Introducing The Stream Podcast

By: Owen Clark

It’s been almost eight years since I quit being a reporter. I made the decision while driving back from a courthouse in Quincy, Calif., where I’d been covering the murder of two high-school students who had been killed on prom night. 

While thinking of ways to re-edit the quote I’d gotten from the grieving mother into good web copy, I got an alert on my newly purchased smartphone. A blog I had been assigned to write on the “NFL’s Best Beards” for the fledging online sport site Bleacher Report had passed 10,000 views, which meant I got a “gold medal.” The medal was in place of real money, since all the writers for B/R wrote on-spec to help build their “digital profile.” 

Still, the reality was 10 times more people would read my hot takes on facial hair than would ever see, or read, my coverage of the double-murder for my local CBS television. Suddenly the absurdity of the whole journalism profession seemed to hit me like a tackle from Steelers linebacker Brett Keisel, who, if you were wondering, was my No. 1 choice for the NFL’s best beard.

So, what does all this have to do with a podcast launch? Well first off, the state of the modern reporter is the focus of our kick-off episode, “Faces of the Monolith.” In it, we hear from veteran print reporter Jacques Couret about what it’s like to have the SEC story you’ve slaved over for weeks be crushed in the click war by a slideshow of new Chick-fil-A menu items. Meanwhile, former TV journalist Sierra Oshrin explains the problem of literally not having enough hands to tweet, shoot B-roll and do a Facebook Live Stream all at the same time.

Bigger picture, these stories illustrate what we want to do with The Stream -- bring you a podcast to keep you entertained and offer perspectives about the communications landscape to make you see things a little differently. If the name feels familiar, it’s because the podcast is the next chapter of what we’ve already built with great content you read on The Stream Blog.

The recipe for that content starts by tapping our insider experts, such as Jacques and Sierra, who can go beyond the binary narrative of Fox News vs. CNN and give insight into what it actually means to be a reporter in an era when the very nature of news is questioned. We combine that exclusive insight with perspectives from outside experts, such as University of Colorado Journalism Chair Elizabeth Skewes, who joined us on our first episode to discuss where future of reporting is headed as a profession, institution and an estate that protects and informs a democratic system.

The final piece will be the hot takes I dish up with co-host and super producer Micah Baro. Micah and I have spent the last 10 years weaving our way across career paths that include journalism, corporate sales, PR, media training and finally video production as part of the Allison+Partners Content Team. We hope our unique perspectives on the overlooked or misunderstood trends and topics in media and marketing help guide you through the turbulent waters of today’s communications landscape.

It should be a fun ride, and we hope you’ll join us. 



The Stream Podcast can be downloaded via Google Play Music and  iTunes.