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October 26, 2004
Podcast FirstTake: The Fifth Institution
This entry posted in:
2 stars
, I do not subscribe
, Podcast FirstTake
Format: Talk
Content: Politics; Socialism
Rating: 
What I'm going to do: check back in a few shows
Podcast Length: 24 minutes
Michael Murray proposes to be the Fifth Institution, helping to cover the area where we are failed by the Fourth Institution, the Press (I'm pretty sure he means Fourth and Fifth Estates, but who knows).
Seemingly Michael is a political junkie. Taking a look at his blogroll from his website, political blogs outnumber those of every other category 4 to 1. That being so, I suppose it's not too surprising that Michael has a lot to say. And I agree with a lot of what he has to say.
But I'm not here to discuss politics, whether I agree or not. And when it comes to what I am here to discuss, this podcast is sadly lacking.
If we begin at the most basic level, the audio for this 'cast is poor. The volume is far too low for me to be able to hear clearly while out walking - although maybe I could have if I was wearing full headphones. Production was adequate; the fades in and out of the intro/outro and the music break were competently done and the selection of music (from what I could hear) was satisfactory.
Michael's delivery was a little rambling and repetitive, but like anyone else, I have every hope that he'll improve with experience. I was less enamored with his support for some of the arguments he put forth, which seemed only sketchily laid out.
I have high hopes for the ability of fringe politics to be heard in the podcast medium; it seems extremely well tailored for that kind of discourse. I'd love to see some political podcasts that can compete on a more rational level with the professional Air Americas of the broad/podcast world. Perhaps Michael will come to be one of those voices, so I'll be checking back.
Subscribe to mp3s.
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Tagged: podcast podcasting review
Posted by cori at October 26, 2004 09:53 PM