What The Hollywood Reporter Got Right & Wrong In Its Latest Podcast Story

 I love The Hollywood Reporter (THR). It's been around since 1930 and delivers superb content about the entertainment industry. In fact, two of my favorite podcasters either work there or have worked there. The Business podcast with Kim Masters, an Editor-at-Large there, and The Town with former editorial director there, Matt Belloni -- and founding partner of Puck News -- are two of my favorite podcasts.

On August 12th, THR correspondent Julian Sancton, who is a Senior Features Editor there, published an article for THR titled, "Top Podcasters Reveal Biggest Challenges." 

For context, Sancton's recent articles for THR on Shogun season two and HBO's Hacks and climate activism were excellent -- informative with lively writing. In short, I'm a fan.

In this article, I want to review that THR article and assess two attributes of the piece: First, who were the sources for the article. Second, what did those sources say that helped readers to better understand the podcasting industry. After all, articles about podcasting in the legacy media are not an everyday occurrence. Typically, podcasts are highlighted by the media when either Joe Rogan says something completely inaccurate or a famous guest on a podcast slams another famous person -- Aaron Rodgers and his silly feud with Jimmy Kimmel. 

Who were the sources for this article? Were the sources A. big names because of podcasting and influential in the industry? Or B. big names before they got into podcasting? 

If you answered B you are correct, dear readers. 

During the actor's strike, I watched a broadcast network news show interview famous actors about their thoughts on the strike. It occurred to me that famous actors worth hundreds of millions of dollars would have a different perspective than the other 95 percent of actors who make less than the median income in the U.S. 

Wouldn't it make more sense from a fairness and accuracy viewpoint to interview a famous actor and then several journeyman actors who viewers have seen for years in broadcast and streaming shows in smaller roles? Or the actor who's just had a few roles? That way, you covered the spectrum -- economic, social, and cultural -- of perspectives.

Let's return to Mr. Sancton's August 12th podcasting article. Who did he interview for his piece, "Top Podcasters Reveal Biggest Challenges? "

Rachel Maddow, a well-known MSNBC TV correspondent with a podcast, Bill Simmons, a sports journalist and podcast network owner, Theo Von, a Reality TV person of interest and a comedian with a podcast, two agents from the talent firm,CAA, to name a few. 

In fairness, a few of the sources, such as DJ EFN, N.O.R.E., from the Drink Champs podcast, the two Vox execs, Charlamagne tha God from The Black Effect Network, and Emily Rakesh from Sony Music Entertainment have been part of the podcasting community for years.

Why even ask Ben Shapiro? For a "conservative" perspective? A much more enlightening source would have been conservative co-host of KCRW's Left Right & Center podcast, Sarah Isgur. She was an official in the Trump Administration and is a noble defender of conservative thought without the ugliness of Shapiro.

Shapiro's screeds have included, "homosexuality should remain in the DSM as a mental illness," and "LGBTQ people are not people of faith." 

Why go there? Isgur gets you there without the implicit ugliness and overt homophobia.

 On the "sources" issue, why didn't Mr. Sancton interview prominent independent podcasters who are popular in the podcasting community and not necessarily only those who are visible to the general population? How about Jenn Trepeck of Salad With A Side Of Fries, a successful health & wellness podcast that just celebrated its fifth anniversary?

Or James Cridland from Podnews, acknowledged to be one of the most thoughtful people in the podcasting industry. Or Arielle Nissenblatt? She's one of podcasting ambassadors and cheerleaders with connections throughout the industry? Or Bryan Barletta? Glenda Pacanins and Aileen Merciel are two former top media execs who now run the Surfing Corporate podcast? They'd be podcast knowledgeable from a front lines perspective and business savvy. Or Mark Asquith and Danny Brown from Captivate, two influential voices in the community who are known by many in the space.

Now let's look at the feedback Mr. Sancton received from his sources. 

Maddow's comments were on target: "We don’t just need curation and charts, we need rational organization, and a meritocratic way for the best and most relevant shows and episodes to circulate efficiently."

On the flip side, Shapiro's comments were another conservative trope that they are being muzzled. "...government pressure has resulted in social media platforms cutting off traffic for news shows in particular."

That's a nothingburger about podcasting. 

Bill Simmons said: "There’s far too many [podcasts], which means far too many of them don’t do as well as how they’re being sold to advertisers, which means advertisers eventually get less excited about spending money on podcasts."

Simmons reminds me of people who buy a new home in a suburban housing development and then are the loudest people to oppose a new phase of building in that development. In essence, "I got mine, so don't screw it up with more podcasts."

 Vanessa Grigoriadis, Campside Media (a moderately-sized podcast network) said, "Money." I do not know if she was edited or this was the entirety of her contribution. Without context, I have no idea what that means.

Theo Von apparently wanted to display his comedic chops because his answer was: "Everyone has a podcast — even animals." Yes, Von is correct, but did we really need him to tell us what we already knew and had been said by Charlamagne tha God, The Black Effect Network, who said, "Oversaturation."

I thought Steve Ackerman from Sony Music Entertainment made an excellent point: "Discoverability is still an important issue. In a world where it is increasingly difficult to launch new shows and develop exciting creative to capture new audiences, discoverability is essential to the success of a show, and it is still way short of where it is for music and TV streaming."

As did both execs from Vox Media. Ray Chao said: "The biggest challenge (and opportunity!) is navigating the transformation of an industry borne out of radio as it grows and converges with video, social media platforms, and the creator economy."

Nishat Kurwa said: "...competition for audience attention in a landscape overflowing with great offerings. That said, few other forms of media are as habit-forming; 'I gotta catch up on my shows' is a still a pretty common sentiment among podcast fans, despite all the choices at their fingertips. So then the challenge for individual podcasts becomes more about how to maintain value and continue to evolve in order to keep those loyal audiences"

The two Acast execs seemed to obsessed with video, as if moving to video will solve all of podcasting issues. It won't. In some cases, it will make the industry's problems even more severe.

Finally, I'm pleasantly surprised that a talent agent had such an incisive answer. Josh Lindgren, a talent agent from CAA opined: "There is still so much innovation happening in this medium that’s being ignored by the gatekeepers. For podcasting to keep evolving, we need to identify and support the artists who are taking risks and pushing the form forward."

Kudos to you, Mr Lindgren.  

In summary, thank you to Mr. Sancton for writing an article on podcasting. We need more articles like yours from the legacy media, especially a source as trusted and respected as The Hollywood Reporter. 

May I suggest that the next time you need sources for an article on podcasting, you reach out people who grew up in podcasting, know the business intimately, are well-respected in the industry, have been active in the podcasting community in numerous roles, and are not simply well-known transplants from another media format.

How about an article about independent podcasts? Have you heard of Multispective? The Life Shift? Six Degrees of Cats? Verbal Diorama? Cooper Talk? All successful podcasts. 

All they need is discoverability, a major theme in your piece. Why not begin the solution with a spotlight of these indie podcasters? These entrepreneurs display skills as disparate as hosting, sound production, graphic design, scriptwriting, interviewing, marketing genius, and financial watchdog. 

 Can Rachel Maddow do all those jobs? Ben Shapiro? Theo Von?

These indie podcasters are the heart and soul of podcasting. Please, Mr. Sancton, the next time you write an article on podcasting, can you include these brave independent podcasters?