Another great post! I think it’s also worth mentioning that podcasters, like all other forms of citizen journalism, are rarely beholden to the rules of journalism law and practice.
Like you say, newspapers and media institutions like the Sun and BBC have been discredited in recent years and there’s a growing public distrust in ‘legacy media’ but - with exception - those institutions still have to abide to media law and regulations. Podcasters do not which is what makes them so so dangerous - they do not have to vigorously fact check or credit their sources, they are less responsible to their audiences, and suing them is a lot harder under defamation because - like you say - they are individuals who can fall back on ‘personal opinion’ as a defence.
Oh god I had to stop and have a think about the absurdity of the modern world at “the funko pops that will never decompose”
Another great post! I think it’s also worth mentioning that podcasters, like all other forms of citizen journalism, are rarely beholden to the rules of journalism law and practice.
Like you say, newspapers and media institutions like the Sun and BBC have been discredited in recent years and there’s a growing public distrust in ‘legacy media’ but - with exception - those institutions still have to abide to media law and regulations. Podcasters do not which is what makes them so so dangerous - they do not have to vigorously fact check or credit their sources, they are less responsible to their audiences, and suing them is a lot harder under defamation because - like you say - they are individuals who can fall back on ‘personal opinion’ as a defence.
Very scary stuff
Great 👍