podcast

Disrespecting the medium

Is it weird for people to bag out a medium?

For people to feel insecure at the thought of lots of individuals having a voice?

Absolutely not.

Follow @trufelman on twitter.

Most of the time, the pushback is linked to what the form represents.

Podcasting, and the nakedness of voice, is symbolic. 

Just a voice. 

Your voice.

The new reality is sinking in.

We’re watching traditional media crumble into tiny online communities where previously disempowered voices can share their unique perspective like never before.

Making gatekeepers redundant is a frightening change (for the gatekeepers, at least).

When the status quo shifts, expect tremors.

Full credit to an ABC comedy video that discouraged people from starting a podcast during the pandemic. 

It sparked up because it worked on both sides: you loved it because it validated your fear/entitlement/insecurity, or you hated it because it rejected the empowered ‘anyone can do it’ narrative.

Of course, most podcasters thought it was lame, not just because of its negative message, but because the joke is tired. 

But the rest of the world doesn’t live and breathe in podcast circles. And its execution is separate to the fact, it was comedy, it started a conversation, and I’m sure the people who wrote it consider their job done.

What I think will be more interesting is how we look back on it in 20 years time.