Jerome Socolovsky

is the NPR Training team's Audio Journalism Trainer.

Four iphones in a row on a yellow background. In the first from left, a Black man dressed as Ben Franklin smiles. In the second, a white young man rides a digitally drawn surfboard. In the third, a small child hiccups. In the fourth, a Black woman speaks in the foreground with a white woman in the background.

Yes, you can cram your story into a one-minute TikTok. Here’s how

Writing a script for a social video means paring down your piece to the barest minimum that still makes sense.

A search-engine field appears on a gradient background that goes from red to blue. The word "Latino" appears in the field, as if typed. Then, several choices of term appear below "Did you mean:" These are Latina, Latine, Latinx, Latin@, Hispanic, Person of Color, BIPOC, POC, Black, Brown, Indigenous, Argentinian, Chelean, Colombian, Peruvian, Venezuelan, Guatemalan, Brazilian, Mexican, Spanish, Puerto Rican, Cuban and Ecuadorian. The list ends with "See more."

BIPOC? Latinx? Here’s how to describe people accurately

Group descriptors require the same kind of research and scrutiny as other facts journalists report on. Here’s a guide to getting it right.

A hand with a formula written on it is in the foreground in front of a laptop with a test question, implying that the test taker is referencing her hand to get the right answer.

Use this radio-to-web cheat sheet to write for digital with ease

Plenty of broadcast reporters and editors think of digital stories as an afterthought.

How to keep a technical failure from wrecking your broadcast

“Weekend Edition” stayed on the air despite losing access to audio. These steps will help you survive — and avoid — disasters as well.

The show editor’s interview checklist

On a show, the interview is brief and it is the story. So much depends on preparation, and having an editor’s ear.

Must-have math skills for the number-crunching newsperson

Refresh your high school math-class memory with this review of basic, yet confusing, concepts.

HAY-soos or hay-SOOS? Getting the accent right in Spanish

Unlike English, Spanish has rules of pronunciation that are simple and easy to learn.

During the pandemic, cover those we’ve left out

In times of crisis, journalists have the responsibility — even more so than usual — to seek out people who are often passed over by the media, even as stay-at-home orders make it harder to reach them.

It’s not a ‘Chinese’ virus: Let’s avoid pernicious shorthands

“Chinese virus.” “Hindu mobs.” Using geography, ethnicity and religion as modifiers is questionable at best and dangerous at worst.

Reporting from home: how NPR correspondents do it

Legions of journalists are now working from home. But NPR international correspondents have been doing it for years, even decades. Heed their advice.

Triage your fact-checking: a method (and board game)

To help you think about journalistic accuracy on a deadline, we’ve developed a fact-checking triage method.

How to decide what to cut (or not) in an interview

It’s no secret that pre-taped interviews on public radio are edited, sometimes considerably.

Tips from the Twitterverse on surviving two-ways

Smile, remember to breathe and be prepared to improvise when you’re a reporter on a two-way.

Pronounce like a polyglot: saying foreign names on air

What if the pronunciation of a name has you stumped — and you have to say it on air? Here’s how to do it accurately and understandably.