It’s no secret that podcasts are taking over the world. Why not? Podcasts let us plug in our headphones and listen while doing mundane tasks. The variety of podcasts has even more drawing appeal, from true crime to gossip. Podcasts have taken over our minds and are winning the ever-losing battle against articles.
However, never underestimate the power of an article. Even though articles can seem a bit boring, they are the foundation for learning and easily provide visual evidence to back up a point. With articles, it is easier for us to fall into a rabbit hole and learn more about a topic allowing us to cite effortlessly. Podcasts heavily rely on the audience’s visual imagination to understand the storytelling to be done.
Podcasts hold a certain charm compared to articles. The creators of podcasts can add a musical element to build suspense, paranoia, and even anxiety in their atmosphere to further draw their audience to the story. Podcasts also allow us to have to hear the voices of people without the doubt of an unreliable narrator. For example, in The Man in the Window, the podcast host interviews an actual victim of the Golden State Killer. This leaves no room for doubt that what we are being told is true since we are getting a recount from an actual eyewitness of the crime. This is sometimes not the case for articles. In the Los Angeles Magazine article, In the Footsteps of a Killer, the audience follows the author, Michelle Mcnamara, as she tries to navigate the Golden State Killer murders and his identity. As a reader, you begin to notice that Mcnamara might be losing her mind. As she recounts an impulsive buy in hopes of evidence believing her husband to be an intruder and almost attacking him, Mcnamara weaves in the details of the Golden State Killer and her urgency to find him. This is something we don’t see in the podcast.
Overall podcasts vs articles are a personal preference. Both shine in their spotlight and can sometimes miss the cues. However, both allow us to learn about new topics, like crimes, in an interesting way that keeps us hooked and wanting more. (366)