Listening to a podcast as opposed to reading an article is a lot easier and occasionally quicker. Podcasts can be on while a person drives or cleans or even as a person sleeps. This makes podcasts incredibly accessible and the information being shared through this medium equally as accessible. However, this is not always a benefit of podcasting as it is easy for anyone to just make a podcast and now their opinion is being taken as fact by viewers.
There are many genres of podcast, you can have a podcast where friends sit and discuss trending pop culture topics; a tv show can have a podcast which either runs alongside the show or retroactively discusses secrets from the show long after it aired; you can also watch informative podcasts most likely discussing true crime stories. The nature of the podcast affects how it can shape ‘the message.’ When discussing something fictional it is hard for a podcast to really have an impact on reality and the lives of regular people. It is when real issues are being discussed and actual stories from real people’s lives are the focus that it becomes important to consider how podcasting shapes the message.
Some podcasts choose to debate topics which are seemingly innocent, yet in the grand scheme of things they can imply certain behaviour is ok and indirectly promote bad behaviour. These debates often stem from one man’s opinion that his friends just agree with to not seem like the odd one out and it’ll likely be about something a woman did that she shouldn’t have done and why this is the reason for so many people being single in this generation. This mainly applies to British podcasts made by men ranging from ages 22 – 35. This is not to say that no podcasts exist where men are having regular fun conversations, as these most definitely do exist, however there are too many situations where a soundbite will start trending and the clip is men saying ‘I would never date a female who does X’ or ‘if my future daughter did X I’d disown her.’ Though framed as jokes these comments reinforce negative stereotypes about women. Outside of this main issue of podcasts shaping the message, we have the issue of who is at the helm of these podcasts.
There are a handful of regular people who have started podcasts with their friends and become successful, this does not mean that everyone has to try. One funny conversation you had with two of your friends does not mean you have what it takes to create and maintain a podcast. I do not know how to stress it enough that podcasting is not for everyone. Not everyone’s opinion must be plastered on Spotify for the world to hear, especially when so many people base their reasonings on ‘vibes.’ If your intention is to entertain, you should be having conversations which are actually entertaining ,nobobdy wants to sit and listen to a group of people argue over cereal or milk first when making cereal. If your intention is to use a podcast to educate or inform, there should be a way to ensure the people providing these messages actually know what they are discussing and teaching. Without this, people just share what they’re thinking, and audiences receive it as fact. Overall people should just think before they grab a microphone, it would save the world from a copious amount of unnecessary podcasts.
I agree we really live in a society that focusses more on vibes and peoples opinions than facts. It very much portrayes in the exposure of threaths towards women and the entertainement of their hate and stigmatisation.It also protrayes in the galvanisation of fascism. Also I feel, like podcasts being such a niche thing, not as accessible than the video format is a place for people to get comforted in their ideas and not comfronted with any oposite discourse. I also agree that there should be a way to regulate that. If people cared about respect towards everybody the law would take this into account.