When it comes to the medium of podcasting and the future of journalism, the two aren’t really at odds with each other. In fact, I would dare to say that the two of them of a lot in common. However, there seems to be a genuine disconnect between the utility that is podcasting and the profession that is journalism. I, by myself, am not foolish enough to assume that I have a set of solutions to this problem but I do have a few observations the may work to begin the conversation.
Its really a battle between the traditionalists and the innovations of the past decade that have led to this divide. On the one hand you have legacy media outlets that are hyper-focused on the maintenance of what had worked and on the other you have the early adopters of new technology clamoring to get access to information. In isolation, these two factions (hands) do not realize that they are working for the same master (body), the public.
Recently at a conference, We Make the Media, I was fortunate enough to witness the old guard and the new guard come together to have an honest conversation about the future of journalism. What was repeated over and over by those in defense of “the way things were” was the notion that citizen journalism can only go so far. And that professional journalism was being sacrificed for the purpose of convenience. At the same conference there were messages of the liberation of information and that accessibility was the new doctrine of journalism. Either way you looked at it, these two parties disagreed.
I think that this was my first introduction to the old vs. the new debate and it was revealing. I personally take the side of the liberation of information, but I do not agree with the notion that it has to be at the expense of professional journalism. This is where podcasting can play such an important role as a key player in this war of information. Podcasting provides a viable opportunity for both the high standards and ethics of journalism as well as the accessibility of the public. Platforms such as iTunes has proven this time and time again.
With programs from NPR and the BBC regularly being some of the most popular podcasts on iTunes it is hard to deny the ability of these networks to maintain a loyal listener base. Podcasting has allowed simple audio files to replace terrestrial radio signals, giving rise to the on-demand nature of media consumption. Without these podcasts, people from all over the world would not receive their news coverage. It is the podcast that has made this possible.
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