Today I found out that the Nevada Independent is ending it’s podcast… Here’s my open letter that I sent to them:

Wow, I was not expecting the untimely demise of ye’ ol’ podcast. I just never developed the daily physical newspaper habit and felt guilty at the piles of unread newspapers that would pile up when I felt like I needed to do the adult thing and support journalism. Even as late at 2010 when tablets became more of a thing, I just never got in the habit of checking out the news of the day, like my father had. But, podcasts, going back to 2005, first for tech related information, then for all of my information, I’ve been an avid consumer of information via podcasts, both audio and video. So, with IndyMatters calling it quits, knowing my daily habits, it feels like I’m losing the Indy local news connection. I know you have to spend your resources where your audience is, and that I’m probably an outlier, but I feel like cutting the podcast isn’t a step in the right direction. 

I went to a week-long series of presentations hosted by the NewsLiteracyProject and was surprised to find out that the a reporter with Washington Post was getting growing traction putting his daily articles on TikTok.  I’m not quite there, but I know that journalism needs to be in the spaces where people go to for their news. For me it was podcasts. Maybe i should have been more vocal. I didn’t think that I needed to. I’m a contributor and have gone to the last few Indy events (and even applied for a job). I’m disappointed that IndyMatters is going away. I think it’s a mistake, but then I know that podcasts are having difficulty finding funding and that you need to go where you think you have a sustained audience. Good luck, y’all. I hate thinking that only deep-pocket interests get to hog the news mic.