Sound Reporting
The NPR Guide to Audio Journalism and Production
- Contents
- Review Quotes

PREFACE
1 SOUND AND STORIES
2 FAIRNESS
Fair, Accurate, Complete, and Honest | The Echo Chamber | Verifying Assertions | Getting Both Sides | Avoiding Loaded Language
3 WRITING FOR BROADCAST
Write the Way You Speak | How to Sound Like a Real Person | Other Newswriting Tips
4 REPORTING
The Reporter’s Personality Skills | Developing News Sources | Other Sources of Original Stories | Getting People on Tape | Getting Great Actualities | Working on Tight Deadlines | Beyond Acts and Tracks | A Storytelling Sampler
5 FIELD PRODUCING
Getting Started | In the Field | Finding Sound and Scenes | Putting the Story Together | Filing from the Field | Taking Responsibility
6 STORY EDITING
The Editor’s Role | The Ingredients of a Story | Structuring the Story | Editing by Ear | The Intro | The First Track | Copyediting | The Ending | When to Stop Editing | Finding New Approaches to Old Stories
7 THE REPORTER-HOST TWO-WAY
The Problem with Scripted Two-Ways | Going Scriptless | Two-Way Tips
8 READING ON THE AIR
Sounding Conversational | Marking up a Script | Getting Physical | The Need for Feedback
9 HOSTING
The Host’s Day | The Host Interview | Reading Scripts Other People Write | Hosting Live Programming
10 NEWSCASTING
What Is News? | Public Radio Newscast Values and Principles | Composing the ’Cast | Newscast Writing | The NPR News Spot | The Reporter Q&A | On the Air
11 BOOKING
Booking Well-Known People | Booking Everyday People | The Booker as Detective | The Pre-interview | Final Steps
12 PRODUCING
Finding and Pitching Stories | Producing Interviews | Editing Interviews | Mixing Reporter Pieces | Producing Music Pieces
13 PRODUCTION ETHICS
The Unkindest Cuts | Other Production Issues
14 PROGRAM PRODUCING
The Art of the News Program | Creating the Lineup | Producing Live Programs
15 PROGRAM EDITING
Setting the News Agenda | Error Checking | Massaging the Script | Sitting In on Interviews | The Editor as Manager
16 COMMENTARIES
Finding Commentators | Topical Commentaries | Personal Commentaries | Editing Commentaries | Coaching Commentators | Commentary Intros | To Comment or Not to Comment
17 STUDIO DIRECTING
The Director as Number Cruncher | The Director as Conductor | Directing Live Events | The Joy of Directing
18 BEYOND RADIO
The Web-Radio Relationship | The Manifold Media of the Web | Podcasting | Editorial Issues Online | The Future
APPENDIX I. GLOSSARY
APPENDIX II. PRONOUNCERS
INDEX
“Writing for the ear is an art form. What Jonathan Kern has accomplished with this marvelous guide is doubly artful: using clear, colorful, conversational language, he teaches us how to write clear, colorful, conversational radio copy. He also teaches us how to interview, produce, and paint audio pictures with sound. There is no other ‘how-to’ radio journalism manual to compare. ”
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