KILLED
Killed a podcast that brings dead stories back to life. Produced by audiochuck and hosted by Justine Harman.
When I think about journalism always few tropes come to mind.
Exhibit A. The sleazy writer in a sleazy magazine (picture "The Sun") who's there to produce sleazy clickbait articles.
Exhibit B. Hardcore independent journalist that will go against anyone to uncover the truth.
Exhibit C. A villain in the form of the Chief Editor/politician/businessman/celebrity who will pull strings to stop an uncomfortable truth from seeing the light of day.
In the digital age, however, we're aware of the power dynamics in media (hopefully?).
Publishing is not just about writing stories and putting them on websites or newspapers. It's also:
- Armies of lawyers
- Politicians
- Advertisers
- Exclusivity clauses
A careful balancing act with tens of variables. Each choice shapes the media landscape and information we're provided as an audience.
If I were to recommend the "Killed" podcast I'll say it's deep dive analysis nerdery combined with tight storytelling and real journalists on record sharing the death stories of their pieces.
Episodes contemplate the boundaries the journalists found themselves in. How rapid changes in culture, the #metoo movement, post-2008 crisis recovery, advertisers, and media conglomerates shaped the destiny of their articles.
The stories are chilling, funny, and sometimes strangely hopeful. And I don't use the word hopeful lightly in this day and age.
Recommended episodes
The Vibe
"I think people don’t realize if you don’t have a platform how hard it is to break through anything."
Anyone who has ever published anything on the internet knows there are a few ways you can build an audience:
- do Google research, do trend research, find keywords, hashtags, and things people click on, and add one more thing to the pile of evergreen everclicky content.
- write what you like and do a lot of promotions and a lot of collaborations to get your writing somewhere.
- be famous.
The article that was supposed to be published by the hero of "The Vibe" episode was an 8000-word oral history of pool parties in what I can call a secluded paradise pool in Brooklyn New York.
A heartfelt story of culture, music, community, death, and rebirth. Death metaphorically of course. And rebirth quite literally as the article was in fact published on "Have to pass" Substack.
But for the juicy how and why you need to check out the episode.
The bombshell
Quote from the episode: “We’re mindful of the laws and issues in the countries we publish in.” - from Conde Nast representative.
During the almost 1st anniversary of the Ukraine war, it was interesting to listen back to the time when Vladimir Putin was still a prime minister. How a string of tragic apartment bombings in Russia helped him to become President and why GQ did everything in its power to stop an article about it from being published.
I don't know if you heard of this thing called the "Barbara Streisand Effect"? Well, NPR for sure did, and they did not waste time: Why 'GQ' Doesn't Want Russians To Read Its Story