Podcasts as Liberation or a Hindrance to Communication

Sarah Gilsoul, October 22, 2021

From movie critiques to conspiracy theories, podcasts are a new form of media communication that allows people to listen to their favorite hosts discuss a wide array of topics. In recent years, podcasts have grown in popularity regarding the number of people listening and how many hours they spend on the medium (Forbes, 2021), making understanding their strengths and weaknesses more important than ever. In a world that dramatically varies in access to free speech and information, podcasts certainly have their benefits. However, in the commercial media market that dominates United States communications, there are some things that listeners need to watch out for.

In terms of engagement, podcasts offer a happy medium between radio and Tv communication. While radio offers short audio stories, podcasts can include those same interesting sound elements but draw the stories out and include more in-depth discussions to keep the audience engaged. For example, in the MPR podcast, “The evolution of ‘greenwashing,’ The host discusses the shift towards greater transparency in companies to identify environmental impacts of their products with a sustainability expert, which is significantly more engaging than simply listening to the host rattle off facts (Huttner, 2021). Podcasts are also less engaging than television, meaning the audience can listen as they engage in other daily tasks.

Another benefit of podcasts is that they can increase access to information and communication. For example, the podcast Sinica, which details weekly events in China, is widely accessible to viewers even though the country can censor all media (Frary, 2017). Podcasts can play a crucial role in countries where citizens do not have media freedom, mainly because podcasts can be distributed to audiences in discrete ways. The hosts of Sinica believe that their podcast can get past the censors because it is produced in English and is audio-based rather than text-based (Frary, 2017). Podcasts have even made it to North Korea on USBs (Frary, 2017). In regions where information is limited and citizens have little control over communication, podcasts can serve as a form of resistance (Frary, 2017).

However, in places like the United States, where individual freedoms seem to be valued more than the collective good, podcasts post a potential danger. In terms of accessibility, anyone can create a podcast, which introduces an issue of misinformation because there is no process of peer review. In addition, the media system in the United States is market-driven, with little funding devoted to public broadcasting (Pickard, 2017). While podcasts had not joined mainstream media until relatively recently, they are not exempt from the commercial media system. Larger companies with marketing and political goals sponsor many popular podcasts. Their biases impact the content produced in terms of what is said and who will say it. In contrast, public broadcasting is more ideologically diverse, critical of existing policies, and independent than commercial news sites (Pickard, 2017). Public broadcasting options are available, such as the story featured on MPR news, but they are currently vastly outnumbered by commercially funded media (Pickard, 2017). 

Bibliography  

Adgate, B. (2021, February 11). As podcasts continue to grow in popularity, ad dollars follow. Forbes. Retrieved October 22, 2021, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/bradadgate/2021/02/11/podcasting-has-become-a-big-business/.

Frary, M. (2017, September 14). Power to the podcast: Podcasting is bringing a whole new audience to radio and giving investigative journalism a boost. plus, our handy guide to making your own podcasts – Mark Frary, 2017. SAGE Journals. Retrieved October 22, 2021, from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0306422017730789.

Huttner, P. (2021, September 23). The evolution of ‘greenwashing’. MPR News. Retrieved October 22, 2021, from https://www.mprnews.org/episode/2021/09/23/climate-cast-the-evolution-of-greenwashing.

Pickard, V. (2017). A Social Democratic vision of media: Toward a radical pre-history of public broadcasting. Journal of Radio & Audio Media, 24(2), 200–212. https://doi.org/10.1080/19376529.2017.1362853