Podcasting

Podcasts have become one of the most popular mediums in 21st century journalism. Podcasts combine the immediate, aural qualities of radio with the accessibility and mobility that technology allows via the internet, smartphones, and mobile devices. They are also relatively inexpensive to create and disseminate—and easy to listen to, too.

Typically, podcasts are episodic series of narrated digital audio files (commonly MP3s) that a listener can download to a personal device or just play from a website or app. The term podcast is widely believed to originate from the combination of “iPod,” where podcasts were first played in their infancy, and “broadcast.” Although some challenge that origin story and argue that “podcast” may actually stem from the notion of “portable-on-demand” casting.

Nevertheless, podcasting—both the production and the ...