I am very proud to have been named Best Entertainment Producer in last year’s APAs, but that moniker feels inaccurate considering my body of work consists almost entirely of factual narrative storytelling. So, I started to scrutinise the hypothesis that my work is prioritising entertainment. Is it journalism with flair or just a potboiler? Are we telling stories ethically and with purpose or are we just doing it to sell the intellectual property rights to the book/TV/streaming spin-off?

The stories our ancestors told, whether through song or creepy fairy tales, had purpose. They entertained us but they also taught us life lessons like ‘don’t share your home address with strangers when visiting grandma’. Oral storytelling transmitted knowledge that saved our lives and preserved history. Studies have even shown that stories help us process concepts differently compared to when the same concepts are presented to us as facts.

Now podcasts are the oral stories we use to elevate truths that are in the public interest, but we tell them with high production value compared to traditional journalism. This and the explosive growth of our medium is why I question how we tell stories now and whether we’ve strayed too much towards entertainment, prioritising big stories that make big money.

Many podcasts balance entertainment and purpose, with success. A handful of chart-topping true crime podcasts have even uncovered flaws in original police investigations and led to 40 year old murders being solved (The Teacher’s Pet) or freed a wrongly-convicted person from jail (Serial). Furthermore, both the teams behind Serial and Sweet Bobby received evidence and information from listeners during their investigations, which contributed to the resolution of the stories. These live investigations drummed up a lot of excitement, audience participation and attention. They were entertaining but they also did some good in the world.

That being said, these few successes may not justify the trending unwieldy ‘investigations’ and witch hunts. Often we’re ruthless in our pursuit of the best tape and the best access, with some podcast hosts recording phone calls (we don’t hear whether the person knows they’re being recorded for a podcast before the conversation, which is illegal in the UK if you intend to share them with a third party) and knocking on people’s doors out of the blue – completely disregarding a person’s right to privacy. But the more dramatic the tape, the higher the chance that the podcast will be featured on Best Of lists and the TV people will come knocking and ask to buy the IP. After all, every production company wants to follow the podcast to TV examples of Missing Richard Simmons, The Shrink Next Door, Song Exploder, and Limetown. That’s where the money is, I’m told (but not for the real people we’re actually telling a story about who never see a penny). The possible IP sale at the end of the rainbow is a massive driving force behind which stories get greenlit by companies and which gather dust in the Notes app on my phone. It’s a worrying sign that money is increasingly driving our editorial decisions, instead of whether the public needs to hear a story because of its potential real life impact. The ethics of buying and selling true stories was recently challenged on an episode of Lights Out, highlighting that contributors aren’t always aware of how a show is made or how their involvement may affect them, which is something that Ofcom is trying to address. There have been cases like S Town, in which the producers were sued for invasion of privacy, revealing personal information (including about a contributor’s sexuality, suicidal tendencies and financial affairs), and for not getting adequate consent from the contributor. The case was settled but the podcast is still widely debated for being more voyeuristic than journalistic. And yes, it is in development to be turned into a movie.

There are also worries that podcast productions are skewing actual justice, as in the case of The Teacher’s Pet trial where it was recorded that “the unrestrained and uncensored public commentary about the applicant’s guilt, is the most egregious example of media interference with a criminal trial process”. Mere months after the podcast was released the suspect was finally charged, but it very nearly jeopardised the case. It meant that there could be no jury in the trial (for fears that they may have been biased by the podcast), the trial was delayed in order to let speculation die down, and the suspect’s lawyers could use it to request that the judge permanently halt the prosecution. The judge claimed that the podcast was unbalanced and pushed a particular narrative using evidence that couldn’t be used in court. More worryingly, the judge said that the show “may in whole or in part have completely deprived some evidence of its usefulness”.

Podcasts may have the power to aid justice but they rarely start from a presumption of innocence until proven guilty and much of what is shared in a podcast would never hold up in court and would be discarded as hearsay. Whilst these deep dives into what a neighbour may have heard are captivating, it can be a dangerous and unethical presentation of a story – both for the people involved in the story, and for the producers who may be held liable in court. This is an even bigger risk for indy podcasters who may not check their scripts with lawyers prior to publishing, and may not have access to insurance. Take Only Murders in the Building for example – it’s a great streaming show but in reality their podcast could get them convicted of criminal contempt.

The concerns discussed above aren’t isolated to a single genre. Regardless, we want the most exciting tape and the as-yet-untold reveal but we have to be aware of the power of our shows over listeners and how every word we write could damn or distress a person, and – in some cases – subvert the course of justice. Indy producers in particular need to be cautious about how much personal information they reveal about contributors, be clear about getting consent, and be aware of the journalistic and legal principles that will keep their story from overstepping the line.

The line between ethical storytelling and entertainment is a line we draw ourselves as Producers. Yes, it would be great to sell the IP and then be able to tell more stories, but that shouldn’t be the deciding factor in which stories we tell or how we tell them. Yes, a show needs to be dramatic and entertaining in order to retain listeners but that needs to be balanced with journalistic integrity. And yes, it feels great when you get emotional tape and spicy rumours, but not at the risk of abandoning our duty of care.

Listen to Meera’s Podcast Recommendations:

Check out these episodes for more insight to ethical considerations in podcasting…

Ep 3 | Podcasts —> TV = Big Money? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This episode of Shameless Acquisition Target explores the podcast to TV phenomenon if you want to delve into it a bit more. Laura Meyer’s show has received lots of praise for its look at the podcast industry. Listen on your podcast app >>

Lights Out – ‘Accounts and Accountability’

Lights Out is a new show on BBC Radio 4 that explores a different topic each episode and encourages people to take a close listen. In this episode,  a documentary-maker hosts an open-call audition for subjects to star in her next project. Accounts and Accountability offers a dive into the ethics of buying and selling true stories. Listen on your podcast app >>

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Meera is an award-winning Producer and Content Development Exec. She was selected as one of the Rising Stars of 2022 in the British Podcast Awards, was named Best Entertainment Producer in the 2022 Audio Production Awards, and has won two Lovie Awards. Meera has produced stories for the BBC, Sony Music, Universal, UK Parliament, Waitrose, and other well-known brands. Meera is Ambie nominated, and has had her work featured in The Guardian and The Times and selected as one of Spotify’s Best Episodes Of 2021.

The post Ethics and Entertainment: What should be driving editorial choices? appeared first on POD BIBLE.

Much like a cockerel can tell when the morning is near without even seeing the sky, I can tell when the end of the year is nigh without a calendar due to the slew of Best Of 2022 lists that eat up my hotmail storage.

So the Year of Celebrity Podcasts, formerly known as The Year of the Ox, draws to a close. Talent agents are no doubt keen to put their OOO on, but not before they politely reject the 14th request of the day for Tom Hanks to guest on a chat show. Freelancers chase their final invoice. And production companies send that invoice to their junk folders with a contented sigh.

It’s been a year full of excitement and commissions, but I’ve noticed that a lot of the shows produced and currently in development look similar in content and format. I’ve only been in the industry for 18 months but as the APA Gold winner of the Best Entertainment Producer award (humble brag), I feel justified in saying that not every idea needs a chat show. I too indulge on occasion, but there must be balance in the world. I have however developed a good coping mechanism – every time a potential client mentions recreating Diary of a CEO, I dry my tears whilst listening to The Real Tom Banks or Ghetto Life 101. And then I cry again in the knowledge that I haven’t made anything as good as that yet, but hopefully there’s still time for me to channel my inner Ira Glass ‘before the podcast bubble bursts’ – a prediction that was shared with me over Zoom earlier this year. Many of the prophecies that I’ve heard in 2022, such as ‘video podcasts are going to kill traditional podcasts’, are yet to come true but just in case 2023 is our last year of producing content then let’s make something remarkable.

I believe that interactive and personalised audio is the next frontier. Having been inspired by ingenious projects like VICE’s The Unfiltered History Tour, I’ve been keeping my eye out for other signs of innovation in the industry. Perhaps Spotify’s latest acquisition will lead to something exciting. Last month, Spotify confirmed the acquisition of voice AI company, Sonantic. Their AI turns text into a realistic-sounding voice, and was used to generate Val Kilmer’s voice in the movie Top Gun: Maverick. There’s a lot of interest in this space at the moment – Bruce Willis sold the rights to his likeness to a deepfake company and James Earl Jones sold his voice to Respeecher. Maybe Spotify intends to commission a series bringing back voices from the past like JFK Unsilenced, or to preserve voices that may not last much longer. During last week’s Radio Tech Con, Respeecher’s co-founder Alex Serdiuk demonstrated how the AI could clone Churchill’s voice and make him sing the Britney Spears hit Toxic. I found it incredibly exciting and I think Respeecher will have remarkable applications in podcasting. If you’re new to deepfake audio and all of this is going right over your head, then check out ‘Deepfake Dallas’ and ‘Sleight of Ear’ from 20 Thousand Hertz. Who knows what Spotify has planned for their deepfake AI, maybe they intend to use the technology so that celebrities can voice audiobooks without ever reading a line of script out loud, but if that’s the biggest that we can dream then please tell me where to hand in my resignation.

Also at Radio Tech Con, I watched Rebecca Saw and Ian Forester demonstrate their work in Adaptive Podcasting for the BBC – which I mentioned in my last column. In short, it makes use of a smartphone’s sensors (the pedometer, the accelerometer, the ambient light sensor and so on) and alters the script and SFX of a show to make it personal to your environment. Adaptive Podcasting could take a true crime show to an eerily personal level, slow down podcasts if you slow your running speed, or even alter the content of political shows depending on the country you’re listening in to make it more relevant. I’m not sure whether headphone gestures are already integrated into the programme but I’d love to make shows that listeners can personalise with a simple nod or shake of the head, eliminating the need to even get your phone out of your pocket. Currently Adaptive Podcasting is only supported on BBC Sounds’ own Android player but I’d love to see it incorporated onto all major platforms. Although let’s be real, if we don’t even have automatic transcriptions yet then this isn’t going to happen for a while.

I can’t tell you to stop listening to/making celeb podcasts; in the words of the Grinch: “one man’s toxic sludge is another man’s potpourri”. I’m just saying, let’s mix it up a little next year.

Meera’s Podcast Recommendations:

The Unfiltered History Tour

The podcast from VICE that made Meera cry, VICE World News brings you the stories of ten stolen goods on display at the British Museum. Listen now on your podcast app >>

(If you enjoy this, you can also try ABC Podcasts Stuff The British Stole).

‘Deepfake Dallas’

Twenty Thousand Hertz is a lovingly crafted podcast that reveals the stories behind the world’s most recognizable and interesting sounds. This episode from September 2020 looks at and gives examples of deepfake audio. Listen on your podcast app >>

‘Slight of Ear’

This episode talks about the secret of sound design, including a look at audio deepfakes, sonic branding and analogue versus digital.

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Meera is an award-winning Producer and Content Development Exec. She was selected as one of the Rising Stars of 2022 in the British Podcast Awards, was named Best Entertainment Producer in the 2022 Audio Production Awards, and has won two Lovie Awards. Meera has produced stories for the BBC, Sony Music, Universal, UK Parliament, Waitrose, and other well-known brands. Meera is Ambie nominated, and has had her work featured in The Guardian and The Times and selected as one of Spotify’s Best Episodes Of 2021.

The post Goodbye ‘celeb’ podcasts: It’s time for the next frontier of audio appeared first on POD BIBLE.

Kim Kardashian apparently did not see my proposed moratorium on true crime shows and has since launched her own Spotify-exclusive series.

Whilst this 8-part series echoes the honourable mission of Serial (Kim’s favourite podcast), it feels less novel; which is perhaps compounded by the fact that it’s fronted by one of the figures most ubiquitous in contemporary pop culture. This reinforces the thesis of my last column – we’re too busy trying to emulate the last big blockbuster that we’re not innovating.

So, the ban stands.

Readers of my last column contacted me with their counterpoints to my proposed ban, and they sent me their recommendations in an attempt to sway me:

Unless you do something quite different within the true crime genre. Have a listen @meeerakumar to our newly released Bible John: Creation of a Serial Killer and see if you change your mind. https://t.co/iepg45NEid https://t.co/BEFDWSBWan

— Audrey Gillan (@audreygillan) October 5, 2022

Interesante propuesta de @meeerakumar: "dejar de hacer true crimes por un año". Si bien se entienden, leyendo, los porqués de la propuesta, quizás estaría bueno pensar otras narrativas sobre otros casos policiales, no necesariamente sobre asesinatos, serial killers, etc. https://t.co/nBVvsQadYn

— Pablo (@EscuchaPodcast) October 6, 2022

I’ve yet to hear a series that sheds the predictable format of the true crime genre and surprises me with its ingenuity, but I’m still making my way through these recommendations and will tweet any changes of heart.

I think I’m craving something more meta, a show that breaks the fourth wall and acknowledges the absurdities of the genre whilst simultaneously steering me through a remarkable story in a clever format. Perhaps one solution is in Adaptive Podcasting. Imagine a show with episodes that adapt depending on your location, the time of day, or even your predictions about what happens next in the story. That may not be possible just yet, [ed. Neutrinowatch came fairly close for fiction!] but there are advances being made in this area that would take the listening experience to the next level.

Speaking of, Kim Kardashian’s new podcast sparked my interest due to its extra sources, which (whilst basic in this instance) represent an interesting concept. Producing valuable supplementary resources is time intensive but it could be the layer that sets a show apart and builds an active and engaged audience. Especially when used in conjunction with existing interactive features, like polls, which I expect to see more podcasts utilising considering the growing popularity of smart speakers and voice assistants. More on that in an upcoming column.

Finally, I’m curious about what Kim’s podcast deal looks like and if any of the advertising profits are being put aside for Kevin’s release/rehabilitation or to cover his legal fees… but maybe Kim’s planning to pay off her $1.26m SEC charges first.

Meera is an award-winning Producer and Content Development Exec. She was selected as one of the Rising Stars of 2022 in the British Podcast Awards, was named Best Entertainment Producer in the 2022 Audio Production Awards, and has won two Lovie Awards. Meera has produced stories for the BBC, Sony Music, Universal, UK Parliament, Waitrose, and other well-known brands. Meera is Ambie nominated, and has had her work featured in The Guardian and The Times and selected as one of Spotify’s Best Episodes Of 2021.

The post Mini Revelations: The true crime ban stands! appeared first on POD BIBLE.

For the sake of my humanity and the industry’s creativity, there needs to be a one-year blanket ban on the production of true crime podcasts.

This may seem counter-intuitive. Netflix’s Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story was just watched for 196.2 million hours in its first week. And Serial’s update on Adnan Syed’s release recently made its way to the top of the Apple Podcasts and Spotify charts – almost eight years since they last reported on the subject. With those commercial successes in mind, it’s going to be nigh impossible to convince the streaming giants and producers eyeing up those ~24.5 million Dahmer viewers (of which I am one) that my proposed ban is a good idea.

But, hear me out.

Every production company has a hand on the teat of this cash cow, trying to milk the true crime genre for everything it’s worth. There’s a steady flow of new podcasts – as well as TV shows and YouTube channels – dedicated to feeding our fascination with the macabre and the taboo in a socially acceptable form. I am not immune to the morbid curiosity – I too rubberneck on the M25 when I spot a crumpled bumper. These shows allow us a peek into an experience that we hope we’ll never have ourselves. From a safe virtual distance, we are free to indulge in and analyse the darker sides of humanity. So, when we get home, we put on our headphones, hit play, and choose to feel fear, adrenaline, and sadness in a controlled environment.

It’s an obsession that is honoured quite accurately in the Hulu show Only Murders in the Building. The first time I listened to Serial or Dirty John, I would try to analyse the psychology of the suspect, think about how I would protect myself in real life, and feel sickened at the events that ensued.

Whilst watching Dahmer last week, however, I realised that the genre has lost its impact. I was watching another human being trapped by a killer, and I felt almost numb to it, as though my tolerance for the graphic detail of a serial killer’s routine had increased. I felt more uncomfortable with my own lack of fear than I did with the storyline itself. (That’s not to say that I think Dahmer’s actions aren’t horrific and unforgivable, and the dramatisation of his crimes and his victims isn’t ethically questionable.) But my thoughts were limited to, “serial killers do slightly different versions of the same thing” and “I feel awful for the people who experienced this then and have to relive it now.”

Could my desensitisation be down to the nights of insomnia that I’d spent consuming video after recommended video of YouTubers applying make up whilst recounting the sickening details of a murder in their latest vodcast? Maybe it’s easier to digest the details of one person eating another when you’re watching the narrator apply Fenty foundation with their new beauty blender.

This vodcast format is creative in its juxtaposition though, I’ll give it that. (And wildly successful – true crime podcasters like John Allen have racked up millions of subscribers on YouTube and then seen that success spill over into the downloads of their podcasts.) Despite the fact that we’ve built successful shows using beautiful sound design, Emmy-award worthy cinematography and hot actors, this creativity is increasingly what’s missing. Something far more important that is often also missing is care when retelling these traumatic events. (Side note: Serial itself is receiving more and more criticism for inaccuracy.Undisclosed explores the story in more depth).

These days, both the audio and visual industries are so keen to push out money-making series as fast as they can that they’re starting to feel repetitive and detached from the reality on which they’re based. Honestly, it’s no surprise to me that the podcast industry hasn’t produced another hit like Serial – a dilemma that Nick Quah ponders in his recent Vulture article. But maybe that’s partly because people are so oversaturated with true crime across mediums.

So perhaps a ban on true crime production will give the podcast industry a good 12 months of planning for the next great true crime show – and then maybe they’ll come out with something worth trading eight hours of my life for and potentially more popular and innovative than the repetitive film/TV offering. By that time, maybe I’ll feel something too.

Listen to Meera’s Podcast Recommendations:

I’ve swapped out true crime for some true-crime-adjacent content:

Alice Isn’t Dead

For those needing a break from the stabbing and gutting,  the ever-popular Alice Isn’t Dead is creatively made up of fictional audio diaries.

Sweet Bobby

Sweet Bobby is a live investigation into catfishing and a less gory places to find drama.

Meera is an award-winning Producer and Content Development Exec. She was selected as one of the Rising Stars of 2022 in the British Podcast Awards, was named Best Entertainment Producer in the 2022 Audio Production Awards, and has won two Lovie Awards. Meera has produced stories for the BBC, Sony Music, Universal, UK Parliament, Waitrose, and other well-known brands. Meera is Ambie nominated, and has had her work featured in The Guardian and The Times and selected as one of Spotify’s Best Episodes Of 2021.

The post Producers should be issued with a ban: No True Crime podcasts for one year appeared first on POD BIBLE.