Michigan Municipal League May/June 2023 Review Magazine

Podcasts: Trust and Belonging through Alternative Messaging

By Morgan Schwanky

By Kristin Bricker Kolb

D espite their recent success, podcasts have many scratch their heads), podcasts have turned into a very popular platform. Invented in 2004, the term podcast first appeared in an article in The Guardian . In 2023, almost two decades later, there are over five million podcasts across the world. In the local government arena, Michigan Public Radio launched Minutes in 2021 to provide information on municipal governance, something it felt was underreported in local news. The program downloads recorded council meetings for more than 40 cities in Michigan and converts them into podcasts. The ability to access elected officials’ discussions and actions through an additional medium, on one’s own timetable, increases the prospect of aware and educated citizens. This creates a better understanding of what decisions are being made and why. Fostering this understanding is pivotal for constituents to have trust in their community leaders and is a vital component of creating communities where people want to live. been around for a lot longer than many realize. What was once a predownloaded app (that made

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MAY / JUNE 2023