From story to understanding
Liu used to be a print journalist, and eight years ago wrote an article about the Taitung Miramar Resort project. He recently spoke to the article’s interview subjects again for a podcast. When asked what was different between the two rounds of interviews, he says, “Their voices are finally being heard.”
Liu believes that in print articles, journalists act as interpreters. They can place interviewees’ statements wherever they like in their articles, and readers never get a chance to hear the person speak in their own voice. Podcasts are different in that the audience hears the conversation and has context for each statement.
“The written word and podcasts convey very different things.” Liu explains that print reporting can use graphics, photographs and layout to present news in a structured way, whereas podcasts use emotional connections to tell a story in a linear way.
As an example, he cites an episode of the New York Times’ podcast The Daily entitled “Tilly Remembers Her Grandfather.” The episode looks at the collective harm caused by Covid-19 via an interview with a young girl comparing her life and mood before and after her grandfather passed away from the disease. Her responses offer listeners insight into how one might face such a situation. The host refrained from explaining the economic decline caused by Covid, or interjecting any other information. Instead, he simply allowed listeners to hear about this particular case from someone directly affected and interpret it however they liked.
On the day we interview Liu, he is recording the last episode of The Real Story’s first season. When we ask about the impact of his podcast experiment on The Reporter, he says that in addition to the positive responses he’s gotten from listeners, there has also been a show of support through increased donations and messages. He sees The Reporter’s next step as retaining the listeners that the podcast has attracted.
Asked how profound an impact podcasts will have on the news, Liu says, “I don’t have an answer to that. The only thing I can do is ask even more questions. For me, podcasting is tossing questions to the audience to see what kind of response I get.”
What’s a podcast?
Podcast = ipod + broadcast
The word is a portmanteau of “iPod” and “broadcast.”
Ben Hammersley, a columnist for The Guardian, coined the term in a 2004 piece for the paper entitled “Audible Revolution.” In it, he noted that the format gave listeners tremendous freedom to choose when and where to listen to programs of interest to them, and also provided for greater inter-activity by enabling them to post their responses to those programs.