News : NPR→ Tampons are the latest supply chain casualty. Women took notice months ago
2022-06-12 Many women say store shelves that once had the menstrual essentials have been sparse for months. When they are available, tampons have been a lot more expensive recently, due in part to inflation.(Image credit: Dana Marlowe) …›
News : NPR→ Bipartisan group of senators announces deal for school safety and gun measures
2022-06-12 The agreement, which has the support of at least 10 Republican senators, is narrowly focused at preventing future shootings similar to the one in Uvalde, Texas. (Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) …›
News : NPR→ The Commanders’ Jack Del Rio is off Twitter after calling the Jan. 6 riot a ‘dust-up’
2022-06-12 Del Rio also faces a $100,000 fine levied by Washington's head coach, a sum that will be donated to the U.S. Capitol Police Memorial Fund. (Image credit: Frank Franklin II/AP) …›
News : NPR→ These activists want buyers and dealers of stolen relics to face criminal charges
2022-06-12 If activists have their way, not only the looters, but the buyers, of stolen cultural relics will face criminal repercussions.(Image credit: The Clooney Foundation for Justice) …›
All Things Considered : NPR→ This New Zealand plan would tax burps from cows and sheep
2022-06-09 New Zealand's proposal to fight climate change includes taxing farmers for the amount of burps their cows and sheep emit. …›
All Things Considered : NPR→ Stakes are high for Ford and the fate of electric cars as F-150 Lightnings leave lots
2022-06-09 The Ford F-150 Lightning is starting to be delivered: a critical milestone for Ford. Auto makers have staked their futures on electric versions of their popular models, and they can't afford missteps. …›
All Things Considered : NPR→ Los Angeles should lose its lawns, some say
2022-06-08 Los Angeles is facing some of the most severe water restrictions the city has ever seen. Will lawns survive? Some suggest the city should eliminate this elitist status symbol all together. …›
Transom→ Who Am I To Be Here?
2022-06-07 In this archive episode of HowSound, Andrea Silenzi poses a question: “Who am I to be here?” It may be one of the most important questions in journalism. Andrea is now a seasoned reporter and producer having made stories for Studio 360, WNYC, and T …›
Transom→ Elegy in Water
2022-05-31 Elegy in Water For Scott Foley, In Memoriam 1. I see the boys of summer in their ruin. — Dylan Thomas __________ Back for Scott’s funeral, my memories of him rattle loose. Like these strip mall-gutters overrun with rain. Once, when we were kids, we …›
Transom→ Producing YA Fiction
2022-05-24 You might think, after so many years working in radio and podcasting, I might not be “wowed” by all the effort producers put into making their stories sound perfect. You’d be wrong. My mind is blown time and again — just like it was when Hi …›
Transom→ Starting Out: Issue 9, with Rebeca Ibarra
2022-05-17 Introduction I’m writing to y’all from my back porch in North Carolina. It’s finally warm enough that I can do one of my favorite things — drink my morning coffee on the back porch while looking at my little garden… It sou …›
First Draft→ Ratcheting up a red line: How China is being used in the Australian election campaign
2022-05-11 As Australians prepare to head to the polls, political parties and politicians of all stripes have stoked fear-fuelled narratives about China in a bid to secure votes. During last week’s National Press Club Debate, Defence Minister Peter Dutton was d …›
Transom→ Collaboration Is The Only Way Forward
2022-05-10 For years, semester after semester, while teaching at Transom and at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, on the first day of class we’d listen to “Tony Schwartz: 30,000 Recordings Later” by The Kitchens Sisters. Why? In short, to knoc …›
Transom→ Spatial Audio
2022-05-03 Introduction The world of “3D” or spatial audio is still unfamiliar to many, but to audio producers it’s a compelling area to explore — intriguing, and at times confusing; the landscape is constantly shifting as new spatial tools and technologi …›
Transom→ More Darts And Laurels
2022-04-26 I find random sound effects in stories aggravating. (Insert sound of an irritated, roaring lion.) They’re a distraction. They add no value. And, frankly, I think they infantilize the audience. (Insert sound of a child cooing.) Rather than simply rant …›
The ProPublica Nerd Blog - ProPublica→ Look Up Nursing Home Staff COVID-19 Vaccination Rates
2022-04-21 by Ruth Talbot On Thursday, ProPublica added staff COVID-19 vaccination data to the Nursing Home Inspect project. The virus has killed more than 150,000 nursi …›
Transom→ Starting Out: Issue 8, With Chris Stedman
2022-04-19 Introduction Hi, y’all! Welcome back to Starting Out with me and Transom. I’m so excited to share this interview with Chris Stedman, host and writer of Unread. It’s a really special show that I’m so glad was made. Unread is a s …›
Transom→ Thinking In Scenes
2022-04-12 Back when he was just starting out, Bradley Campbell, a former student of mine, was jonesing to understand story structure. He figured if he could just decipher the structure of stories, he’d have the keys to the city. Bradley figured he knew all the …›
PressThink→ Answers to Craig’s Questions
2022-03-24 I have known Craig Newmark for a long time. He’s the Craig from craigslist.org. Now he’s best defined as a philanthropist. Craig supports a lot of journalism projects, including one named for him: The Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journa …›
Transom→ Starting Out: Issue 7, With Noel King
2022-03-22 Introduction Hey y’all! Welcome back to Starting Out from me and Transom! If you’re new to the newsletter, here’s what you can expect: a collection of job postings for early career positions, resource guides on common issues (ho …›
Transom→ A Soldier’s Heart
2022-03-17 Self-doubt is healthy, and so are emotions! On those wonderful occasions when I have the opportunity to speak with students, there’s one question that I can almost always count on: When you’re reporting on the awful things that happen to other peop …›
Transom→ Engage Listeners To Build Trust
2022-03-15 Angela Evancie says journalism is witnessing the decline of local news, especially in the world of newspapers. To make matters worse for journalism, Angela says we’re also experiencing unprecedented skepticism and animosity toward journalism, reporte …›
First Draft→ Australian election misinformation playbook
2022-03-13 The challenge of monitoring, understanding, defining and responding to mis- and disinformation is exacerbated during election campaigns. This report outlines tactics used by agents of disinformation to undermine elections as observed by First Draft’s …›
Transom→ Riding Shotgun
2022-03-08 Trust, Reporting, and the Urban-Rural Divide It’s morning in camp and the Elzinga sisters are saddling up their horses and getting ready for another long day on horseback. They’ll be herding several hundred head of cattle through thick timber, up m …›
Transom→ Podcast Mixers (As General Audio Production Tools)
2022-02-22 The release of the Rodecaster Pro marked a pivotal moment in audio production. It is a small audio mixer with integrated vocal processing, two ways to integrate cell phone audio or web meeting audio, multiple headphone outputs and big pads for triggeri …›
Transom→ Radio Silence (Rerun)
2022-02-16 “If you think about it, the leaves grow in silence. Grass grows in silence. Flowers grow in silence. The stars come out in silence. . . ” Virginia Phillips lists those silent things at the beginning of Silence Among Friends. It’s a story about si …›
Transom→ Audio Message In A Bottle
2022-02-15 Download a transcript of this episode here. So what are we going to do, audio producers? What are we going to do to make our work fresh and sonically interesting? I ask because I’m flummoxed by the homogeneity of audio storytelling these days. Podcas …›
Transom→ Ten (More) Tricks For Finding Stories
2022-02-08 Back in 2018, I shared a bunch of my story-finding tricks in an effort to help demystify the process. A lot of people seemed to find it helpful. I often get emails about it. So in that same spirit, here are ten more tricks, surefire ways to …›
Transom→ Al Letson’s Covenant with Listeners About True Crime Stories
2022-02-01 Download a transcript of this episode here. A few episodes ago, I took an iHeartMedia podcast to task because the 1-minute trailer and the 1-minute opening to its first episode were exactly the same. No difference. If the listener started with the trai …›
Transom→ Mombinary
2022-01-25 Where It Came From This piece is almost all directly from my journal entries from the Winter of 2020/2021. I first became aware of the concept of gender as a spectrum in 2010, when I learned about it as a teacher in a professional development session a …›
Transom→ Navigating Tricky Story Dynamics
2022-01-18 Download a transcript of this episode here. Aviva DeKornfeld says there’s just not enough satisfying reporting on climate grief — especially stories of young people experiencing climate grief. So, when she discovered a climate activist-leaning …›
PressThink→ The savvy turn in political journalism
2022-01-17 For 15 years I have been writing about what I call the savvy style in the American press. This post is about the moment when a journalist goes there. Or refuses to. But first: what is the savvy style? This is from 2011: In the United States, most of th …›
Transom→ Starting Out: Issue 6
2022-01-13 Hiya! Welcome back to Starting Out from me and Transom! Just a quick bit of business: there won’t be a newsletter next month, so that I can focus on prepping the next set of issues for you. I’ll make sure to tweet out any job postings that I …›
Transom→ Get Close
2022-01-06 Dear you, I’m reading these words aloud as I type them. Words carrying sounds on their backs are my path to you and I’m trying to close the gap between us. Because at root, whether through words, sounds or images, it’s the connection I’m af …›
Transom→ So You Want To Start A Podcast, Eh?
2022-01-04 Download a transcript of this episode here. Last I heard, there are two million podcasts — two million! On one hand, that’s amazing. So many people picking up microphones and saying what they want to say. Frankly, I think that’s healthy for t …›
Transom→ Goodbye 2021
2021-12-30 TRANSOM: “TRAN-sum” A small hinged window above a door, allowing light and ventilation into hallways of older buildings. At magazine and newspaper offices, unsolicited manuscripts were submitted “over the transom.” A YEAR-END RE …›
Transom→ Exquisitely Challenging: Reporting on Suicide
2021-12-21 Erica Heilman’s story “Finn and the Bell” is the best I’ve heard all year. Yes. It’s that good. The documentary tells the story of Finn Rooney, a young man who was a volunteer fireman and a poet and a baseball player and, as one friend put it …›
Transom→ 2021 Gift Guide
2021-12-14 Last Minute Gift Guide Here are some gift ideas from the Transom crew: items we’d give audio producers we know, or that we’ve had our eyes on for ourselves. We’ve included a range of items, from inexpensive accessories to major splurges, …›
Iffy.news→ Consider the Source
2021-12-13 Anatomy of an anti-vax fact-check: Consider the Source, Check the Site, Confirm the Content. Who made the claim, who published it, where's the evidence? …›
Transom→ Starting Out: Issue 5
2021-12-09 Hiya! Welcome back to Starting Out from me and Transom. A few weeks ago I sent out a survey to hear what’s working with the newsletter so far and what you’d like to see in the new year. Thank you all for such thoughtful feedback! One th …›