From the Newsroom, May
Binge listening is a thing – or at least it should be. The other week I binged on S-Town, the latest podcast from the producers of the acclaimed Serial. (S-Town has been No.1 on the US iTunes for the 45 days since it launched).
S-Town is compelling. And part of the compulsion to listen is a kind of confusion about quite why it is compelling in the first place. Produced by Brian Reed and Julie Snyder, the poignant, conspiracy fuelled series, which morphs into something of a melancholy treasure hunt, is triggered by a murder mystery in Woodstock, Alabama, and follows local eccentric John B. McLemore, an antique clock restorer.
I like podcasts. They kinda remind me of my grandfather shushing me as he listened to the wireless. You have to create the space to listen. They make you pay attention. S-Town took three years to make. It is high quality investigative journalism at its absolute finest. In this 140-character world, where the virtue of one social media platform SnapChat is that messages disappear in 10 seconds – it is a deep, seven-hour dive into a story.
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