Assessing the democratic potential of news podcasts in an era of journalistic shift

新闻是政治理解的一个不可或缺的来源，如果公民有意义地参与民主，新闻是至关重要的（麦克奈尔，2009）。在新闻动荡的时代，随着报纸的关闭（Cox, 2016），较小的新闻编辑室预计将覆盖更多的故事（Grieco, 2019），替代信息提供者的增加，对假新闻的指责以及事实和观点之间的区别减弱（Wahl-Jorgensen, 2017），观众正在失去对新闻业的信任（Newman等人，2019）。这是在《卫报》所描述的“民主危机”的背景下发生的，选民投票率下降，极端主义和种族主义抬头，两极分化加剧（Moyo, 2018）。高质量的新闻报道对于对抗这些对我们民主的威胁至关重要。在传统媒体苦苦挣扎的同时，一些新的新闻形式却越来越受欢迎，既赢得了某些受众的青睐，也赢得了评论界的赞誉。其中一种形式是播客（Newman and Gallo, 2019）。这个项目将研究谁在制作播客（以及如何制作），这些产品的定义特征，这些产品的新闻原则，以及新闻播客可能对新闻和民主产生的影响。

News is an integral source of political understanding and is critical if citizens are to meaningfully engage in democracy (McNair, 2009). In an era of journalistic turbulence, amidst closures of newspapers (Cox, 2016), smaller newsrooms expected to cover more stories (Grieco, 2019), a rise in alternative information providers, accusations of fake news, and weakening distinctions between fact and opinion (Wahl-Jorgensen, 2017), audiences are losing trust in journalism (Newman et al., 2019). This is happening against the backdrop of what The Guardian described as a 'crisis of democracy', with falling voter turnouts, a rise in extremism and racism, and increasing polarisation (Moyo, 2018). Quality journalism is vital in combating these threats to our democracy. While traditional media is struggling, some new forms of journalism are growing in popularity, garnering both the favour of certain audiences and critical acclaim. One of these formats is the podcast (Newman and Gallo, 2019). This project will look at who is producing podcasts (and how), the defining features of such products, the journalistic principles of these productions, and the implications that news podcasts may have both for journalism and democracy.