I’m not surprised at this, given how quickly podcasting has grown in popularity. The Telegraph has hired its first “podcast editor,” Guy Ruddle, to head up the U.K. newspaper’s podcasting initiative. Ruddle is a former broadcaster with BBC Five Live.
Over at Journalism.co.uk, Jemima Kiss reported
on this development last week, which “created something of a stir in
the industry.” In a speech to an online publishers group in London
recently, Ruddle described working in podcasting as like “working in
the Wild West.”
The Telegraph has claimed to be the first U.K. paper to produce
a daily news podcast, which was a 30-minute product featuring
journalists reading their columns. According to Kiss, critics called it
“‘inutterably boring’ and Mr. Ruddle admitted that was not far from the
truth.” Then the switch was made to using professional voices to read
column, “but that did not work.”
I think that “boring podcasts” represent a big danger for newspapers,
so hiring professional broadcasters to take charge probably makes
senses. The Telegraph currently is hiring
to fill two “podcast reporter/producer” positions, at a salary of
£25,000 a year. Its ad says, “We are looking for two individuals
who are capable of creating high quality and engaging Podcasts that
feature comment and opinion from both internal and external sources.
The successful candidates will be expected to write, voice and upload
audio content.”
(Thanks to Steve Bridger for the pointer on this.)
