeds Crisis Centre?
Hope this helps... basically the MP... being a Labour MP says the cuts are too far too fast and should David Cameron and George Osborne have got it wrong
Leeds City Council have announced they're going to save £90 million by cutting 3000 jobs... are the cuts too severe?
Some people say that Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling saw the recession coming, yet carried on spending regardless. What would you say to those people?
Didn't the Labour government's relaxed approach towards the regulation of financial services have a major impact on the severity of the recession?
What are you doing to ensure that vital services that are being threatened with closure, like the Leeds Crisis Centre, are kept open?
The thing to consider now is whether the cue is for just an interview or if it's a package with a few interviews, and a reporter linking things together, and also how it starts.
Assuming it's a straightforward interview, I'd use the standard technique of having the package start with the interviewee answering the question, and have the cue set the scene and then ask the first question.
"As Leeds City Council faces the loss of 3000 jobs to try to save 90 million pounds, trade unions and opposition politicians are questioning whether the Government's spending cuts are really necessary. [Reporter] asked [MP's name], the Labour MP for [constituency], whether these cuts are too severe"
That sounds great. It's just a straight forward interview... i've got to write a cue for the full interview, which is 3 minutes, and around 15-30 seconds for the cue and a cue for a 30 second clip and then i've got to write an article for the website.
And just for fun, here's another way. I see this one as a slightly more 'commercial radio' method of getting into a soundbite taken from the answer to your final question. Usually a three-line intro:
"Leeds Crisis Centre is under threat as the city council looks to save 90 million pounds.
The face-to-face counselling service could be forced to close before the end of the year, in the latest round of spending cuts.
But Labour MP [Joe Bloggs] says he's doing all he can to ensure vital services - like the Crisis Centre - are maintained:
Should I do something longer for the main 3minute interview then?