The production and consumption of news podcasts

Introduction

Over the past decade, podcasts have, across the globe, grown in popularity (Aufderheide et al., 2020; Berry, 2006; Sullivan, 2019). As an emerging medium, the podcast has unique characteristics such as enhanced intimacy through narrative journalism (Lindgren, 2016), intimate parasocial relationships between hosts and listeners (Lindgren, 2016; Zuraikat, 2020) and immersive storytelling techniques (Dowling and Miller, 2019). As McHugh (2016) notes, podcasting does not simply mean ‘a delivery mode for audio content’; rather the term describes ‘the production and consumption of podcast content’ (p. 78).

A growing number of news publishers, recognising the potential of podcasts to help them reach a wider and younger audience, have heavily invested in the new format (Newman, 2022). Over the years, the use of news podcasts has steadily grown, as they proved their value as an effective channel for providing important information to large audiences during the COVID-19 pandemic (Newman and Gallo, 2020). News podcasts can also serve as an alternative to mainstream news (Sang et al., 2020a) and the ubiquity of mobile devices only makes news podcasts more accessible.

Although podcasting emerged in the mid-2000s, relatively little is known about how podcasts are consumed in different countries. This special issue includes five articles examining news podcasts in various global contexts, focusing mainly on the Asia-Pacific region – Korea, Australia and India. Compared to the production and consumption of news podcasts in Western countries, discussions on news podcasts in the Asia-Pacific region have received little attention. This special issue contributes to filling this gap in the literature.

As for using podcasts to disseminate news, one of the leading countries has been South Korea. According to the latest Reuters Institute Digital News Report (2022), more than half of Korean news consumers (52%) said that they had listened to a podcast in the last month, which is a much higher rate than the average (34%) in the selected 20 countries where podcasts are a popular medium. It is worth noting that more than one out of four Korean news consumers (28%) report that they have listened to political and news podcasts in the last month. A growing number of major Korean publishers and broadcasters have invested in publishing their own podcasts (Lee et al., 2020).

Within the digital news ecosystem, another prominent trend in Korean society is the rise of YouTube as a channel for news. According to a national survey, 4 out of 10 Koreans use YouTube to access news-related videos. ¹ And around the world, YouTube is becoming a popular platform for podcasts. A survey of 10 countries found that 54% of news podcast listeners said that they used YouTube to find and consume news podcasts (Sang et al., 2020a). In Australia, 42% of Australian podcast listeners used YouTube to access podcasts and the platform is more popular among news podcast consumers (Sang et al., 2020a). However, relatively little is known about how YouTube is changing journalistic practices in the context of digital journalism. After the United States and China, India is the third largest podcast market. ² Given that India represents a large market share in podcasting, the practice of news podcasting in India deserves further investigation. The contextual environment of each country surrounding the production and consumption of news podcasts is diverse and requires contextual understanding.

The rise of news podcasts and its implications: Focusing on the Asia-Pacific region

The first article in this issue – by Peter English, Jacqueline Burgess and Christian Jones – focuses on sports news and information. Based on a survey of 333 listeners of The Final Word Cricket Podcast, English et al. (2022) investigated perceptions of engagement with the podcast medium as well as news consumption. Giving both audiences and producers greater opportunities for engagement, podcasting has become part of broader changes in the evolving digital media landscape (English et al., 2022). However, the discussion of how podcast audiences engage with media and consume news has not received much attention from prior literature on news engagement (Park et al., 2021; Sang et al., 2020b). Focusing on a global sports podcast, English et al.’s (2022) study fills a gap in the literature. English et al. (2022) found that the audiences of The Final Word Cricket Podcast actively engaged with media content about cricket. Forming a community, almost three quarters of the survey respondents engaged with the hosts on social media and half of the respondents contributed to the podcast financially.

Connecting to the theme of this special issue, two articles focus on the landscape of South Korea's news podcasts from both the journalists’ and audiences’ perspectives. Podcasts are perceived as a medium for information like other traditional news mediums such as TV and newspapers. While this new platform, serving as a source of information that offers exclusive news content, is attracting new audiences, it is simultaneously raising concerns about the journalistic practices of podcasts in their capacity as a medium for news (Ben-Porath, 2007; Lee et al., 2022; Tulloch, 2014).

The second article in this issue – by Na Yeon Lee, Jeehyun Kim and Changsook Kim – investigates the journalistic standards and practices of professional and non-professional news podcasts in Korea. Lee et al. (2022) seek to answer questions around whether and, if so, to what extent podcasts abide by journalistic practices of objectivity and gatekeeping. They employ a comparative method to look at professional and non-professional news podcasts in Korea. In line with other studies, Lee and her colleagues reaffirm that this newly invented news medium weakens the journalistic norm of objectivity with its significant volume of opinions and evaluative content. As Lee et al. (2020) note, some news podcasts have been criticised for being overtly representative of a particular political position and for spreading irresponsible remarks. This practice is more prominent in podcasts hosted by journalists not affiliated with mainstream media outlets compared to those hosted by journalists affiliated with mainstream media outlets. Lee and her colleagues argue that podcast journalists should offer more diverse sources of news and put more effort into preserving the values of journalistic norms in this new medium.

The third article – by Yoon Yong Cho, Ahran Park and Jinho Choi – seeks to lay the groundwork for exploring the motivations among Korean audiences to listen to podcasts. The role of podcasts as a medium for social support among the politico-mania, among information seekers and as part of one's everyday routine are well known. In addition, Cho et al. (2023) find that podcasts are potentially valuable tools for communicating political agendas and encouraging public deliberation. These findings are particularly significant as there is a lack of critical examination of podcasts in political communication and media (Bratcher, 2022). Unconventional ways of disseminating political information – ways that tend to be direct, outspoken and critical – are attractive to the public, particularly to segments in Korea that are more politically liberal than conservative (Cho et al., 2023). Podcast listeners feel a sense of social support by listening to like-minded podcasts, which increase their engagement with political discussions and further their intention to participate in political activities (Cho et al., 2023).

The fourth article – by Sneha Gore Mehendale and Ruchi Kher Jaggi – focuses on the practices of news podcasting in India. It is clear that concerning India less is known about how news podcasts are produced and consumed. In fact, when it comes to exploring the practice of news podcasting in the context of ‘slow journalism’, India is an understudied region. Based on newsroom observations and in-depth interviews with Indian journalists, Mehendale and Jaggi (2022) argue that some characteristics associated with news podcasting such as collaborative production and narrative storytelling make news podcasting fit into slow journalism. Their study shows that as a remedy to the speed-driven journalistic practice, journalists consciously choose the practice of news podcasting as a means of facilitating and maintaining diverse perspectives that contribute to the formation of a strong public sphere (Mehendale and Jaggi, 2022).

This fifth article – by Mia Lindgren and Britta Jorgensen – provides some grounding for podcasting's journalistic role in constructive journalism. Their study pertains to health news conveyed through a practice-led research podcast project. This practice-led study finds that the technique of narrating stories can build experiences that entail audience intimacy, which may increase positive attitudes and pro-social behaviour. The authors note the parasocial capacities of podcasts, which may increase constructive behaviours in public health (Lindgren and Jorgensen, 2023). Constructive journalism is proposed to increase audience engagement with, and trust in, news and information (van Antwerpen et al., 2022) and decrease negative emotions (Baden et al., 2019; Hermans and Prins, 2020; McIntyre and Gibson, 2016; McIntyre, 2017). These constructive journalistic practices may be amplified in podcasting given its manner of engaging with audiences. Lindgren and Jorgensen's (2023) study seeks empirical evidence to explain how constructive journalism is practiced in podcasting, which requires more attention in journalism studies.

Concluding remarks

Newman and Gallo (2019) convincingly put news podcasts in the wider digital news ecosystem, considering news podcasting a new area poised for growth. The articles included in this special issue also demonstrate that unique characteristics associated with podcasting make news podcasts important venues for audience engagement as well as promising venues for growth opportunities. What are still lacking, however, are empirical studies on how news podcasts affect audience engagement and the digital news ecosystem. This special issue concludes that the potential and limitations of news podcasts deserve further academic inquiry from a wide range of perspectives.