Talking points
Investigative journalism site The Intercept has gotten into the True Crime podcast game with Murderville, a series that will look into a series of unsolved murders in a small town in Georgia, USA, as well as the wrongful conviction case that followed them.
Well worth a read is Guardian reporter Michael McGowan’s article on the case of Lyn Dawson, whose disappearance in 1981 became the subject of true crime podcast Teacher’s Pet. Now in the wake of the arrest of Dawson’s husband Chris in relation to the case, some are wondering whether the podcast’s popularity will prevent him from receiving a fair trial.
Picks of the week
Malcolm Gladwell and Rick Rubin are mates who often hang out around the barefoot super-producer’s gaff and listen to music. While you imagine that scene, listen to their new podcast, Broken Record. Its first episode features an interview between the pair, with Rubin talking about how he’d “manufacture exciting situations” with the Beastie Boys to grab headlines, and the formation of Run-DMC and Aerosmith’s Walk This Way. Other episodes feature music and storytelling from Nile Rodgers and Rufus Wainwright. Hannah Verdier
Footballers gossiping about what life as a pro is really like has been a strong mini-trend in podcasting this year: before Gary Lineker’s kitchen chats with Danny Baker, there were these weekly banter sessions between the Stoke City striker and BBC journalists Tom Fordyce and Chris Stark, drawing on Crouchy’s autobiography. Some of the minor characters mentioned over the past 12 weeks are on the guest list for this special episode, a Christmas party in the striker’s favourite curry house. Jack Seale
Guardian Pick: Science Weekly
At the end of November, the world of science was stunned when Chinese scientist Dr He Jiankui claimed that he had created the world’s first known gene-edited babies. If true - and it seems to be - the experiment could mark one of humanity’s biggest scientific breakthroughs. Unfortunately, it looks set to mark one of science’s most controversial too. Following the announcement, a string of scientists voiced their concern with claims of the experiment being hugely unethical and even ‘monstrous’.
To dig a little behind the quotes and headlines that followed, our Science Weekly episode Gene-edited babies: why are scientists so appalled? saw host Hannah Devlin joined by a trio of experts as she attempted to focus in on what some of the risks might be for the twin girls born, including unintended effects like cancer and increased susceptibility to certain infections. The discussion also touched on some of the shadier aspects of the experimental protocol, including issues around informed consent of the parents and the fact that the scientist claims to have funded the whole thing out of his own pocket. Essential listening for anyone who is keen to understand exactly what went on and, importantly, what the fallout might be for scientists around the world.
Producer Pick: Chapo: Kingpin on trial (Episode 1: The Fixer)
Chosen by Nicole Jackson (Executive Producer, Today in Focus)
This is VICE News’ first foray into podcasting, which is surprising, though the subject matter is not. They’re covering the Mexican drug lord El Chapo, who is currently on trial in New York. Cocaine. Tick. Men with guns. Tick. So far, so VICE. But they at least have the self awareness to see this, quoting near the start from the spoof documentary Dronez: The Hunt for El Chingon, which is about two hopeless hipster journalists on the trail of a drug lord.
Episode one is a pretty good listen because the thing VICE always do well is access. Host Keegan Hamilton and his producer Kate Osborn are in El Chapo’s former territory - the Sinaloa cartel stronghold of Culiacán, where he hooks up with Miguel, a local journalist and fixer. Hamilton is soon chatting to a heroin trafficker (who later looks as though he’s about to be murdered by the cartel) at one of the many crime scenes that make it the twelfth most dangerous city on the world. The podcast takes you into the streets of Culiacan and tries to tell the story of the drug wars through the people who live there, rather than hearing from experts in studios. And it’s also a bilingual podcast - with versions in both English and Spanish, the Spanish version living exclusively on Spotify.
