In the first chapter of Jonathan Kern’s Sound Reporting, the author details his reasons for why, even with the advent of television news and the Internet, radio news has remained prevalent. He also covers the medium’s lack of flexibility—primarily due to time constraints and no visual format.

1. Reports of radio’s demise were greatly exaggerated, as Kern asserts in his opening chapter. Due to it’s portability and intimacy, people can remain attentive to what they’re listening to even while working on other tasks. (pgs. 1-3)
   
2. There are however, challenges. Radio isn’t placed in a medium with space, meaning the listener can’t move on to the next story, skip a section, check the top stories at will or go back, as they can do with newspapers and Internet articles. Thus the onus is on the station to keep their listeners priorities in mind—returning to cover top stories and headlines later in the show, amongst other decisions. (pgs. 3-6.) Similarly, updates and changes to already covered stories allow radio shows to rerun content that had already been aired, and the Two-Way from today entitled “Talk Turns To Getting Assad To Give Up His Chemical Weapons” is a perfect example of that. The original headline: “Russia Urges Assad To Cede Control Of His Chemical Weapons” changed drastically over the course of the afternoon,  with six different updates occurring between 11:40 a.m. and 2:41 p.m. While diplomacy in regards to Syria was likely the most heavily discussed topic today, the tone of the report changed drastically over the course of the day, allowing listeners who come in later in the day to catch up without missing a beat.

Chapter 2 of Sound Reporting covers a major doctrine of journalistic integrity: fairness. If a station gains a reputation as being unfair or biased for or against one party, they’ll likely lose the only thing that matters in broadcast: the trust of the public.

1. The concept of a newsroom “echo chamber” is particularly troubling. If all (or a majority) of reporters and producers in a newsroom see things from the same perspective, the entirety of the newsgathering process could be distorted. (pgs. 11-16)
2. Just because a report features both sides, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s balanced and fair. If both sides clash on the facts, it turns into a counterclaim argument. It’s important to sift through the noise, consider the source of a claim, AND discover the actual facts before going to air. (pgs. 16-21) NPR’s introduction of “Trail Life USA, The ‘Other’ Boy Scouts of America” does just that, allowing a spokesman of the Boy Scouts to respond to the formation of a faith-based, Christian alternative to their organization.
3. If allegations are critical of a person or party, it’s a must that they are alerted of the accusations, and allowed time to form a response, which also must be incorporated into the report. (pgs. 21-23)