Hey guys! Long time no talk. Do not worry.. I have decided to start a podcast so there will be PLENTY of talk to make up for it. My podcast, ‘K Talks’ aims to delve into today’s issues and hot topics to discuss the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. Episode one, “Social Media and Politics in the US,” explores how social media has both negatively and positively affected contemporary politics. Being a US citizen, my Instagram and Facebook feeds are FILLED with political content regarding Donald Trump and the upcoming 2020 presidential election. Seriously, FILLED.
Being an exchange student, my Australian peers remind me daily that Donald Trump is my president. So this episode is dedicated to my Australian classmates as it will focus on the hot topic of how media has affected the United States presidential elections with specific reference to the 2016 election of Donald Trump. As a result, information discussed in episode one will come from my own observations being an active social media user and that of other scholars.
In order to make the episode as insightful as possible I have included sources that discuss social medias role in the 2008 presidential election of Barrack Obama when social medias place in politics was really coming into fruition. I then analyze and discuss more recent sources such as Robert Mueller’s investigation into Donald Trump and Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election.
No podcast is complete without a musical intro. So, I took some time to find a good intro and exit theme song that fit with the tone of my podcast. I stumbled across Come Back to Me by Zep Hurme on CC mixter.org and thought it fit perfectly with the vibe of my podcast. I opted out on including sound effects during the actual podcast as I felt it would be too distracting and take away from the serious content in the podcast.
Just a little side note, making a podcast is both challenging and time consuming. The most challenging issue I faced was actually recording the podcast. I’m a fast talker. I knew this was going to be an issue as my grandma always yells at me to slow down when I’m on the phone with her. In my first recording I attempted to talk slow and was really convinced that I did so successfully until I played it back. Let me tell you, it took an embarrassing amount of recordings to finally get it to an understandable speed. Another issue I faced was stumbling over my words. To fix this issue I had to use iMovie to cut and paste parts of the recording to create a seamless finish.
Another issue I faced was writing a script that was impartial. Many sources I originally viewed expressed opinions of social medias effect on the election with obvious bias towards either the Democratic or Republican party. Thus, I had to choose sources carefully as I wanted to solely focus on the effects of social media on modern day politics not others or my own political views.
Over all making this podcast was a process but I was able to learn a lot about editing and using Soundcloud. Hope you enjoy 🙂
-Kristen
References:Castells, M. (2004). Afterword: why networks matter. In: H. McCarth, P. Miller and P. Skidmore, ed., Network Logic Who governs in an interconnected world?. London: Desmos.
Pătruţ M. (2014) Facebook Dispute Concerning the Presidency. In: Pătruţ B., Pătruţ M. (eds) Social Media in Politics. Public Administration and Information Technology, vol 13. Springer, Cham
U.S. Department of Justice (2019). Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election. [online] Washington D.C., pp.14-28. Available at: https://www.justice.gov/storage/report.pdf [Accessed 27 May 2019].
Music Reference:Come Back 2 Me by Zep Hurme (CC BY-NC 3.0)
✩Kristen Down Under✩ 