Podcasting is a huge phenomenon that has exploded in recent years with 4,318,424 registered around the world in January 2024. This staggering number is hard to believe and is most likely down to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 which locked down the world and
took away any kind of human interactions (‘hands, face, space’ am I right!) The art of podcasting was taken up by most of the famous faces we see in the public eye as a way to connect with their audience and stay current when the world was put on hold. This has correlated with the reduction of the use of mainstream media such as television networks while UK national newspaper sales have fallen by nearly two thirds over the last two decades. The variation of entertainment online is likely to be stopping the engagement with mainstream media for many reasons although this may not be for the best.
Mainstream media is infamous for telling the views of one side of society disproportionately more than the other. This is demonstrated by the fact that media professionals tend to come from upper middle class backgrounds. Consequently, the opinions they possess may not be indicative of what the majority of people think. Podcasts differentiate the perspectives that can be shared by allowing people who may not fit the typical mold of news professionals to provide their account. This then allows people to hear different sides to stories that the mainstream may not portray or show due to bias, unconsciously or not.
The ease these podcasts can be engaged with in the busy world we live in also could show why they are preferred to mainstream media which tends to be in formats that are written. Podcasts can conveniently range from ten minute snippets of the daily headlines, as the ‘Financial Times News Briefing’ shows, to 35 minutes which is the average length of the successful podcast ‘Papercuts’. This easily digestible news can be absorbed into the ears of commuters, dog walkers and runners- multitasking goals. The nature of newspapers means readers only receive a snapshot of the news on that day, a single article often only explores one development of a much bigger story. This could lead to readers failing to understand the full context of a particular story, unless the reader religiously follows developments across multiple editions of the paper. However, podcasts have the natural ability to tell a more complete story, making it a good format for investigative journalism. Podcasts are a great format for storytelling, and in a matter of seconds the listener can jump from one episode to the next, extensive research and creativity can go into the making of them, making them far more engaging. The recent success of the podcast The Trial of Lucy Letby, available on Spotify, is a good example of this, as the listener could follow daily development in the case from beginning to end. Have you ever read a mainstream media article and come away from it more confused from when you began? The language used is often complex and assumes the reader knows what the intricacies of the article are discussing. This is a deterrent personally when I go to look at certain news articles (politics and economics are not my strong point). If there are stories that appear complicated, I often lose interest and turn away from the mainstream media to other channels such as podcasts which break down difficult topics to make it more understandable for the ‘average joe’. Not only that, print newspapers and sometimes online articles require payment to read. On average, national newspapers now cost 13% more than they did one year ago. The reduction of people investing in this sort of media is likely to be linked to the cost of living crisis making necessities hardly affordable let alone luxuries of print journalism.
The majority of podcasts and online entertainment are free which means the news can reach a wider amount of people due to the lack of needing to pay. This makes it more accessible which has great value for members of society as knowledge is power.
Although these are worthy reasons for mainstream media being shunned in comparison to online entertainment, namely podcasts, this could raise some eyebrows. The mainstream media is vetted and regulated according to laws and guidelines. Journalists are compelled to follow ethical and legal codes of conduct when constructing articles whereas online entertainment forums that disclose news are not under the same obligations and are unlikely to possess knowledge about these aforementioned codes of conduct. This may mean that stories aren’t fact-checked which means fake news could spread and interfere with what actually has happened. Conspiracy theories have been on the rise in recent years in regard to events such as Covid-19 and Brexit for example. Podcast platforms such as Google have declared they only remove podcasts in rare circumstances. Podcasts can also reach other platforms such as Youtube which in Australia is the most popular platform to listen to podcasts which means they can be heard by an even wider audience. This could result in dangerous information being spread and too many different perspectives given leaving people even more confused. As the famous saying goes, ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’.
So mainstream media is being overtaken by online entertainment which definitely has benefits as discussed above, but make sure to be savvy about the sources and information given as some people will say anything to get their five minutes of fame!