I believe audio journalism is essential to providing audiences with variety regarding accessing information. I reviewed 5 podcasts to evaluate their effectiveness, interest, quality, length, and topics.
The first podcast I reviewed was Anderson Cooper's AC 360 October 11, 2011 podcast. The podcast focused on a variety of topics and featured several interviews, including an interview with Rich Iott, the congressional candidate who dresses up and reenacts Nazi soldiers. While the the podcast was interesting, and I enjoyed the fact it was conversational and focused on multiple topics, I didn't like that images and video were often referred to, however I could not view them. In this instance, I think a vodcast would be more appropriate. I also think the length of the podcast was an issue. The podcast was 28 minutes and 56 seconds long, I think it would be more effective to reduce the podcast to 15 minutes.
The second podcast I reviewed was the October 11 ABC World News with Diane Sawyer. This was actually a vodcast, so I appreciated seeing the images with the audio. This podcast focused on multiple topics, as well. I enjoyed the coverage on the miners, especially since the vodcast featured video from the mine site. I also appreciated that this vodcast was only about 17minutes in length. I enjoyed this podcast more than the AC 360 podcast due to the shortened length and video imagery.
The third podcast I viewed was by ABC Good Morning America. Now what I really enjoyed about Good Morning America's podcasts is that they were separated by topics. Therefore, I choose to watch a podcast on a 6 month old McDonald's meal that hasn't started to mold. The podcast was only 3 minutes in length and I liked the ability to choose which topic I want to view, rather than waiting or fast forwarding to something I'm interested in.
The fourth podcast I chose was CNN Daily. Again, CNN Daily referred to video/images and aired audio from video but did not show images. The podcast was actually from August 2010 so it focused on the man who hiked up Mt.Everest to help Buddhist monks. The length of the podcasts was 5 minutes and 29 seconds. So the good things about the podcast was that it was brief and it was conversational.
The fifth podcast I evaluated was NPR's tiny desk music. This was very different for me because when you hear NPR you think scholarly or political content, however this vodcast wast taped in a small cramped office with a NPR sign propped in the bookshelf. The desk concert was only about 16 minutes long. However, the video was too cramped.
After evaluating these podcasts I definitely believe that the length, visual content, and quality are the top indicators when choosing podcasts. I would only subscribe to 2 of the podcasts I viewed.
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