Via the NYT comes the lastest Podcasting story: Tired of TiVo? Beyond Blogs? Podcasts Are Here.
While I have no doubt that there is an interesting, and perhaps significant in the long-term, niche for podcasting, it seems to me that the coverage of the phenomenon has ben overblown. Specifically it seems to me that because the MSM came to the coverage of blogs late in the game, that they are trying to not miss “the next big thing”.
Certainly, like blogs, podcasting is part of the fragmentation of media and the increasing niche-ization of information services, but at this stage I don’t see podcasting to have the same impact as blogs. For one thing: blogs can be easily read/perused with little time committment,. Further, part of the appeal of blogs is their ability to instantly respond to the news. Listening to something takes a higher degree of committment and is harder to do, for example, throughout the day at work.
I agree that written blogs are better. A blog I frequently visit is listed on our site, Random Thoughts, uses the podcasting from time to time and while it was interesting to hear his voice, I much prefer to read his random thoughts.
Comment by The Misanthrope — Sunday, February 20, 2024 @ 2:10 pm
Here is my antiscepticism…
We need podcasts like we need another folk singer, and you know what we need another folk singer like.
Comment by John Lemon — Sunday, February 20, 2024 @ 11:30 pm
[…] ack
Steven Taylor shares my skepticism as to the “it”-ness of podcasting (The Coverage of Podcasts). He posits a somewhat cynical assessment as to why the mainstream media are […]
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