Everyone wants the chance to tell a reporter ‘no comment’ at least one time in his or her life. For Dianna Douglas, a sound reporter for the National Public Radio, she helps people have this once-in-a-lifetime experience as part of her daily routine.
Sound reporting is a unique field. According to Douglas, “people’s connection with the radio is much different that that of other media because it’s like someone’s whispering to you.”
People develop a more personal relationship with sound reporting as they form images in their mind as they listen. For a sound reporter you must make it descriptive and create visual images through sound, says Douglas.
She describes one time of having a tough time narrating the changing of the guards (as there is little sound), and there happened to be a blind man with his son attending. She was able to record every action the son recounted to his father, which helped the listeners to visualize the event.
Sound reporting competes with other types of media, and oftentimes you have to find a story more compatible to sound media. “If you arrive at a story with 100 reporters already there, find a different story,” Douglas said.
Douglas describes arriving on the scene of the evacuations after Hurricane Katrina and the sea of reporters all trying to get the same interviews. “We had to find a different story,” Douglas said. She decided to go to the command center and found an even bigger story.
According to Douglas, nobody was picking up the bodybags around the evacuated homes, which many viewed as disrespectful. This led to an emotional story that was heard around the world.
“Storytelling on the radio is intimate. People fall in love with you,” Douglas said.
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