Just a PSA for this assignment, I was very ill with the flu during this weeks class so my answers to this media analysis are entirely based off of my experience listening to the podcast as I missed the class where we were able to ask questions and have discussions. 

This podcast Below The Radar is a podcast that is published through SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. It is hosted by Am Johal, and often features different guests with discussions surrounding environmental and social justice, arts, culture, community-building and urban issues. The episode in particular for this assignment is “Restorying the Climate Crisis – with Grace Nosek” and was published in June of 2021 so the historical contexts are very aligned with current events. The guest speaker, Grace Nosek, is a barred attorney in the US, thus many of her judgements throughout the podcast touch on both American and Canadian policy issues involving environmental politics. The podcast itself is ran through SFU and the guest is employed by UBC so there are likely academic standards that they must rise to. The goal of this podcast is to open discussions to what is really going on with the environmental crisis and what we can do on an individual level, but also holding large corporations responsible as well.

This piece of media is very critical to the contributions that the fossil fuel industry has made in regard to climate change. Nosek is very critical about the narrative that has been majorly controlled by the pockets of big corporations, and the support they have received from different government officials. This podcast is a very direct statement about the social change that is necessary when it comes to environmental policy and climate change. 

This piece of media was very effective for this topic in particular as it allowed the viewer to really hear the passion that Nosek has for this topic. Had this been in the form of a blog post or other written form of communication I think the intended impression would have been different for the viewer. By utilizing audio content Nosek was able to express more emotion into the topic. 

This podcast is published on many different platforms, and they are utilizing these platforms by making it widely accessible. As a Spotify user, I am familiar with their very specific algorithms and they have many different ways to promote media. So, if someone were to search up environmental podcasts, the algorithm totally could have pushed this podcast as a recommended listening, as I am sure is similar on other platforms as well. I do think that this publishing medium was a great choice for the social change goals of this creator. Podcasting is a great way to open discussion, and as mention above, gives the creators the opportunity for others to hear how passionate they are about a topic. 

Photo by George Milton from Pexels

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