I think that there are a ton of interesting differences in the telling of stories through articles and through podcasts. I researched the podcast and article about the infamous Golden State killer. I thought that the biggest difference between the two mediums was how they told the story. In the article from the LA Times, the author takes a first-person perspective on how they researched the case throughout time. It didn’t have a set linear timeline of their investigation or of the case as a whole. She bounces around from her investigation, to witness accounts, to police accounts, to details about the case. The information she gives is very detail-oriented. It focuses on exactly what happened in the case: all of the evidence and witness testimony that she looked at. This makes sense as she wanted to find out the identity of the killer, so she would look at the evidence. On the other hand, the podcast took a quite different approach. Instead of bouncing around a lot, it took a very linear look at the progression from this man being just a peeper toward becoming the Golden State killer. It describes different stories of his crimes, using some witness and police testimony similar to the article. I think that it overall did not have as much detail of what exactly he was doing in these crimes. It obviously didn’t have no detail, but the focus was more on capturing the events and atmosphere around this terrifying person much more than the specific evidence. This difference between creating an atmosphere with the podcast and looking at the specific details of the article is unsurprising. I believe this is because podcasts are generally made to tell a story more than inform. Podcasts are a form of entertainment, so principally are made to capture a feeling of mystery and fear, like a horror or thriller movie, which is what it does. It describes the events of his crimes with eerie music to capture the scariness of the crime. The article on the other hand wants to inform people about this notorious killer that many people didn’t know of so he could possibly be caught. They are just consumed for different reasons. If you want a good story, listen to a podcast. If you want to know exactly what happened and be informed, read an article.
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