Glossary

497 terms from every course in Journalism Training. For audio and video terms in more depth, see the Audio and Video glossary and the SoundStudio glossary.

# A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Z

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12-bar blues: A 12-bar chord pattern built on I, IV and V, the base of blues, early rock and roll and a lot of country. Basic Music Theory: Common Progressions, Transposing and the Capo
180-degree rule: Keep the camera on one side of an imaginary line between two people so they stay facing each other across cuts. Video Production: Framing and Coverage
3-2-1 rule: Keep three copies of important files, on two different kinds of storage, with one copy off-site. Digital Safety for Writers: Protecting Files: Backups, Encryption and Ransomware
3:1 rule: Place microphones at least three times as far from each other as each is from its own source. Sound Theory: Rooms, Reflections, Phase and Stereo
9:16: The vertical phone shape: 9 units wide for every 16 tall. At full HD that is 1080x1920 pixels. Video and Reels for Social Media: Vertical framing and safe zones

A

AABA: A form of two matching sections, a contrasting middle section, and a return to the first section. Songwriting: Song forms, timing and where the title lives
Absolute reference: A reference like $H$2 with dollar signs that stays fixed when the formula is copied. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Spreadsheets From Zero
Accuracy check: A line-by-line comparison of every fact in the draft against notes, recordings and documents. How to Write an Article: Edit Your Own Copy
Action item: An agenda item marked to warn the public that a vote may happen on it. Basic Journalism: Open Meetings Law in Idaho
Actual malice: Publishing a false statement knowing it was false or with reckless disregard for whether it was false. Not the same as spite or ill will. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Hitting Publish Without Hitting a Lawsuit; Publishing with knowledge that a statement was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false. The test is knowledge of falsity, and hostility alone doesn't meet it. Basic Journalism: Fairness, Corrections and Defamation Basics; Publishing a statement knowing it is false or with reckless disregard for whether it is false. It has nothing to do with dislike or ill will. How to Write a Polemic: Hard Commentary vs. Defamation
Actuals: What a government really collected or spent in a period, as opposed to the adopted budget, which is the plan. How to Write an Article: Documents, Numbers and Quotes on the Page
Ad-ID: The industry system for unique codes that identify each piece of advertising. Video and Radio Ad Development: Delivering Spots to Stations and Platforms
Adversary: A person or group who might want to get at your assets, from a scammer to an angry official. Digital Safety for Writers: Threat Modeling in Plain Terms
AE/AF lock: Auto exposure and auto focus lock: freezes brightness and focus so the phone stops adjusting mid-shot. Video Production: Phone Camera Settings That Matter
Agenda: The posted list of what a public body plans to discuss or vote on at a meeting. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Finding Something Worth Writing About
Agenda packet: The full set of staff reports, contracts and attachments a public body reviews for a meeting. Basic Journalism: Primary Records and Finding the Original
Aliasing: False tones created when frequencies above the Nyquist limit are sampled. Sound Theory: Digital Audio: Samples, Bits and Nyquist
Alt text: Text attached to an image in the page code that screen readers read aloud and that shows if the image fails to load. Creating and Using Images in Articles: Captions, Credits and Alt Text; A written description attached to an image that screen readers read aloud. Posts and Content for Social Media: Anatomy of a Post; A short written description attached to an image so screen readers can describe it to people who cannot see it. Capstone: One Story, Every Format: A Week of Posts, a Self-Review and a Portfolio Rubric
American Community Survey (ACS): The Census Bureau's ongoing yearly survey of a sample of households, the main source for income, commuting, housing costs and similar local figures. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Finding the Data Before You Need It
Amplification: Spreading a post to more people, including by arguing with it, quoting it or sharing it to rebut it. Posts and Content for Social Media: Rebutting a False Claim Without Spreading It
Amplitude: How far the pressure swings from rest. On a waveform it is the height of the wave. Sound Theory: What Sound Is and How You Hear It
Anecdotal lede: An opening that starts with a short scene or a person's experience before getting to the news. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: The Lede, or How Not to Lose the Reader by Sentence Two; An opening built on a short scene about one person or moment that stands for the larger story. How to Write an Article: Ledes That Earn the Second Paragraph
Angle: The specific slice of a topic your article covers; the reason this story is worth reading now. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Before You Type a Single Word
Aspect ratio: The shape of an image as width to height, such as 1:1, 9:16 or 16:9. Creating and Using Images in Articles: AI-Generated Images: Illustration, Never Evidence; The shape of a frame, written as width to height. Vertical video is 9:16. Video and Reels for Social Media: Vertical framing and safe zones; The shape of an image or video, written width to height, such as 4:5 or 9:16. Posts and Content for Social Media: How the Platforms Differ
Asset: Anything worth protecting: accounts, files, a source's identity, your home address, your website. Digital Safety for Writers: Threat Modeling in Plain Terms
Attack surface: All the ways in: every account, device, app and person that could be used to reach your assets. Digital Safety for Writers: Threat Modeling in Plain Terms
Attribution: Telling the reader who said something or where a fact came from. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Quotes, Numbers and Other Things Beginners Mangle; Telling readers where a fact, quote or claim came from. Basic Journalism: Fairness, Corrections and Defamation Basics
Attribution (TASL): Crediting a work with its Title, Author, Source and License. Creating and Using Images in Articles: Rights and Licensing: Whose Picture Is It?
Authenticator app: An app that shows a new six-digit code every 30 seconds, generated on your phone without a text message. Digital Safety for Writers: Two-Factor Authentication and SIM-Swap Protection
Auto captions: Captions made automatically by speech recognition. Useful as a first draft, never as a final one. Video and Reels for Social Media: Captions burned in
Auto FPS: An iPhone setting that drops the frame rate to 24 fps in low light to brighten the picture. Video Production: Phone Camera Settings That Matter
AV script: A two-column script with video on the left and audio on the right, one row per moment. Video and Radio Ad Development: Two-Column Scripts with Timing

B

B-roll: Supporting footage that shows what the speaker talks about, laid over their voice. Video Production: Framing and Coverage
Back light: A light behind the subject that puts a thin edge of light on hair and shoulders to separate them from the background. Video Production: Light on a Budget
Backlight: Light coming from behind the subject toward the camera, which darkens the subject. Creating and Using Images in Articles: Shooting Your Own Photos With a Phone
Backup codes: One-time codes a site gives you to get in if you lose your second factor. Digital Safety for Writers: Two-Factor Authentication and SIM-Swap Protection
Bar (measure): A group of beats, marked off by vertical lines on a chart. The first beat of each bar is the strongest. Basic Music Theory: Rhythm, Meter, Tempo and Strumming; A group of beats, usually four in folk and country. Song sections are counted in bars. Songwriting: Song forms, timing and where the title lives
Base effect: A large percent change that comes mostly from a small or unusual starting value. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: The Statistics That Matter in Local Stories
Baseline: The starting value of a chart axis, usually zero for bar charts. Creating and Using Images in Articles: Infographics and Charts That Read in Five Seconds
Batching: Grouping similar tasks into one work session instead of spreading them out. Posts and Content for Social Media: A Content Calendar You Can Keep
Beat: The steady pulse you tap your foot to. Basic Music Theory: Rhythm, Meter, Tempo and Strumming
Bed: Music that plays under the voice for most or all of a spot. Video and Radio Ad Development: Two-Column Scripts with Timing
Bit depth: How many bits store each sample. More bits means finer steps and a lower noise floor. Sound Theory: Digital Audio: Samples, Bits and Nyquist
Bitrate: How much data per second the file uses for video or audio, measured in megabits or kilobits per second. Video Production: Captions, Color Basics and Export; How much data per second a video uses. Higher bitrate means better quality and larger files. Video and Reels for Social Media: From long video or article to reels, and out the door
Block: Stopping an account from seeing or interacting with your posts and profile. Posts and Content for Social Media: Comments, Moderation and Community
Boom-chick: The basic country rhythm: a bass note on the beat, a strum on the offbeat or next beat. Basic Music Theory: Rhythm, Meter, Tempo and Strumming
Border search: An inspection of belongings, including phones and laptops, by customs officers when you enter a country. Digital Safety for Writers: Device Security: Updates, Locks, Encryption and Travel
BPM: Beats per minute, the tempo. At 60 BPM one beat lasts one second. Songwriting: Song forms, timing and where the title lives
Burned-in (open) captions: Caption text rendered into the video picture; always visible and cannot be turned off. Video Production: Captions, Color Basics and Export
Burned-in captions: Captions drawn into the video picture, so they show everywhere with no setting. Also called open captions. Video and Reels for Social Media: Captions burned in; Captions drawn into the video picture itself so they show on every platform and player. Posts and Content for Social Media: One Article, a Week of Posts

C

Cadence: How often you post, on which days, kept steady over time. Posts and Content for Social Media: A Content Calendar You Can Keep
Call and response: A leader sings a line and the group answers, the same pattern used in many churches and work songs. Songwriting: The protest song tradition and how it works on a listener
Call to action: The one thing the ad asks the audience to do, such as vote, call, visit or show up. Video and Radio Ad Development: One Ad, One Message; The one thing you ask the reader to do next, stated plainly. Posts and Content for Social Media: Anatomy of a Post
Camel case: Writing a run-together phrase with a capital at the start of each word, as in #LibraryBoardMeeting. Posts and Content for Social Media: Anatomy of a Post
Capo: A clamp across the guitar neck that raises every open string by the same number of half steps. Basic Music Theory: Common Progressions, Transposing and the Capo
Caption: The text under a photo that says who or what is shown, where and when. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Headlines, Photos and the Boring Stuff That Makes It Look Professional; Visible text under an image that explains what it shows and adds context. Creating and Using Images in Articles: Captions, Credits and Alt Text
Caption chunk: One block of caption text shown at a time, usually a short phrase of one or two lines. Video and Reels for Social Media: Captions burned in
Cell reference: The address of a cell, such as D2: column letter, then row number. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Spreadsheets From Zero
Chord: Three or more notes sounded together. Basic Music Theory: Chords: Triads, Sevenths and the Chords in a Key
Chord chart: A one-page map of a song's chords, bar by bar, with section labels. No melody, no notes on a staff. Basic Music Theory: The Nashville Number System and Chord Charts
Choropleth map: A map that shades areas such as counties by a value, like a rate or a percent. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Charts and Maps That Tell the Truth
Chronolocation: Working out when a photo or video was taken, using shadows, weather and other clues. Basic Journalism: Verifying Claims, Photos and Video
Citation: A reference that tells the reader exactly where a fact came from, with enough detail to find it. How to Write an Article: The Publishing Package
Claim: Something a source says is true that you have not yet confirmed with a document or a second source. How to Write an Article: Find the Story in Your Notes; The single sentence your polemic exists to prove. It must be specific enough that it could be shown false. How to Write a Polemic: One Target, One Claim, and the Paper to Prove It
Classification breaks: The cutoffs that decide which values get which color on a map. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Charts and Maps That Tell the Truth
Cliche: A phrase used so often it no longer makes a picture in the reader's mind. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Editing: Murdering Your Darlings
Click track: A metronome sound played in your headphones while recording, so every take keeps the same tempo. Songwriting: Demo it, clean it, put the words on screen
Click-through: A reader tapping a link and landing on your article. Posts and Content for Social Media: Reading the Numbers
Clickbait: A headline that teases or exaggerates to get clicks, then fails to deliver. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Headlines, Photos and the Boring Stuff That Makes It Look Professional
Clip log: A list of timestamps and notes for moments in a long recording worth turning into short clips. Video and Reels for Social Media: From long video or article to reels, and out the door
Clipping: Damage when a signal tries to go past 0 dBFS and the wave tops are cut flat. Audio Editing and Production: Repairs: Clicks, Clipping and Plosives
Close-up: A line about one small specific object or gesture. Songwriting: Story verses that move
Closed captions: Captions stored as a separate track or file that the viewer can turn on or off. Video and Reels for Social Media: Captions burned in
CMS: Content management system, the software such as WordPress that runs a website. Digital Safety for Writers: Securing Your Site and Recovering From a Hack
Cold open: Starting a video in the middle of the action, with no introduction, title or logo first. Video and Reels for Social Media: The first two seconds; Starting a spot or video in the middle of the action, with no intro or logo first. Capstone: One Story, Every Format: A 30-Second Radio Spot and a 45-Second Reel
Color: Sensory detail and scene: what the room looked like, how someone said a thing. Useful, but it does not carry the news. How to Write an Article: Find the Story in Your Notes
Color correction: Adjusting exposure, contrast and white balance so clips look accurate and match each other. Video Production: Captions, Color Basics and Export
Color temperature: How warm (orange) or cool (blue) a light is, measured in kelvin (K). Video Production: Light on a Budget
Comb filtering: Regular notches in the frequency response caused by mixing a sound with a slightly delayed copy of itself. Sound Theory: Rooms, Reflections, Phase and Stereo
Compound meter: A meter where each beat divides into three, such as 6/8. Basic Music Theory: Rhythm, Meter, Tempo and Strumming
Concession: Openly granting a point the other side gets right, so your remaining claim stands on firmer ground. How to Write a Polemic: Answering the Other Side: Steelmanning and Interrogatories; The part of a polemic that admits what the other side gets right, placed early enough to earn the reader's trust. Capstone: One Story, Every Format: The Polemic Version and the Infographic
Condenser mic: A sensitive mic that needs power (often 48 V phantom power) and hears fine detail, including the room. Audio Editing and Production: Recording a Voice You Won't Have to Rescue
Confidence interval: A range built from sample data by a method that captures the true value a stated share of the time, such as 95 percent. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Uncertainty: Samples, Margins of Error and Significance
Confounder: A third factor that affects both the supposed cause and the supposed effect, creating a misleading link. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Correlation, Causation and the Traps Between Them
Consent agenda: A group of routine items approved together in one vote, usually without discussion. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Finding Something Worth Writing About; A bundle of items a public body approves with one vote and no discussion unless a member pulls an item out. How to Write a Polemic: One Target, One Claim, and the Paper to Prove It
Content calendar: A plan showing what will be posted, where and when. Posts and Content for Social Media: A Content Calendar You Can Keep; A day-by-day plan of what to post, where and why, made before the week starts. Capstone: One Story, Every Format: A Week of Posts, a Self-Review and a Portfolio Rubric
Content Credentials: A C2PA standard for attaching a signed record of how an image or video was made and edited. Basic Journalism: Verifying Claims, Photos and Video
Content ID claim: An automatic YouTube match against a rights holder's file. It can block, track or monetize your video, but is not a strike by itself. Video and Reels for Social Media: Audio for reels
Contrafactum: New words set to an existing tune. The standard method of union and movement songs. Songwriting: The protest song tradition and how it works on a listener
Contrast ad: An ad that compares two choices, candidates or outcomes side by side. Video and Radio Ad Development: Structures for :15, :30 and :60 Spots
Contrast ratio: A measure of the brightness difference between text and its background, from 1:1 (none) to 21:1 (black on white). Creating and Using Images in Articles: Infographics and Charts That Read in Five Seconds
Copy: The words of an ad, spoken or written. Video and Radio Ad Development: Writing for the Ear and the Eye
Copyright: The legal right of a creator to control copying, adapting and sharing of an original work. In the U.S. it begins when the work is fixed in a tangible form. Creating and Using Images in Articles: Rights and Licensing: Whose Picture Is It?
Copyright strike: A penalty YouTube applies after a legal removal request. Three in 90 days can end a channel. Video and Reels for Social Media: Audio for reels
Correction: A published note that fixes an error and says what was wrong. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Hitting Publish Without Hitting a Lawsuit; A published note fixing a factual error, saying what was wrong and what is right. Basic Journalism: Fairness, Corrections and Defamation Basics; A public notice that something you published was wrong, with the right information. Posts and Content for Social Media: Rebutting a False Claim Without Spreading It; A clear, visible note that fixes an error in published work and says what was wrong. Capstone: One Story, Every Format: A Week of Posts, a Self-Review and a Portfolio Rubric
Correlation coefficient (r): A number from minus 1 to 1 measuring how closely two variables follow a straight-line relationship. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Correlation, Causation and the Traps Between Them
COUNTIFS / SUMIFS: Versions of COUNTIF and SUMIF that accept several conditions at once. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Pivot Tables: Answering Who, How Much and How Often
Cousin test: Saying your article's single point out loud, in one plain sentence, to someone who doesn't follow the issue. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Before You Type a Single Word
Cover frame: The still image shown for a reel on a profile, in search and before it plays. Video and Reels for Social Media: From long video or article to reels, and out the door
Coverage: Enough different shots of the same scene that the editor has choices when cutting. Video Production: Planning a Shoot
CPI-U: The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, the BLS measure of price change most often used to adjust dollars for inflation. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: The Statistics That Matter in Local Stories
Creative brief: A one-page plan that states the single thought, audience, action, tone, length and must-haves before writing begins. Video and Radio Ad Development: One Ad, One Message
Creative Commons (CC): A set of standard public licenses a creator can attach to a work to grant permission in advance, with conditions. Creating and Using Images in Articles: Rights and Licensing: Whose Picture Is It?
Credential stuffing: Automated attacks that try usernames and passwords leaked from one site on many other sites. Digital Safety for Writers: Passwords, Password Managers and Passkeys
Credit line: A short line naming who took or owns a photo. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Headlines, Photos and the Boring Stuff That Makes It Look Professional; A short line naming who made the image or where it came from, and under what terms. Creating and Using Images in Articles: Captions, Credits and Alt Text
Cross-tab: A table with one category down the side and another across the top, showing a total for each combination. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Pivot Tables: Answering Who, How Much and How Often
Crossfade: Fading one piece of audio out while the next fades in, so a join is smooth. Audio Editing and Production: Editing Speech Without Making It Robotic
Cure: An agency's formal acknowledgment of a violation and voiding of the actions it produced, under 74-208(7). Basic Journalism: Open Meetings Law in Idaho
Custodian: The official or employee designated to receive and answer records requests for an agency. Basic Journalism: Public Records Requests in Idaho
Cutaway: A brief shot of something related to the scene, used to cover a cut in the main shot. Video Production: Framing and Coverage; A short shot of something other than the speaker, such as a document or a building, laid over their voice. Video and Reels for Social Media: Pacing and length by platform

D

Data broker: A company that collects and sells personal information, often from public records and purchase data. Digital Safety for Writers: Doxxing and Online Harassment
Data diary: A running log of every change you make to a dataset and why. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Cleaning Data: The Unglamorous 80 Percent
Data dictionary: A document that defines every column in a published dataset. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Checking Your Numbers and Writing Them Up
DAW: Digital audio workstation: software for recording, layering and editing audio tracks. Songwriting: Demo it, clean it, put the words on screen
dB SPL: Sound pressure level in the air, relative to the threshold of hearing. What a sound level meter in the room reads. Sound Theory: Decibels, Loudness and Delivery Targets
dBFS: Decibels relative to full scale in a digital file. 0 dBFS is the maximum. Sound Theory: Decibels, Loudness and Delivery Targets; Decibels relative to full scale. 0 dBFS is the loudest a digital file can store. Audio Editing and Production: Recording a Voice You Won't Have to Rescue
De-esser: A tool that turns down only the harsh S and SH frequencies, and only when they happen. Audio Editing and Production: EQ and Compression on a Voice
Dead cat: Slang for a furry windscreen that slips over a microphone. Video Production: Sound on Location
Deadpan: Delivering absurd content in a flat, serious voice so the absurdity speaks for itself. How to Write a Polemic: Tone, Sarcasm, Satire and Ridicule
Decennial census: The full count of the U.S. population taken every ten years, with Census Day on April 1 of years ending in zero. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Finding the Data Before You Need It
Declipping: Rebuilding the shape of clipped peaks from the audio around them. Audio Editing and Production: Repairs: Clicks, Clipping and Plosives
Decoration image: A picture added for looks that a reader could lose without losing any information. Creating and Using Images in Articles: Images That Carry Information
Deemed denial: When an agency's silence past the deadline counts legally as a refusal. Basic Journalism: Public Records Requests in Idaho
Deemed denied: Under Idaho's public records law, a request the agency fails to answer in time is treated as refused, which opens the door to an appeal. Capstone: One Story, Every Format: From Records Request to News Article
Defamation: A false statement of fact, published to others, that harms someone's reputation. Libel is the written form; slander is spoken. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Hitting Publish Without Hitting a Lawsuit; A false statement of fact, published to others, that harms someone's reputation. Libel if written or recorded, slander if spoken. Basic Journalism: Fairness, Corrections and Defamation Basics; A false statement of fact, communicated to others, that harms someone's reputation. Libel is the written form, slander the spoken one. How to Write a Polemic: Hard Commentary vs. Defamation
Dek: A line or two under the headline that adds context or a second fact. Also called a subhead or standfirst. How to Write an Article: Headlines and Subheads
Delayed lede: An opening that starts with a telling detail or setup and reaches the news within a few paragraphs. How to Write an Article: Ledes That Earn the Second Paragraph
Deliberation: Receiving or exchanging information or opinion about a pending decision. Basic Journalism: Open Meetings Law in Idaho
Digital zoom: Enlarging part of the image by cropping it, which loses detail. Different from switching to a real telephoto lens. Creating and Using Images in Articles: Shooting Your Own Photos With a Phone
Diminished: A triad made of two minor thirds stacked, such as B, D, F. Tense and rare in folk songs. Basic Music Theory: Chords: Triads, Sevenths and the Chords in a Key
Direct labeling: Putting labels right on the bars or lines instead of in a separate legend. Creating and Using Images in Articles: Infographics and Charts That Read in Five Seconds
Direct quote: Someone's exact words inside quotation marks. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Quotes, Numbers and Other Things Beginners Mangle
Disappearing messages: A Signal setting that deletes messages from both devices after a timer runs out. Digital Safety for Writers: Talking to Sources Safely
Disclosure: A plain statement telling the reader how an image was made. Creating and Using Images in Articles: AI-Generated Images: Illustration, Never Evidence
Dominant seventh: A major triad plus the note a minor seventh above the root. Written as a plain 7, such as G7 or D7. Basic Music Theory: Chords: Triads, Sevenths and the Chords in a Key
Downbeat: Beat 1 of a bar, the strongest beat. Songwriting: Prosody: making words and music agree
Doxxing: Publishing someone's private information, such as home address, phone or family details, usually to intimidate. Digital Safety for Writers: Doxxing and Online Harassment
Dual-axis chart: A chart with two vertical scales for two series, easy to manipulate by stretching either scale. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Charts and Maps That Tell the Truth
Ducking: Lowering one sound, usually music, while another, usually a voice, plays. Audio Editing and Production: Music Beds and Ducking With Volume Pins; Lowering music under a voice while the voice speaks and raising it in the gaps. Video and Radio Ad Development: Voices, Music Beds and Sound Design; Lowering music automatically or by hand whenever someone speaks, so the voice stays on top. Video and Reels for Social Media: Audio for reels
Duplicate row: A record that appears more than once, either a true repeat or a legitimate identical transaction. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Cleaning Data: The Unglamorous 80 Percent
Dynamic mic: A rugged mic that needs a loud, close source. Good at ignoring the room. Audio Editing and Production: Recording a Voice You Won't Have to Rescue

E

Edit pass: One trip through the draft looking for one kind of problem. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Editing: Murdering Your Darlings; One read of the draft looking for one kind of problem, such as facts, structure or wording. How to Write an Article: Edit Your Own Copy
Editorial: An opinion piece that speaks for the publication itself, usually unsigned. How to Write a Polemic: What a Polemic Is, and Where It Came From
Electronic stabilization: Steadying the picture by cropping in and shifting the frame to cancel shake. Video Production: Phone Camera Settings That Matter
Emergency declaration: A finding by a governing board that an emergency requires spending right away, which lets it skip formal bidding under state law. Capstone: One Story, Every Format: From Records Request to News Article
Empty alt: An alt attribute with nothing in it, alt="", telling assistive technology to skip a decorative image. Creating and Using Images in Articles: Captions, Credits and Alt Text
End-to-end encryption: Encryption where only the sender's and recipient's devices hold the keys, so the service in the middle cannot read the content. Digital Safety for Writers: Talking to Sources Safely
Engagement: Actions people take on a post: likes, comments, shares, saves, replies. Posts and Content for Social Media: Reading the Numbers
Enharmonic: Two names for the same pitch, such as C# and Db. Basic Music Theory: Notes, Octaves, Half Steps and Whole Steps
Entropy: A measure, in bits, of how many guesses a truly random password would take to find. Digital Safety for Writers: Passwords, Password Managers and Passkeys
Equal opportunities: The rule that a station allowing one candidate to use its airwaves must offer the same chance to rival candidates for that office. Video and Radio Ad Development: Political and Issue Ad Rules
Equal-loudness contour: A curve showing the level each frequency needs to sound as loud as a 1 kHz reference tone. Sound Theory: What Sound Is and How You Hear It
Evergreen: Content that stays accurate and useful for months, such as an explainer on how to file a records request. Posts and Content for Social Media: A Content Calendar You Can Keep
Evidence image: A picture that proves or documents a fact in the story, such as a record, a receipt or a photo of a real condition. Creating and Using Images in Articles: Images That Carry Information
Evidence table: A private worksheet pairing each factual statement in a draft with the document and page that proves it. How to Write a Polemic: One Target, One Claim, and the Paper to Prove It; A three-column list of every fact you plan to publish, the document that proves it and the exact page, timestamp or line. Capstone: One Story, Every Format: From Records Request to News Article
Executive session: A closed portion of a meeting, allowed only for purposes listed in 74-206. Basic Journalism: Open Meetings Law in Idaho
Exemption: A specific provision of law that allows or requires an agency to withhold a record or part of one. Basic Journalism: Public Records Requests in Idaho
Exif: A common standard for photo metadata. It can include GPS coordinates. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Headlines, Photos and the Boring Stuff That Makes It Look Professional; A metadata standard that cameras and phones use to store date, settings and sometimes GPS location inside a photo file. Basic Journalism: Verifying Claims, Photos and Video; Metadata stored inside photo files, which can include camera model, date and GPS location. Digital Safety for Writers: Talking to Sources Safely
Explainer: An article that answers how or why something works, organized around the reader's questions. How to Write an Article: Structure: Pick the Shape Before You Pour
Exposure: How bright the picture is, set by how much light reaches the sensor and how much the phone amplifies it. Video Production: Phone Camera Settings That Matter
Exposure lock: A phone camera setting that holds brightness and focus steady after you tap and hold on the subject. Creating and Using Images in Articles: Shooting Your Own Photos With a Phone
Eyeline: Where a person on screen is looking, and how that matches where the viewer expects them to look. Video Production: Framing and Coverage

F

Fair use: A U.S. legal doctrine, 17 U.S.C. 107, that allows some uses of copyrighted works without permission, judged case by case on four factors. Creating and Using Images in Articles: Rights and Licensing: Whose Picture Is It?
False precision: Reporting more digits than the data can support, such as 23.4782 percent from a survey. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Checking Your Numbers and Writing Them Up
False start: A phrase the speaker begins, abandons and repeats. Audio Editing and Production: Editing Speech Without Making It Robotic
Family rhyme: Same vowel, with final consonants from the same sound family: rub, cup, mud. Songwriting: Rhyme types and rhyme schemes
Fee waiver: A request that an agency drop its charges because the records serve the public's understanding of government. Basic Journalism: Public Records Requests in Idaho
Feed: The scrolling stream of posts a platform shows each user. Posts and Content for Social Media: How the Platforms Differ
Fill light: A weaker light on the opposite side that softens shadows from the key. Video Production: Light on a Budget
Filler word: A word that adds length but no meaning, such as 'very', 'really' or 'basically'. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Editing: Murdering Your Darlings
First draft: The complete, rough version of an article, written fast, meant to be fixed later. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Write the Ugly First Draft Already
Fixation: Capturing a work in a lasting form, like a lyric sheet or a recording. Copyright attaches at that moment. Songwriting: Copyright, registration and getting paid
Frame rate: How many pictures per second the camera records, such as 24, 30 or 60 fps. Video Production: Phone Camera Settings That Matter
Frequency: How many pressure cycles happen per second, in hertz (Hz). Higher frequency sounds higher in pitch. Sound Theory: What Sound Is and How You Hear It
Full-disk encryption: Scrambling everything stored on a device so it is unreadable without your password or key. Digital Safety for Writers: Device Security: Updates, Locks, Encryption and Travel
Fund balance: Roughly, money left in a government fund after expenses, carried into the next year. Often called reserves. How to Write an Article: Documents, Numbers and Quotes on the Page
Fundamental: The lowest frequency in a note, which sets its pitch. Sound Theory: Frequency and Tone: Naming the Bands

G

Gain staging: Setting the level at each step so the signal is strong but never clips. Audio Editing and Production: Recording a Voice You Won't Have to Rescue
Generative AI image: A picture produced by software from a text prompt or other input, rather than captured by a camera. Creating and Using Images in Articles: AI-Generated Images: Illustration, Never Evidence
Geolocation: Working out where a photo or video was taken from what's visible in it. Basic Journalism: Verifying Claims, Photos and Video
Geotag: GPS coordinates saved in a photo's metadata. Creating and Using Images in Articles: Before Publishing: Metadata, Rights Line, Size and Format
Glare: A bright reflection of a light source on a shiny surface that hides what is under it. Creating and Using Images in Articles: Shooting Your Own Photos With a Phone
Going upstream: Tracing a claim back, step by step, to the place it first appeared. Basic Journalism: Primary Records and Finding the Original
Governing body: Under 74-202, the members of any public agency with two or more members that can make decisions or recommendations. Basic Journalism: Open Meetings Law in Idaho
Graf: Newsroom slang for paragraph. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: The Middle Part Nobody Plans

H

H.264: The most widely supported video codec, usually delivered in an MP4 file. Video Production: Captions, Color Basics and Export; The most widely supported video codec, also called AVC. The safe choice for social video. Video and Reels for Social Media: From long video or article to reels, and out the door
Half step: The smallest distance between two notes in Western music. One fret on a guitar, or the next key (black or white) on a piano. Also called a semitone. Basic Music Theory: Notes, Octaves, Half Steps and Whole Steps
Harassment log: A dated record of hostile messages, with screenshots and links. Posts and Content for Social Media: Comments, Moderation and Community; A dated record of each incident, with links, screenshots and what you did about it. Digital Safety for Writers: Doxxing and Online Harassment
Hard news lede: A direct opening that states the main news fact in the first sentence. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: The Lede, or How Not to Lose the Reader by Sentence Two; A summary opening that states the most important change right away. Also called a summary or straight lede. How to Write an Article: Ledes That Earn the Second Paragraph
Harmonic: A frequency at a whole-number multiple of the fundamental: 2x, 3x, 4x and so on. Sound Theory: Frequency and Tone: Naming the Bands
Headline: The title of an article, written to tell readers accurately what it's about. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Headlines, Photos and the Boring Stuff That Makes It Look Professional; The title of the article, usually written to state the news in a few words. How to Write an Article: Headlines and Subheads
Headline voice: The compressed style of headlines: present tense for past events, articles dropped, active verbs. How to Write an Article: Headlines and Subheads
Headroom: The space between the top of a person's head and the top of the frame. Video Production: Framing and Coverage
Helper column: An extra column you add to the data, such as month pulled out of a date, so you can group by it. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Pivot Tables: Answering Who, How Much and How Often
Hide: Removing a comment from public view on your post while the commenter usually still sees it. Posts and Content for Social Media: Comments, Moderation and Community
High-pass filter: A filter that passes frequencies above a set point and cuts those below. Also called a low cut. Sound Theory: Frequency and Tone: Naming the Bands; A filter that lets highs through and cuts everything below a set frequency. Also called low cut. Audio Editing and Production: EQ and Compression on a Voice
Hiss: Broadband high-frequency noise, like air or tape, mostly above about 4 kHz. Audio Editing and Production: Noise: Avoid It, Then Reduce It Carefully
Hook: The short musical or lyric phrase people remember and sing back. In most songs, the title. Songwriting: Song forms, timing and where the title lives; The opening second or two of a short video, built to give a scrolling viewer a reason to stop. Video and Reels for Social Media: The first two seconds
Hourglass: A structure with a news summary on top, a short turn, and then a chronological account. Named by Roy Peter Clark. How to Write an Article: Structure: Pick the Shape Before You Pour
Hum: A low steady tone from electrical power, at 60 Hz or 50 Hz plus multiples. Audio Editing and Production: Noise: Avoid It, Then Reduce It Carefully
Hyperbole: Obvious exaggeration for effect that no reasonable reader would take as a literal statement of fact. Capstone: One Story, Every Format: The Polemic Version and the Infographic

I

Implied fact: A factual assertion carried by a statement even when it is framed as opinion, such as 'I think he lied under oath.' How to Write a Polemic: Hard Commentary vs. Defamation
Infographic: A chart, map or diagram that shows data or a process visually. How to Write an Article: The Publishing Package; A graphic that combines data, text and simple visuals to explain one point. Creating and Using Images in Articles: Infographics and Charts That Read in Five Seconds
Integrated loudness: The loudness of a whole file, from start to end, with silences gated out. Audio Editing and Production: Loudness and Delivery
Internal rhyme: A rhyme placed inside a line instead of only at the end. Songwriting: Rhyme types and rhyme schemes
Interrogatories: In this course, a section posing the hardest questions an opponent of the article's position would ask, each answered in full. How to Write an Article: The Publishing Package; In this course, a section at the end of a polemic listing the hardest questions opponents will ask, each with a full answer. How to Write a Polemic: Answering the Other Side: Steelmanning and Interrogatories
Interval: The distance between two notes, named by how many letter names it spans and its exact size in half steps. Basic Music Theory: Intervals by Ear
Inverted pyramid: A structure that puts the most important facts first and the least important last. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: The Middle Part Nobody Plans; A structure that puts the most important facts first and the rest in descending order of importance. How to Write an Article: Structure: Pick the Shape Before You Pour

J

J cut: An edit where the next shot's audio begins before its picture. Video Production: Editing on a Timeline
Jump cut: A cut within the same shot that removes a pause or stumble, making the speaker appear to jump slightly. Video and Reels for Social Media: Pacing and length by platform

K

Key: The home note and scale a song is built around. A song in G keeps returning to G and mostly uses the notes of the G major scale. Basic Music Theory: The Major Scale, Keys and Key Signatures
Key light: The main, brightest light on the subject. Video Production: Light on a Budget
Key signature: The sharps or flats printed at the start of each line of sheet music, telling you which notes are raised or lowered for the whole song. Basic Music Theory: The Major Scale, Keys and Key Signatures
Keystoning: The trapezoid shape a flat page takes when photographed at an angle instead of straight on. Creating and Using Images in Articles: Shooting Your Own Photos With a Phone
Keyword filter: A setting that hides comments containing words you list. Posts and Content for Social Media: Comments, Moderation and Community
Kicker: The final paragraph, often a strong quote or a look ahead to what happens next. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: The Middle Part Nobody Plans; The final paragraph of a feature or narrative, chosen to leave the reader with something rather than to summarize. How to Write an Article: Structure: Pick the Shape Before You Pour
Kill your darlings: Old writing advice: cut the passages you're proudest of when they don't serve the piece. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Editing: Murdering Your Darlings

L

L cut: An edit where the current shot's audio continues after the picture cuts away. Video Production: Editing on a Timeline
Lavalier (lav): A tiny clip-on microphone worn on the chest, wired or wireless. Video Production: Sound on Location
Lead image: The first and largest image in an article, often also used as the preview when the link is shared. Creating and Using Images in Articles: Images That Carry Information
Lead room: Open space in the frame in the direction a person is looking or moving. Video Production: Framing and Coverage
Lede: The opening sentence or two of an article. Spelled oddly on purpose, an old newsroom habit to tell it apart from other words. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: The Lede, or How Not to Lose the Reader by Sentence Two; The opening sentence or paragraph of an article. Spelled this way in newsrooms to tell it apart from lead, the metal. How to Write an Article: Ledes That Earn the Second Paragraph
Letterbox: Black or blurred bars above and below the picture, caused by putting a wide video in a tall frame. Bars on the sides, from the reverse, are called a pillarbox. Video and Reels for Social Media: Vertical framing and safe zones
Link card: The preview box with a picture, headline and site name that some platforms build when you paste a link. Posts and Content for Social Media: How the Platforms Differ
Link in bio: The clickable address in your profile, used on platforms where post links are not clickable. Posts and Content for Social Media: How the Platforms Differ
LKFS: Loudness, K-weighted, relative to full scale. The U.S. broadcast name for the same measure as LUFS. Video and Radio Ad Development: Delivering Spots to Stations and Platforms
Locator map: A simple map whose only job is to show where something is, often relative to something else. Creating and Using Images in Articles: Images That Carry Information
Long description: A text version of a complex image's essential information, so the content is available without seeing it. How to Write an Article: The Publishing Package
Loop: When a short video restarts automatically. An ending that flows into the opening can earn a second viewing. Video and Reels for Social Media: Pacing and length by platform
Lossless compression: Shrinking a file without discarding any image data, as PNG and lossless WebP do. Creating and Using Images in Articles: Before Publishing: Metadata, Rights Line, Size and Format
Lossy compression: Shrinking a file by throwing away detail the eye is less likely to notice, as JPG and lossy WebP do. Creating and Using Images in Articles: Before Publishing: Metadata, Rights Line, Size and Format
Loudness normalization: A platform turning each file up or down so its integrated loudness matches a reference level. Sound Theory: Decibels, Loudness and Delivery Targets
Loudness range (LRA): How much the loudness varies over the piece, in LU. Audio Editing and Production: Loudness and Delivery
Lowest unit charge: The rule that, in set windows before an election, a station may not charge a candidate more than its lowest rate for the same class and amount of time. Video and Radio Ad Development: Political and Issue Ad Rules
LU: Loudness Unit. A difference in loudness; 1 LU equals 1 dB of level change. Sound Theory: Decibels, Loudness and Delivery Targets
LUFS: Loudness units relative to full scale, the standard measure of how loud a track sounds overall. Songwriting: Demo it, clean it, put the words on screen; Loudness Units relative to Full Scale. A K-weighted, gated average of loudness defined by ITU-R BS.1770. LKFS is the same measurement under another name. Sound Theory: Decibels, Loudness and Delivery Targets; Loudness Units relative to Full Scale, the standard unit for how loud audio sounds over time. Video and Reels for Social Media: Audio for reels
LUFS / LKFS: Loudness Units relative to Full Scale. The ITU-R BS.1770 measure of how loud audio sounds to people, averaged over the whole piece. Audio Editing and Production: Loudness and Delivery

M

Major and minor: For seconds, thirds, sixths and sevenths, the major version is one half step bigger than the minor version. Basic Music Theory: Intervals by Ear
Major scale: The seven-note scale built from the pattern whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half. The do re mi scale. Basic Music Theory: The Major Scale, Keys and Key Signatures
Makeup gain: Gain added after compression to bring the overall level back up. Audio Editing and Production: EQ and Compression on a Voice
Margin of error (MOE): The plus-or-minus range around a survey estimate that shows how far sampling alone could push it from the true value, at a stated confidence level. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Finding the Data Before You Need It
Masking: When a louder sound hides a quieter one in the same frequency range. Sound Theory: Frequency and Tone: Naming the Bands
Master use license: Permission to use a specific sound recording, separate from the song itself. Video and Radio Ad Development: Voices, Music Beds and Sound Design
Mean: The sum of the values divided by how many there are; the ordinary average. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: The Statistics That Matter in Local Stories
Mechanical royalty: Money owed to the songwriter each time a song is reproduced, such as on a stream, download or CD. Songwriting: Copyright, registration and getting paid
Median: The middle value when numbers are sorted. With an even count, the average of the two middle values. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Spreadsheets From Zero
Metadata: Information stored inside a file about the file itself, such as date, device and location. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Headlines, Photos and the Boring Stuff That Makes It Look Professional; Data about a communication, such as who, when, how often and from where, as opposed to what was said. Digital Safety for Writers: Talking to Sources Safely
Metadata (EXIF): Hidden data stored inside an image file, such as camera model, date, time and GPS location. EXIF is the common standard for photos. Creating and Using Images in Articles: Before Publishing: Metadata, Rights Line, Size and Format
Method note: A short passage or box explaining where the data came from and how it was analyzed. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Checking Your Numbers and Writing Them Up
Minutes: The official written record of what a public body did at a meeting, including votes. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Finding Something Worth Writing About
Mono compatibility: How well a stereo mix holds up when left and right are added together into one channel. Sound Theory: Rooms, Reflections, Phase and Stereo
Mouth click: A short tick from lips, tongue or saliva, usually around 1 to 5 kHz. Audio Editing and Production: Repairs: Clicks, Clipping and Plosives
Music bed: Background music under a voice, often instrumental. Audio Editing and Production: Music Beds and Ducking With Volume Pins
Musical noise: The chirpy, watery artifact left when spectral noise reduction is pushed too hard. Audio Editing and Production: Noise: Avoid It, Then Reduce It Carefully
Musical work: The song itself: melody, harmony, rhythm and lyrics. Registered as a work of the performing arts (the PA class). Songwriting: Copyright, registration and getting paid

N

Nashville Number System: A way of writing chord charts with numbers for scale degrees instead of letter names, so the chart works in any key. Basic Music Theory: The Nashville Number System and Chord Charts
Negligence: Failing to use reasonable care, such as not checking a fact a careful writer would have checked. Basic Journalism: Fairness, Corrections and Defamation Basics
News article: A piece that reports verified facts about something that happened or will happen, without the writer arguing a side. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Before You Type a Single Word
News value: A reason editors use to decide a story is worth running, such as impact, timeliness or proximity. Basic Journalism: What Makes Something News; A reason a story matters to readers, such as impact, change, conflict, money or timeliness. How to Write an Article: Find the Story in Your Notes
Noise profile: A sample of noise alone that a noise reducer learns from before it subtracts that noise. Audio Editing and Production: Noise: Avoid It, Then Reduce It Carefully
Normalization: Changing a file's level to hit a target. Streaming services do it on playback. Audio Editing and Production: Loudness and Delivery
Number audit: A line-by-line check that traces every figure in a story to its source and recalculates it. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Checking Your Numbers and Writing Them Up
Nut graf: The paragraph, usually second to fourth, that explains why the story matters and what it's really about. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: The Middle Part Nobody Plans; The paragraph that tells the reader why the story matters. The 'why this matters now' line, expanded. Basic Journalism: What Makes Something News; A paragraph near the top that says what the story is about, why it matters and why now. Also spelled nut graph. How to Write an Article: Structure: Pick the Shape Before You Pour; The paragraph near the top that states plainly what the piece is about and why it matters. How to Write a Polemic: Worked Example: The 31-Second Vote
Nyquist limit: Half the sample rate. The highest frequency a digital file can represent. Sound Theory: Digital Audio: Samples, Bits and Nyquist

O

OCR: Optical character recognition: software that turns a picture of text into actual characters, with errors you must check. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Cleaning Data: The Unglamorous 80 Percent
Octave: The distance from one note to the next note with the same name. The higher one vibrates exactly twice as fast. Basic Music Theory: Notes, Octaves, Half Steps and Whole Steps
Off the record: The information may not be published. Some reporters use it only to guide further reporting. Basic Journalism: Interviewing and the Ground Rules
On background: The information may be used but attributed only to an agreed description, not a name. Basic Journalism: Interviewing and the Ground Rules
On the record: An agreement that what someone says can be published with their name attached. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Gathering Stuff: Notes, Documents and Quotes; Everything said may be published and attributed to the speaker by name. Basic Journalism: Interviewing and the Ground Rules
One-party consent: A recording rule that allows a conversation to be recorded if at least one participant agrees, which can be the person recording. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Gathering Stuff: Notes, Documents and Quotes; A rule allowing a conversation to be recorded if one participant, including the person recording, agrees. Basic Journalism: Interviewing and the Ground Rules
Op-ed: A signed opinion piece by a named writer, traditionally printed opposite the editorial page. How to Write a Polemic: What a Polemic Is, and Where It Came From
Opacity: How see-through something is. 100 percent is solid; 50 percent lets the image show through. Creating and Using Images in Articles: Before Publishing: Metadata, Rights Line, Size and Format
Open data portal: A government website where agencies post datasets for download, often as CSV files. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Finding the Data Before You Need It
Open question: A question that can't be answered yes or no, such as one starting with how, what or why. Basic Journalism: Interviewing and the Ground Rules
Open vowel: A vowel sung with the mouth wide, like the sounds in 'far', 'go' and 'day'. Easy to hold. Songwriting: Prosody: making words and music agree
Opinion article: A piece that openly argues a position, backed by facts, and is labeled as opinion. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Before You Type a Single Word
Opt-out: A request telling a company to remove your information or stop selling it. Digital Safety for Writers: Doxxing and Online Harassment
OSINT: Open-source intelligence: information gathered from public sources such as websites, feeds, records and posts. Basic Journalism: Verifying Claims, Photos and Video
Out-of-band verification: Checking a request through a different channel you already trust, like calling a saved number. Digital Safety for Writers: Phishing and Social Engineering
Outline: The skeleton of a piece: claim, sections in order, the evidence each one uses and the remedy. How to Write a Polemic: Worked Example: The 31-Second Vote
Overlay: Anything the app draws on top of your video, such as the username, caption, like button or audio label. Video and Reels for Social Media: Vertical framing and safe zones

P

p-value: The probability of data at least this extreme if a specified model, usually 'no effect,' were true. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Uncertainty: Samples, Margins of Error and Significance
Pacing: How fast information and pictures change in a video. Good pacing matches the speed of the story. Video and Reels for Social Media: Pacing and length by platform
Pamphlet: A short, cheaply printed argument sold or handed out on its own, the original home of the polemic. How to Write a Polemic: What a Polemic Is, and Where It Came From
Paraphrase: Someone's point in your own words, without quotation marks, still attributed to them. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Quotes, Numbers and Other Things Beginners Mangle; Restating what someone said in your own words, without quote marks, while keeping their meaning. How to Write an Article: Documents, Numbers and Quotes on the Page
Passkey: A sign-in credential based on FIDO standards that uses a key pair stored on your device instead of a typed secret. Digital Safety for Writers: Passwords, Password Managers and Passkeys
Passphrase: A password made of several random words, long enough to be strong and easy enough to type. Digital Safety for Writers: Passwords, Password Managers and Passkeys
Password manager: An app that creates, stores and fills a unique strong password for every account, locked by one master passphrase. Digital Safety for Writers: Passwords, Password Managers and Passkeys
Patch: A software update that fixes a security flaw or bug. Digital Safety for Writers: Device Security: Updates, Locks, Encryption and Travel
Peg: The current event or date that makes a story timely. Also called a news hook. Basic Journalism: What Makes Something News
People-search site: A website that sells or shows profiles with addresses, phone numbers and relatives for a name. Digital Safety for Writers: Doxxing and Online Harassment
Per capita: Per person. A total divided by the number of people. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Quotes, Numbers and Other Things Beginners Mangle; Per person: a total divided by the population. Lets you compare places of different sizes. How to Write an Article: Documents, Numbers and Quotes on the Page
Percent change: (New minus old) divided by old, times 100. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Spreadsheets From Zero
Percentage point: The plain difference between two percentages. Going from 10 percent to 12 percent is 2 percentage points, but a 20 percent increase. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Quotes, Numbers and Other Things Beginners Mangle; The arithmetic difference between two percentages. 4 percent to 6 percent is a 2 percentage point rise. How to Write an Article: Documents, Numbers and Quotes on the Page; The unit for the arithmetic difference between two percentages. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: The Statistics That Matter in Local Stories
Perfect interval: The fourth, fifth and octave. They have only one common size and sound open and stable. Basic Music Theory: Intervals by Ear
Perfect rhyme: Same stressed vowel and same sounds after it, with a different consonant before: stone, bone. Songwriting: Rhyme types and rhyme schemes
Permit: Written permission from a government landowner to film on its property, usually needed for large crews, gear that blocks access, or exclusive use. Video Production: Planning a Shoot
Persuadable reader: The reader who has not decided yet and could be moved by a fair, well-evidenced case. How to Write a Polemic: Tone, Sarcasm, Satire and Ridicule
Phase: Where a wave is in its cycle at a given moment. Two copies out of step can reinforce or cancel. Sound Theory: Rooms, Reflections, Phase and Stereo
Phishing: A fake message that tries to get you to hand over a password, code, money or file, or to open malware. Digital Safety for Writers: Phishing and Social Engineering
Phon: The unit of loudness level. A tone at 40 phon sounds as loud as a 1 kHz tone at 40 dB SPL. Sound Theory: What Sound Is and How You Hear It
Photo illustration: An image built or altered to express an idea, labeled so readers do not take it as a documentary photo. Creating and Using Images in Articles: AI-Generated Images: Illustration, Never Evidence
Pickup: One or more weak syllables sung before the downbeat to lead into a line. Songwriting: Prosody: making words and music agree
Pivot table: A spreadsheet tool that groups rows by one or more categories and counts, sums or averages each group. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Pivot Tables: Answering Who, How Much and How Often
Placeholder: A bracketed note like [CHECK] or [QUOTE HERE] that marks something to fill in or verify after drafting. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Write the Ugly First Draft Already
Plosive: A burst of air from P, B and similar sounds that thumps the mic. Audio Editing and Production: Recording a Voice You Won't Have to Rescue
Point sentence: One sentence stating what the article says happened and why a reader should care. Sometimes called the focus statement. How to Write an Article: Find the Story in Your Notes
Polarity: Whether a signal is upright or flipped upside down. Inverting polarity on one of two identical signals cancels them. Sound Theory: Rooms, Reflections, Phase and Stereo
Polemic: A signed, openly one-sided argument that attacks a specific decision, policy or public figure and asks the reader to act. How to Write a Polemic: What a Polemic Is, and Where It Came From
Political file: The public record a station keeps of requests to buy political airtime, posted online and kept two years. Video and Radio Ad Development: Political and Issue Ad Rules
Presence: The range of roughly 2 to 5 kHz where consonants and clarity live. Sound Theory: Frequency and Tone: Naming the Bands; Roughly the 2 to 5 kHz range, where consonants and clarity live. Audio Editing and Production: EQ and Compression on a Voice
Press release: A statement written by an organization to promote itself or its position. A starting point at most. Basic Journalism: What Makes Something News
Pretexting: Inventing a believable story and role, such as a fellow reporter or IT support, to get information. Digital Safety for Writers: Phishing and Social Engineering
Primary record: An original government or institutional document: minutes, agendas, budgets, contracts, recordings, emails obtained by request. How to Write a Polemic: One Target, One Claim, and the Paper to Prove It
Primary source: The original record or the person who directly knows: the contract itself, the official who cast the vote. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Gathering Stuff: Notes, Documents and Quotes; The original record, recording, data set or firsthand account of an event. Basic Journalism: Primary Records and Finding the Original
PRO: Performing rights organization, such as BMI or ASCAP, which licenses public performances and pays songwriters. Songwriting: Copyright, registration and getting paid
Probability sample: A sample where every member of the population has a known chance of being chosen, the basis for a valid margin of error. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Uncertainty: Samples, Margins of Error and Significance
Problem-agitate-solve: A structure that names a problem, makes the listener feel it, then offers the solution. Video and Radio Ad Development: Structures for :15, :30 and :60 Spots
Production music: Music written and licensed specifically for use in ads, video and broadcast. Video and Radio Ad Development: Voices, Music Beds and Sound Design
Progression: A series of chords in order, usually repeating through a verse or chorus. Basic Music Theory: Common Progressions, Transposing and the Capo
Prosody: How well the words, the melody and the meaning fit each other. Songwriting: Prosody: making words and music agree
Protest song: A song written to push for change or to stand against something, meant to persuade or rally listeners. Songwriting: The protest song tradition and how it works on a listener
Provenance: Where an image came from and how it was made, traced back to its origin. Creating and Using Images in Articles: AI-Generated Images: Illustration, Never Evidence
Proximity effect: The bass boost a directional mic adds as the source moves closer. Audio Editing and Production: Recording a Voice You Won't Have to Rescue
Public domain: Works not protected by copyright, either because protection expired, was never available, or was given up. Creating and Using Images in Articles: Rights and Licensing: Whose Picture Is It?; Works no longer under copyright, free for anyone to use. Songwriting: Copyright, registration and getting paid
Public figure: A person with wide fame or power, or one who has stepped into a public controversy. Public officials are treated similarly. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Hitting Publish Without Hitting a Lawsuit; A person with general fame or power, or one who has stepped into a particular public controversy, who must prove actual malice to win a defamation case. Basic Journalism: Fairness, Corrections and Defamation Basics; A public official or someone who has gained wide fame or voluntarily stepped into a public controversy; must prove actual malice to win a defamation case about that role. How to Write a Polemic: Hard Commentary vs. Defamation
Public records request: A written request asking a government agency to let you see or copy records it holds; often called a FOIA request. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Finding Something Worth Writing About
Pull quote: A short quote lifted from the story and set large on its own card or graphic. Posts and Content for Social Media: One Article, a Week of Posts
Push: A chord that arrives slightly early, ahead of the beat. Shown with a small mark such as a caret or an arrow. Basic Music Theory: The Nashville Number System and Chord Charts
Push bombing: Flooding someone with sign-in approval prompts until they tap Approve by mistake or to make it stop. Digital Safety for Writers: Two-Factor Authentication and SIM-Swap Protection

Q

Quote-post: Sharing someone else's post with your own comment on top, which links back to the original. Posts and Content for Social Media: Rebutting a False Claim Without Spreading It

R

Radio cut: An edit of the audio only (sound bites and narration) that tells the story before pictures are added. Video Production: Editing on a Timeline
Ramp: The time a level change takes to happen, going in or coming back out. Audio Editing and Production: Music Beds and Ducking With Volume Pins
Randomized controlled trial: A study that assigns the treatment by chance, so confounders are spread evenly between groups. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Correlation, Causation and the Traps Between Them
Ransomware: Malware that encrypts your files and demands payment for the key. Digital Safety for Writers: Protecting Files: Backups, Encryption and Ransomware
Rate per 100,000: A count divided by population, multiplied by 100,000, so places of different sizes can be compared. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: The Statistics That Matter in Local Stories
Ratio: How much a compressor reduces the level that goes over the threshold. At 3:1, 3 dB over becomes 1 dB over. Audio Editing and Production: EQ and Compression on a Voice
Raw file: The data exactly as the agency sent it, kept untouched. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Cleaning Data: The Unglamorous 80 Percent
Reach: The number of unique accounts that saw a post at least once. Posts and Content for Social Media: Reading the Numbers
Read rate: How many words per second the voice talent speaks. About 2 to 2.5 is a natural conversational pace. Video and Radio Ad Development: Structures for :15, :30 and :60 Spots
Read-aloud test: Reading your draft out loud to catch awkward sentences, missing words and bad rhythm. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Editing: Murdering Your Darlings
Reader Q&A: A section answering the practical questions ordinary readers are likely to ask about the story. How to Write an Article: The Publishing Package
Real dollars: Dollar amounts adjusted for inflation to a single year's prices, so amounts from different years can be compared. Unadjusted amounts are nominal dollars. How to Write an Article: Documents, Numbers and Quotes on the Page
Receipt: The proof inside a post: a document image, a number with its source, a direct quote from the record. Posts and Content for Social Media: Anatomy of a Post
Reckless disregard: Publishing while actually having serious doubts about whether the statement is true. How to Write a Polemic: Hard Commentary vs. Defamation
Record layout: A document listing each field in a database, its type and what its codes mean. Also called a data dictionary or codebook. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Finding the Data Before You Need It
Recovery key: A long code that can open an encrypted disk if you forget your password. Lose both and the data is gone. Digital Safety for Writers: Device Security: Updates, Locks, Encryption and Travel
Redaction: Blacking out exempt parts of a record so the rest can be released. Basic Journalism: Public Records Requests in Idaho
Reel: A short vertical video for Instagram, Facebook, TikTok or YouTube Shorts, usually a minute or less. Posts and Content for Social Media: One Article, a Week of Posts
Refrain: A line, often the title, that comes back at the same spot in every verse. Songwriting: Song forms, timing and where the title lives
Registered domain: The part of a web address someone actually bought, such as example.com, which controls every subdomain to its left. Digital Safety for Writers: Phishing and Social Engineering
Registrar: The company you pay for your domain name, which controls where the domain points. Digital Safety for Writers: Securing Your Site and Recovering From a Hack
Registrar lock: Status codes such as clientTransferProhibited that block transfers, updates or deletion of a domain without your action. Digital Safety for Writers: Securing Your Site and Recovering From a Hack
Registry lock: A stronger lock set at the registry level, which takes extra manual steps to remove. Digital Safety for Writers: Securing Your Site and Recovering From a Hack
Regression to the mean: The tendency of unusually high or low measurements to be followed by ones closer to average, with no intervention at all. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Correlation, Causation and the Traps Between Them
Relative minor: The minor key that shares all its notes with a major key. It starts on the sixth note of the major scale. Basic Music Theory: The Major Scale, Keys and Key Signatures
Relative pitch: The skill of naming a note by its distance from a note you already know. It can be learned by anyone with practice. Basic Music Theory: Intervals by Ear
Relative reference: A reference like D2 that shifts when the formula is copied to another cell. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Spreadsheets From Zero
Release form: A signed permission from a person (or property owner) allowing you to use their likeness or property in a video. Video Production: Planning a Shoot
Remedy: The specific action a polemic asks readers or officials to take, ideally with a date. How to Write a Polemic: Worked Example: The 31-Second Vote; The specific action a polemic asks readers or officials to take, with a date. Capstone: One Story, Every Format: The Polemic Version and the Infographic
Remote wipe: Erasing a lost device over the internet using a service like Find My or Find Hub. Digital Safety for Writers: Device Security: Updates, Locks, Encryption and Travel
Repair range: In SoundStudio, which frequencies of a click get rebuilt: Full range, Auto, Above cutoff only or Below cutoff only. Audio Editing and Production: Repairs: Clicks, Clipping and Plosives
Repurposing: Reworking one piece of reporting into several formats for different platforms and days. Posts and Content for Social Media: One Article, a Week of Posts
Resolution: The size of the picture in pixels, such as 1920x1080 (1080p) or 3840x2160 (4K). Video Production: Phone Camera Settings That Matter
Restore test: Actually recovering files from a backup to prove the backup works. Digital Safety for Writers: Protecting Files: Backups, Encryption and Ransomware
Retention: How much of a video viewers watch before they leave. Apps report it as a graph or percentage. Video and Reels for Social Media: Pacing and length by platform
Reverberation time (RT60): How long sound in a room takes to fade by 60 dB after the source stops. Sound Theory: Rooms, Reflections, Phase and Stereo
Reverse image search: Searching with an image instead of words to find where else it has appeared online. Basic Journalism: Verifying Claims, Photos and Video
Rhetorical hyperbole: Loose, exaggerated language no reasonable reader would take as a literal statement of fact. How to Write a Polemic: Hard Commentary vs. Defamation
Rhyme scheme: The pattern of which line endings rhyme, written with letters like ABAB. X marks a line that doesn't rhyme. Songwriting: Rhyme types and rhyme schemes
Ridicule: Mockery meant to make a person or idea look foolish. How to Write a Polemic: Tone, Sarcasm, Satire and Ridicule
Right of publicity: A state-law right to control commercial use of your name, face or voice. Video Production: Planning a Shoot
Right of reply: Giving people you write about a fair chance to respond before publication. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Hitting Publish Without Hitting a Lawsuit
Roman numerals: A way to name chords by their place in the key. Capitals for major (I, IV, V), lowercase for minor (ii, iii, vi). Basic Music Theory: Chords: Triads, Sevenths and the Chords in a Key
Room tone: The sound of a space when nobody is talking. Every room has one. Audio Editing and Production: Noise: Avoid It, Then Reduce It Carefully; A recording of a location's background sound with nobody talking, used to fill gaps in the edit. Video Production: Sound on Location
Room tone fill: Pasting a bit of recorded room tone into a gap so the background stays continuous. Audio Editing and Production: Editing Speech Without Making It Robotic
Root: The note a chord is named after and built up from. Basic Music Theory: Chords: Triads, Sevenths and the Chords in a Key
Rough cut: The first complete assembly of the story, in order, before fine trimming and polish. Video Production: Editing on a Timeline
Rubric: A scoring table that names the qualities being judged and describes what each score looks like. Capstone: One Story, Every Format: A Week of Posts, a Self-Review and a Portfolio Rubric
Rumble: Very low-frequency noise from traffic, footsteps, HVAC or handling, mostly under 80 Hz. Audio Editing and Production: Noise: Avoid It, Then Reduce It Carefully
Running time: The clock position where a row starts, used to check pacing on paper. Video and Radio Ad Development: Two-Column Scripts with Timing

S

Safe zone: The part of the frame that the app's buttons, captions and labels are unlikely to cover. Keep text and faces inside it. Video and Reels for Social Media: Vertical framing and safe zones; The middle area of a vertical frame where on-screen text will not be covered by the app's buttons, captions or username. Capstone: One Story, Every Format: A 30-Second Radio Spot and a 45-Second Reel
Safety number: A code in Signal that two people can compare to confirm no one is impersonating either of them. Digital Safety for Writers: Talking to Sources Safely
Sample: One measurement of the wave's height at one instant. Sound Theory: Digital Audio: Samples, Bits and Nyquist; The people or records actually measured, chosen to stand in for a larger population. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Uncertainty: Samples, Margins of Error and Significance
Sample rate: How many samples are taken each second, in hertz. 48,000 per second is 48 kHz. Sound Theory: Digital Audio: Samples, Bits and Nyquist
Sample rate conversion: Recalculating audio from one sample rate to another, for example 44.1 kHz to 48 kHz. Sound Theory: Digital Audio: Samples, Bits and Nyquist
Sarcasm: Saying the opposite of what you mean, with a tone that signals contempt. How to Write a Polemic: Tone, Sarcasm, Satire and Ridicule
Satire: An extended piece that uses exaggeration, irony or a deadpan persona to expose a real failing. How to Write a Polemic: Tone, Sarcasm, Satire and Ridicule
Say-see: The mistake of narration that just describes what the viewer is already seeing. Video and Radio Ad Development: Writing for the Ear and the Eye
Scale: A set of notes in order, starting and ending on the same note name. Basic Music Theory: The Major Scale, Keys and Key Signatures
Scheduler: A built-in platform feature or outside tool that publishes a post at a set time. Posts and Content for Social Media: A Content Calendar You Can Keep
Scratch audio: The camera's own sound, used only as a guide for syncing, not in the final mix. Video Production: Sound on Location
Screen reader: Software that reads a page aloud for blind and low-vision users. Creating and Using Images in Articles: Captions, Credits and Alt Text
Scroll-stopper: Any frame, line or sound that interrupts a viewer's thumb long enough for them to watch. Video and Reels for Social Media: The first two seconds
Sealed bid: A competitive bidding method where contractors submit secret bids that are opened together, and the contract goes to the lowest responsive bidder. Capstone: One Story, Every Format: From Records Request to News Article
Secondary source: Someone else's report or summary of a primary source, such as a news story. Basic Journalism: Primary Records and Finding the Original
SecureDrop: Open-source software news organizations run on their own servers so sources can submit documents through Tor. Digital Safety for Writers: Talking to Sources Safely
Security key: A small USB or NFC device that proves who you are using FIDO standards, and refuses to work on fake sites. Digital Safety for Writers: Two-Factor Authentication and SIM-Swap Protection
Sentence rhythm: The pattern of long and short sentences that makes prose easy or tiring to read. How to Write an Article: Edit Your Own Copy
Series: A set of related reels with a shared look and numbering, each built around one idea. Video and Reels for Social Media: From long video or article to reels, and out the door
Session: A signed-in state on a device. Signing out all sessions kicks out anyone using a stolen login. Digital Safety for Writers: Securing Your Site and Recovering From a Hack
SFTP: Secure File Transfer Protocol, which uploads files over an encrypted SSH connection. Digital Safety for Writers: Securing Your Site and Recovering From a Hack
SFX: Script shorthand for sound effects. Video and Radio Ad Development: Writing for the Ear and the Eye
Sharp and flat: A sharp (#) raises a note one half step. A flat (b) lowers it one half step. Basic Music Theory: Notes, Octaves, Half Steps and Whole Steps
Shot list: A written list of every shot you need, grouped by location, with a note on size and purpose. Video Production: Planning a Shoot; A numbered plan of every shot in a video with its length, picture, sound and on-screen text. Capstone: One Story, Every Format: A 30-Second Radio Spot and a 45-Second Reel
Shotgun mic: A long, directional microphone that picks up mostly what it points at and rejects some sound from the sides. Video Production: Sound on Location
Sibilance: Hissy energy from s, sh and t sounds, roughly 5 to 9 kHz. Sound Theory: Frequency and Tone: Naming the Bands
Sidecar (closed) captions: Captions in a separate file, such as SRT, that the player shows or hides. Video Production: Captions, Color Basics and Export
SIM swap: A fraud where a criminal gets your carrier to move your phone number to a SIM card they control. Digital Safety for Writers: Two-Factor Authentication and SIM-Swap Protection
Simpson's paradox: A pattern that appears in every subgroup but reverses when the groups are combined, because the groups differ in size or mix. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Correlation, Causation and the Traps Between Them
Single thought: The one idea an ad exists to plant, written as a short sentence before any script is drafted. Video and Radio Ad Development: One Ad, One Message
Slant rhyme: A near rhyme where the vowel or the ending only partly matches: home, alone, road. Songwriting: Rhyme types and rhyme schemes
Slash chord: A chord with a bass note other than its root, written chord/bass, such as 1/3 or G/B. Basic Music Theory: The Nashville Number System and Chord Charts
Slate: A card at the head of a spot file listing its title, advertiser, length, code and date. Video and Radio Ad Development: Delivering Spots to Stations and Platforms
Soft light: Light from a large source that makes gentle, gradual shadows. Video Production: Light on a Budget
SOT: Sound on tape: a person on camera speaking their own words, with their own audio. Video and Radio Ad Development: Two-Column Scripts with Timing
Sound bite: A short usable clip of a person speaking, chosen from a longer interview. Video Production: Editing on a Timeline
Sound recording: One specific recorded performance. Registered in the sound recording (SR) class. Songwriting: Copyright, registration and getting paid
Source line: Small text on a chart naming where the data came from. Creating and Using Images in Articles: Infographics and Charts That Read in Five Seconds
Source log: A running list of every fact you plan to use, with where it came from and when. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Gathering Stuff: Notes, Documents and Quotes
Spear phishing: Phishing written for one specific person, using details about their work or contacts. Digital Safety for Writers: Phishing and Social Engineering
Spec sheet: A station's or platform's written requirements for file format, length, loudness and labeling. Video and Radio Ad Development: Delivering Spots to Stations and Platforms
Spike Pen: A SoundStudio tool that fixes a single spike you click on. Audio Editing and Production: Repairs: Clicks, Clipping and Plosives
Split bar: A bar that holds more than one chord, usually shown by underlining the chords together. Basic Music Theory: The Nashville Number System and Chord Charts
Sponsor tag: The line at the end of a paid spot that names who paid for it, as broadcast rules require. Capstone: One Story, Every Format: A 30-Second Radio Spot and a 45-Second Reel
Sponsorship identification: The on-air statement of who paid for a broadcast, required by 47 CFR 73.1212. Video and Radio Ad Development: Political and Issue Ad Rules
Spot: A single commercial unit sold by length, written :15, :30 or :60. Video and Radio Ad Development: Structures for :15, :30 and :60 Spots
SRT: SubRip, a plain-text caption format: a number, a time range, the caption lines, a blank line. Video Production: Captions, Color Basics and Export
Stand by your ad: The common name for the federal rule that candidates personally approve their radio and TV ads on air. Video and Radio Ad Development: Political and Issue Ad Rules
Statistically significant: A result unlikely enough under a no-difference assumption that it passes a chosen threshold, often p below 0.05. It says nothing about size or importance. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Uncertainty: Samples, Margins of Error and Significance
Steelman: The strongest, fairest version of an argument you disagree with, stated so its supporters would recognize it. How to Write a Polemic: Answering the Other Side: Steelmanning and Interrogatories
Stem: One separated part of a mix, such as vocals only or drums only. Songwriting: Demo it, clean it, put the words on screen
Stock photo: A generic licensed image made for anyone to use, not taken for your story. Creating and Using Images in Articles: Images That Carry Information
Stock phrase: A ready-made phrase that could appear in any article on any topic, such as 'a pivotal moment.' How to Write an Article: Edit Your Own Copy
Stop consonant: A consonant made by stopping air then releasing it, like P, B, T, D, K and G. There is a tiny silence before it. Audio Editing and Production: Editing Speech Without Making It Robotic
Story: A specific thing that happened or is happening, with people, actions, stakes and a reason it matters now. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Finding Something Worth Writing About
Straw man: A weakened or distorted version of an opposing argument, set up so it is easy to knock down. How to Write a Polemic: Answering the Other Side: Steelmanning and Interrogatories
Stressed syllable: The part of a word you say louder or longer in normal speech, like the 'MOR' in 'tomorrow'. Songwriting: Prosody: making words and music agree
Stroke: An outline drawn around each letter so text stays readable over light and dark backgrounds. Video and Reels for Social Media: Captions burned in
Strophic: A form where every verse uses the same melody, with no separate chorus. Songwriting: Song forms, timing and where the title lives
Subhead: A short heading inside the article that breaks a long piece into sections. How to Write an Article: Headlines and Subheads
Super: Text superimposed on a video picture, such as a name, a date or a web address. Video and Radio Ad Development: Writing for the Ear and the Eye
Sync: Keeping the same files identical across devices, so a change or deletion in one place happens everywhere. Digital Safety for Writers: Protecting Files: Backups, Encryption and Ransomware
Sync clap: A single sharp clap at the start of a take, used to line up separately recorded sound and picture. Video Production: Sound on Location
Sync license: Permission to pair a musical composition with picture or build it into a recorded production such as an ad. Video and Radio Ad Development: Voices, Music Beds and Sound Design
Synthetic media: In Idaho law, realistic but false audio or video of a person's speech or conduct made with digital tools. Video and Radio Ad Development: Political and Issue Ad Rules; Images, video or audio made or substantially changed by AI or other software to show something that did not happen. Posts and Content for Social Media: Rebutting a False Claim Without Spreading It

T

Tag: The closing line of a spot that carries the action, the name and any required disclaimer. Video and Radio Ad Development: Structures for :15, :30 and :60 Spots
Target: The one decision, policy or public official acting in office that the polemic attacks. How to Write a Polemic: One Target, One Claim, and the Paper to Prove It
Target audience: The specific group, pictured as one person, whose mind or behavior the ad is trying to change. Video and Radio Ad Development: One Ad, One Message
Telling detail: A specific detail that implies a larger truth without stating it. Songwriting: Story verses that move
Tempo: How fast the beat goes, measured in beats per minute (BPM). Basic Music Theory: Rhythm, Meter, Tempo and Strumming
Text alternative: A written version of what a chart shows, with its key numbers, for readers who cannot see the image. Capstone: One Story, Every Format: The Polemic Version and the Infographic
Text hook: A short line of words on screen at the start of a reel that states the claim or conflict without needing sound. Video and Reels for Social Media: The first two seconds
Text-based PDF: A PDF whose characters are stored as text you can select and copy, as opposed to a scanned image of a page. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Cleaning Data: The Unglamorous 80 Percent
Theater of the mind: Radio's habit of letting sound and words build a picture inside the listener's head. Video and Radio Ad Development: Writing for the Ear and the Eye
Thread: A chain of connected posts, each replying to the one before, read top to bottom. Posts and Content for Social Media: One Article, a Week of Posts
Threat model: A simple map of what you need to protect, from whom, and how much effort protection is worth. Digital Safety for Writers: Threat Modeling in Plain Terms
Threshold: The level above which a compressor starts working. Audio Editing and Production: EQ and Compression on a Voice
Throat-clearing: Opening words that delay the point: background, scene setting, or generalities the reader didn't need. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: The Lede, or How Not to Lose the Reader by Sentence Two; Opening words that delay the point without adding anything, like background, the date of the meeting or the agenda. How to Write an Article: Ledes That Earn the Second Paragraph
Timbre: The tone color of a sound, set mostly by its harmonics and how they change over time. Sound Theory: What Sound Is and How You Hear It
Time signature: Two stacked numbers at the start of a song. In simple meters like 4/4 and 3/4, the top number is beats per bar. Basic Music Theory: Rhythm, Meter, Tempo and Strumming
Timed sprint: Writing without stopping for a set time, often 25 minutes, to get words down. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Write the Ugly First Draft Already
Timeline: The editing area where clips are placed in order on video and audio tracks over time. Video Production: Editing on a Timeline
Tonic: The home note of a key, numbered 1. Basic Music Theory: The Major Scale, Keys and Key Signatures
Topic: A general subject area, like 'water' or 'schools'. Not yet an article. Writing Articles for Dummies: A Step-by-Step for the Unimaginative and Uneducated: Finding Something Worth Writing About
Topical song: A song about a specific current event, often written fast and meant to be sung right away. Songwriting: The protest song tradition and how it works on a listener
Traffic: The station department that receives, schedules and airs spots. Video and Radio Ad Development: Delivering Spots to Stations and Platforms
Transpose: To move a whole song up or down to a new key, shifting every chord by the same amount. Basic Music Theory: Common Progressions, Transposing and the Capo
Trending audio: A sound or song clip that many people are using in an app at the same time, picked from the app's own library. Video and Reels for Social Media: Audio for reels
Triad: A three-note chord built from a root, a third and a fifth. Basic Music Theory: Chords: Triads, Sevenths and the Chords in a Key
Tritone: Six half steps, exactly half an octave. Tense and unstable. C up to F#. Basic Music Theory: Intervals by Ear
Troll: Someone posting to provoke a reaction rather than to discuss. Posts and Content for Social Media: Comments, Moderation and Community
True peak: The highest level of the audio signal including peaks between samples, measured in dBTP. Video and Radio Ad Development: Delivering Spots to Stations and Platforms; The highest level a waveform reaches, measured to catch peaks between samples. Keep it below about -1 dBTP. Video and Reels for Social Media: Audio for reels
True peak (dBTP): The highest level of the reconstructed wave, including peaks that fall between samples, found by oversampling. Sound Theory: Decibels, Loudness and Delivery Targets; The highest point of the reconstructed waveform, including overshoots between samples. Audio Editing and Production: Loudness and Delivery
Truncated axis: A value axis that starts above zero, which exaggerates differences on bar charts. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: Charts and Maps That Tell the Truth
Truncation: The point where a platform cuts off a post and shows 'more' or 'see more'. Posts and Content for Social Media: Anatomy of a Post
Truth sandwich: A way of correcting misinformation: state the fact, mention the false claim briefly, then restate the fact. Posts and Content for Social Media: Rebutting a False Claim Without Spreading It
Turn: The moment a song's meaning shifts, often in the last verse or the bridge. Songwriting: Story verses that move
Turnaround: The last bar or two of a section that leads back to the start, usually on the V chord. Basic Music Theory: Common Progressions, Transposing and the Capo
Two-factor authentication (2FA): Signing in with something you know (a password) plus something you have or are, like a phone or key. Digital Safety for Writers: Two-Factor Authentication and SIM-Swap Protection

U

Usage: Where, how long and in what media a recorded voice or piece of music may be used. Video and Radio Ad Development: Voices, Music Beds and Sound Design
UTM parameters: Tags added to the end of a link so web analytics can tell which platform and post sent a visitor. Posts and Content for Social Media: Reading the Numbers

V

Vanity metric: A number that looks good but does not show progress toward your real goal. Posts and Content for Social Media: Reading the Numbers
Versioning: Keeping earlier copies of a file so you can go back to how it was before a change. Digital Safety for Writers: Protecting Files: Backups, Encryption and Ransomware
Views: The number of times a post appeared on screen, counting repeats. Meta's main metric since 2024. Posts and Content for Social Media: Reading the Numbers
VO: Voiceover: narration heard while the speaker is not on screen. Video and Radio Ad Development: Two-Column Scripts with Timing
Voice talent: A person hired to read copy for an ad, often paid a session fee plus usage. Video and Radio Ad Development: Voices, Music Beds and Sound Design
Volume envelope: The line that shows a track's level over time. Ducks bend it down; boosts bend it up. Audio Editing and Production: Music Beds and Ducking With Volume Pins
Volume Pin: In SoundStudio, a marked stretch of a track with its own level, ramps and curve. Audio Editing and Production: Music Beds and Ducking With Volume Pins

W

Weighted average: An average where each value counts in proportion to its size, such as students per school. Data Journalism and Basic Statistics: The Statistics That Matter in Local Stories
Weighted character count: A count where some characters, such as emoji or links, use more or less of the limit than one letter does. Posts and Content for Social Media: How the Platforms Differ
White balance: The camera setting that decides which color of light counts as neutral white. Video Production: Light on a Budget
Whole step: Two half steps. Two frets on a guitar. Also called a tone. Basic Music Theory: Notes, Octaves, Half Steps and Whole Steps
Wide shot: A line that sets place and time, like the opening shot of a film. Songwriting: Story verses that move
Work of the U.S. Government: A work made by a federal officer or employee as part of official duties. Not eligible for copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Creating and Using Images in Articles: Rights and Licensing: Whose Picture Is It?
Work tape: A rough recording, often one voice and one guitar, made so a song isn't forgotten and can be shared. Songwriting: Demo it, clean it, put the words on screen

Z

Zero crossing: A point where the waveform crosses the center line. Cuts there are less likely to click. Audio Editing and Production: Editing Speech Without Making It Robotic