Research Podcast

Hello Everyone!

For this week I have been tasked with researching audio podcasts, specifically those that can relate to the ideas of online communication and its many faucets. The podcast I chose to research is known as Recode Media, a podcast run by an acclaimed reporter known as Peter Kafka. The podcast itself talks to a myriad of people, however the specific episode I want to talk about discusses how the Israel-Hamas war is covered by news outlets such as the Washington Post.

In this episode Kafka discusses the various strategies and topics that the news covers with his guest Douglas Jehl, however what I want to focus on was a quote regarding how "the first reports are invariably inaccurate and we need to remind ourselves in every conflict that knowing with certainty takes time" (Kafka, 2023). Now what does this mean? It means that most things that are being 'real-time reported' on things like war, aren't necessarily true, it could be said that in any given story in the paper has most likely multiple inaccuracies when it comes to wartime situations.

This relates to the idea of online communication through the idea of the Agenda-Setting Theory, where "over time, the media agenda shapes the public agenda" (Green ,2017 pg. 368). So combined with the fact that most news from warring areas is known to be false when first presented, that means that news outlets like the Washington Post that have a lot of clout in the online communication space are able t essentially shape the publics perceptions on foreign wars with lies. They could say that rebels are using civilians as human shields even if there was no real proof, which could in turn shape public opinion against that specific group, even if they are in-fact the 'good guys' (so much as there can be a good guy in war). 

References:

Green, J. M. (2017). Communicating online. McGraw Hill Education Create.

Kafka, P. (Host), Jehl, D. (Guest). (2023, October 18). How the Washington Post is covering the Israel-Hamas War [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from https://www.vox.com/recode-media-podcast