Plugged In

One of the main phrases I’ve heard throughout both my college career working on a newspaper and my entire life is that “Print is dead”. This is meant to be a comment on the state of Information/News industry, but I think the term has evolved since its original creation. In the wake of terms like “Fake News”, I beileve a distrust in the media and government has grown within us, and led to the seeking out other more unconventional methods of information like Podcasts.

In theory, a podcast could be considered the same as certian news programs. A major similarity between the two is that it all depends on what you choose to consume. As a journalism student, I learned that the majority of the news networks we regularly consume are bought and paid for by large corporations and political parties. These larger powers influence what is reported on and how it is reported based on what suits them best. This shows that a lot of the distrust Americans have in the media is warranted. According to a report by CNBC, 1 in 5 Americans receive their news from social media or influencers.

Podcast’s offer a space where free speech is much more than an ideal. Most podcasts are free of the influence of much larger companies because the space relatively new. Aside from a few advertising deals, the podcasting world is full of unfiltered voices for better or for worse. People often comment that “a lot of people don’t need mics” in an expression of contempt for podcasting, but just like news stations podcasts are hit or miss depending on what you’re looking to consume. There is a corner of the podcasting community that have some really misinformed thoughts to share, a lot of men vs. women engagement farming, people intentionally “rage baiting” people by projecting toxic views.

Every medium runs the risk of people trying to exploit it for financial gain or fame, but there are as many pros as cons in the podcasting world. There are podcasts like Earn Your Leisure, Joe Budden Podcast, Joe Rogan and others. Earn Your Leisure is a podcast where two men offer financial advice. They offer all sorts of advice from raising or fixing a credit score to investing in the stock market for beginners.

Podcasts Like Joe Rogan and Joe Budden’s are more on the entertainment side, but both are more informative than most programs out now. They take deep dives into current event topics and often have very notable and informed guests to further conversations. The Joe Budden podcast is more music based and focuses on the business done in the music industry in an effort to better inform creatives. Aside from these shows there are even a lot of established journalist starting to join the podcasting world themselves. Marc Lamont Hill is a journalist that formally worked for CNN has joined the Joe Budden Podcast. Other journalists have made similar shifts like Erica Mandy of CBS, Jon Stewart and Conan O’brien all of whom have podcasts.

I personally feel “the more mics the better”, I think we need to promote the raising of new voices instead of suppressing them. Over saturation is a better alternative than suppression, I would rather weed through the voices to find the informative ones than have to watch programs that will never reveal the truth anyway. First hand accounts from journalists, musicians, athletes, etc. will beat second hand storytelling most days of the week, but I believe there needs to be a healthy consumption of both to be a well balanced and informed person.