The style in podcasts; Dirty John
Nowadays, podcasts have already become one of the most useful tools for journalists. It allows them to reach a vast public who can listen to their content at any moment and in the way the want. Apps like iVoox or iTunes have, in some way, democratized this phenomenon, giving people with less resources the possibility of creating their own content and share it across the entire world.
But the subject of this text is not one of those kinds of podcast. In fact, I will analyze the narrative of the first part of Dirty John, called The Real Thing. This podcast was hosted by the journalist Christopher Goffard and created in collaboration by Wondery and Los Angeles Times. It was released in 2017 and It became immediately very popular, being downloaded over 5 million times and spending over three weeks at the top of the US iTunes podcast charts.
Dirty John tells a true story about domestic violence, abuse and manipulation. John Meehan, a divorced anesthesiologist, begins a sentimental relationship with Debra Newell, which finally affects also her family and ends with dramatic consequences. Even if the main point of this article is analyze narrative style in the first episode, it is very recommendable to hear the entire podcast as it is a very good example of a journalism capable of attract its audience.
What is this about?
Like in any film, TV Show, article or any type of narrative which involve characters is normal to find, in most of the cases, similar narrative structures. To develop the story is important that the public knows who are its characters in order to situate then. In some cases the structure could be different and the producers can play with situations where the characters are unknown, but this is not the case.
Dirty John follows a very common structure, the journalist decides to follow the story in a linear way, developing the argument through interviews with the characters. In this first episode, Goffard does an introduction of the podcast, explaining what it is about and how he worked on the story. In this way the journalist situate himself in the center of the podcast, using his own figure as one of the characters. Even if after that he works as a narrator who tells the story, the audience already know what his role has been.
One of the most interesting points to analyze about this first episode is how it introduce the story. As I said before, the narration is constructed through interviews with characters and the journalist voice, which works as the conductive threat. This first episode explains how Debra Newell and John Meehan meet each other, which is for her the happiest part of the story. The podcast tells how Meehan is capable of intimate with people and make them feel good. After that, he changes his behavior and shows his true face. As this is a linear story, the episode is in his first stage, which is told with a happy tone and music.
Feelings through sound
Unlike television, podcasts just count with one narrative element, the sound. In Dirty John, the producers have a very interesting objective; tell a story with science fiction elements just with sound. The elements and aspects that these kinds of programs use must be very directed and illustrative. The narrator can’t use the visual, so he must tell the whole story with sound.
In this sense, the pronunciation of words, their tone and accent are very important. We know the characters, their feelings and their experiences through their voices. In this chapter the main character is Debra Newell. She tells the story of how she met Meehan and as I said before, that was a happy experience. Those moments bring good memories to her, so she feels good and tells the story in a very comfortable way. In fact, in some moments she even laughs, and her voice is accompanied by another important narrative factor in podcast, music.
The producers decide to put a very positive music during the interview with Debra Newell. This also helps to make the audience understand this moment and what it represents to her. The episode last almost 45 minutes and everything that can be hear during that time has a meaning. This is a very good example of how to tell stories in podcasts.
