Storytelling power of podcasting gets its due
Award-winning In the Dark among those ushering long-form journalism to new home
In February 2017, the people behind the APM Reports-produced In the Dark podcast got an email tip that very much piqued the interest of the Peabody Award-winning investigative team and gave it the topic for its second season.
The email pointed out there was a man named Curtis Flowers, who had been tried six times for the murder of four people in a Winona, Miss., furniture store in 1996. In all of the cases, prosecutor Doug Evans (the same district attorney for each trial) sought the death penalty.
“She said, in her words, ‘the man didn’t stand a chance,’” Madeleine Baran, the podcast’s lead reporter and narrator from Minneapolis, said in a recent interview.
“I hadn’t heard of this case before and as journalists we get a lot of tips and so a lot of times things look really interesting, then you find out actually that is not exactly true, that’s not exactly what happened. But in this case, it was true.
“He had been tried six times for the same crime. So for us, the reason why we looked into the story was not because of the crime itself, because we don’t do those kinds of stories, but more because of the larger issues that this case raised. It really shows the power of the prosecutor. If you can try someone six times you have an incredible amount of power. Also it showed the role of race and racism in the criminal justice system.”
Flowers was convicted each time and each time that conviction was overturned because the Mississippi Supreme Court deemed it unfair due mainly to mistakes by the prosecution.
For more than two decades, Flowers has been living a judicial Groundhog Day, remaining in prison throughout.
“We didn’t know what we were going to find when we started, so like any investigative reporting project you have no idea and you have to be open to anything,” Baran said of the year-and-a-half-long investigation.
“But then as we started reporting and started looking at some of the evidence in the case it became clear, and this is over a course of like a year’s worth of reporting, that the evidence had serious flaws.”
This is a story that serves as a reminder of the essential role of journalism. And it’s a riveting tale that keeps the listener hanging on every word.
Fans of In the Dark and fans of journalism can get a chance to hear more about the podcast and the APM Reports team’s work as Baran will be in Vancouver to take part in the inaugural Vancouver Podcast Festival.
Run by the DOXA documentary film festival, the overarching theme of the new festival is true crime and justice. On the schedule are 24 events, including live shows, creator master classes, panel discussions, networking events and some free programming. Some of the popular podcasts represented include You Must Remember This, Escaping NXIVM, Someone Knows Something and The Allusionist.
“I see the overlap with documentary storytelling and audio. I have noticed over the years programming films that often some of the strongest and some of my personal favourite films have a strong audio component,” said DOXA director of programming Selina Crammond. “It just seemed like a natural fit.”
A podcast, like a documentary film, makes more room for indepth storytelling. And after listening to season 2 of In the Dark and Flowers’ story, it’s impossible to imagine it summed up in a series of short radio stories. This is indepth work that not only informs, but also inspires advocacy and social engagement.
“A lot of people have contacted us to say it inspired them to look into stories in their town,” said Baran.
“I think that is the power of storytelling, but these longer stories, well, people want them and listeners can tell the difference between something that has been reported in depth and something that has not.
“People are smart and know certain issues are going to take a long time to unpack. We are just fortunate that our listeners are willing to and eager to take the journey with us.”
The journey for the team begins with a basic tool of good investigative reporting.
“We structure all of our reporting around a question and the question here was how could Curtis Flowers be tried six times for the same crime or why was Curtis Flowers tried six times for the same crime?” said Baran.
The next question was why had no one else covered the story?
“The fact the story hadn’t been done is a sign of the need for more reporting, more reporters and not just national reporters,” said Baran.
“There was a study that just came out I was looking at this morning about how many counties in the United States have lost all newspapers in their county. It was more than 1,000. So what does that actually mean, for example, if you don’t have a courts reporter?
“How many stories don’t get covered and how many don’t we even know about because there is just no funding ?”
For the Vancouver Podcast Festival, Baran will talk about In the Dark at one event and also hold an interviewing skills master class. “I think what’s interesting is we are a relatively new medium, so it’s a good opportunity for people to come together and learn more about the craft, but also get inspired by what other people are doing,” said Baran.
Baran is a big podcast fan and is excited by the number of choices and the interesting programming that is out there. One of her current favourites is Ear Hustle, a podcast out of San Quentin prison near San Francisco.
“There are episodes on pets in prison, how you choose your cellmates. It’s really well done, beautifully produced,” Baran said of the podcast produced by prisoners and a civilian. “You feel like you are in that world. You are visualizing it.”
The three-day Vancouver Podcast Festival is anchored each night by three live shows (each containing three podcasts) at the Rio Theatre. Thursday’s show is titled True Crime and Hollywood Night. Friday is Journalism and Crime. Saturday the festival will wrap with a Comedy and Crime presentation.
There will be eight live and free podcast shows held in the Vancouver Public Library throughout the festival.
As we started reporting and started looking at some of the evidence in the case it became clear ... (it) had serious flaws.