Add encoding validation, fix scripts, and encoding docs

README.md

@@ -92,6 +92,34 @@ Set via environment variables or edit `config.py`:
 | `DS_DEVICE` | `cpu` | `cpu` or `cuda` |
 | `DS_COMPUTE` | `int8` | `int8`, `float16`, `float32` |
 | `DS_KEEP_AUDIO` | `0` | Keep MP3s after transcription (`1` to keep) |
+| `DS_ENCODING_CHECK` | `50` | Episodes between UTF-8 verification |
+
+## Encoding & Character Handling
+
+All JSON files are written as **UTF-8** with `ensure_ascii=False`. The RSS feed contains Unicode characters (em/en dashes, accented characters) which are preserved correctly in the JSON files.
+
+**If you see mojibake like `â€"` or `é`:**
+- The JSON files are correctly stored as UTF-8
+- The issue is the *consumer* (text editor, web browser, terminal) reading the file with wrong encoding (Latin-1/Windows-1252)
+- **Fix**: Ensure your tools/editor/browser use UTF-8 encoding
+
+**Verification & Repair:**
+```bash
+# Verify all JSON files are valid UTF-8
+python verify_encoding.py
+
+# Fix common mojibake patterns (run if data was corrupted)
+python fix_mojibake.py --dry-run   # preview fixes
+python fix_mojibake.py              # apply fixes
+
+# Check progress including encoding status
+python check_progress.py
+```
+
+**For web apps displaying this data:**
+- Set `Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8`
+- Include `<meta charset="utf-8">` in HTML
+- Ensure database connections use UTF-8
 
 ## Resuming / Sharing Work