“The Power of Digital Audio Storytelling: From Podcasts to Voice Assistants” is a four-week course that runs from Oct. 26 to Nov. 29, presented for free thanks to support from Knight Foundation.
While the pandemic becomes part of people’s daily lives all around the world, media outlets and individuals are creating podcasts to educate their communities about COVID-19.
Radio Ambulante, which has had an award-winning and recognized podcast on Latin American stories for eight years, in addition to investing in listening clubs and a Spanish learning app, will launch a product with a more news-centered focus. Its new podcast, El Hilo, will explain and deepen, in a narrative format, the main headlines about Latin America or global themes with a Latin American perspective.
When the radio reached Latin American homes in the first half of the 20th century, families and neighbors gathered around the device that brought stories from around the world in sound waves. Almost 100 years later, a podcast is updating the practice of collective listening to bring Latin America closer to its stories and foster ties among its listeners.
There are more than 660,000 podcasts available today, with over half of the U.S. population stating that they listen to podcasts regularly and relatively frequently. And with those numbers, technology followed. The number of smart speaker owners grew about 78 percent just from 2016 to 2017.
These journalists are turning the microphone toward the people behind the news and are examining the press in this current moment.
For Teri Finneman, the Knight Center’s latest free online course on podcasting came at just the right time.