The Podcaster's Dilemma

1 Meet the Hosts

In an article published in August 2020 in the e-zine Atalayar, which seeks to bridge communication and culture between Mediterranean and Atlantic leaders, Ana Rodriguez argues: “To speak of radio is to speak, as Ryszard Kapuscinky would say, of ‘that desire for our voice to reach somewhere that is a characteristic need of imprisoned people who cling like a plank of salvation to the world’s faith in justice, who are convinced that to be heard is to be understood and, therefore, to demonstrate the justice of their cause and to win it.’”¹

The raison d’être of clandestine rebel radio remains the same for alternative voices in the existing landscape of podcasting. Political scientist Francis Fukuyama contends that the rise of identity politics should be understood as a reaction to the feeling of invisibility experienced among identity groups.² The International Encyclopedia of Communication defines identity politics as “the struggle for political recognition by marginalized social groups based on particular affiliations of individual identity, such as gender, sexuality, ‘race,’ ethnicity, and nationality.”³ Podcasters use their positionality as outsiders to deconstruct the hegemonic structures that render them invisible.

This and other social justice imperatives of our surveyed podcasters reflect an enduring belief in the power of communication and in the persuasive power of truth-telling.⁴ The present survey of podcasting is being undertaken during a critical inflection ...