Making economics stories fun on TikTok for “Planet Money”

Callie Holtermann of the New York Times profiled “Planet Money” assistant producer Jack Corbett and how he makes economics videos fun on TikTok.

Holtermann writes, “After studying film theory at Ohio State University, Mr. Corbett was hired in 2019 as an intern on NPR’s Tiny Desk concert series, where he helped produce segments with Taylor Swift, Coldplay and others.

“He asked to help with ‘Planet Money’ and created a video explaining how the stock market has built-in circuit breakers using found images of peaceful waterfalls and horses. It was uploaded in 2020 and has been viewed more than 300,000 times. After commenters praised its educational value and offbeat humor, the higher-ups at NPR encouraged Mr. Corbett to keep posting.

“When Starbucks workers in Buffalo unionized last December, Mr. Corbett created a 90-second video on how to organize a union in four easy steps. Organized labor was important to his great-grandparents, who worked in steel mills in Youngstown, Ohio, and coal mines in West Virginia.”

Read more here.