Planet Money’s Corbett explains his TikTok strategy

Sarah John of Teen Vogue interviewed Jack Corbett, who puts together the TikTok videos for NPR’s “Planet Money.”

Here is an excerpt:

TV: That’s helpful, because many people feel like complex topics come naturally to others and feel bad if they don’t get it immediately. But I think a lot of understanding is just letting things stew, and it becomes more and more digestible over time.

JC: Yeah, and I think a lot of these topics, they’re not wildly accessible. Hopefully, I can do some of the legwork and use definitions for words that don’t, like… Sometimes I think, We didn’t need a word that big! We don’t need that many syllables to describe this! It’s like, chill out. What if you were just explaining this to a guy from Ohio, like me? I need shorter words. Shorter words — and pictures.

TV: I agree. The less words, the better. What is one topic in economics that you think more people should know about?

JC: I can think of about 100 things they should know, and there is a 60-second long TikTok for each of them. [Laughs]

No, I’ve got one: The stock market is not the economy. Two different things. So if the stock market is doing well, it doesn’t mean the economy is doing well. That’s not indicative of the entire economy. It’s representative of a bunch of big companies and how well they’re doing, which is not necessarily the same.

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