Serial, a true-crime podcast hosted by Sarah Koenig and a spin-off of the popular This American Life, began Oct. 3, 2014. The first season tells the story of the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee in Baltimore. She went missing in mid-January and her body was found in early February. Her ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, was arrested and convicted of her murder and is now serving a life sentence of the crime.
This is only the beginning of the story though, as Koenig digs deeply into the case from several angles — and this is what makes the podcast so interesting. Koenig has chosen to tell this one story on a week-by-week basis, for 12 episodes total. In the pilot, she lays down the case and all the major players, and from then on she focuses on specific aspects of the case, from Leakin Park (where Lee’s body was found) to the inconsistencies in the testimony of Jay, the prosecution’s key witness.
Part of the reason this show has gotten such attention is no doubt due to the podcast format, Nieman Labs explains. The format definitely isn’t new, but it’s one of the few podcast to go truly viral. While Welcome to Night Vale has found great success telling creepy stories twice a month, its weirdness may be what prevents it from reaching the same insane levels of success as Serial.
For one, Serial‘s running time works in its favour. Hunkering down to listen to three hours of talk is too much for many, but this program’s 30-50 minute run times make the experience a lot more digestible. The week-by-week reveals also help to give the show an addictive quality that not many other podcasts can tap into.
The show has already seen huge success, at least in listening audience. The Washington Post reports that it is now the fastest to reach 5 million downloads in the iTunes store. A Subreddit for the show features rampant discussion and dissection of the source material. A number of parodies have already popped up.
Of course, with the wild success of the show comes some questions — both of journalistic ethics and how the show makes money — and some backlash.
Funding
The first season of the show, as Koenig explained, has been funded thanks to the money This American Life makes, something the show cannot do for a proposed season two. In addition, each program runs a brief ad at the beginning and the end.
For the first eight weeks of the show, Koenig did not ask for money, but with the ninth episode, “To Be Suspected,” Koenig put out a call for donations to help fund the second season. In addition, going to the Serial website will first bring up an overlay asking for a donation.
So far there has been no word on how much the program has raised through donations.
The ethical questions and the backlash
With a story that delves deeply into a real crime, the immediate issue becomes the fact that a 15-year-old murder is resurfacing memories for those involved, and audiences around the world are deriving pleasure from and obsessing over the complicated nature of the crime. While Koenig has been above-board with her reporting (and has even admitted when some of her own actions made her uncomfortable), for some it’s not enough.
A man claiming to be Hae Min Lee’s brother slammed the podcast via a Reddit post, criticizing it for sensationalizing his sister’s murder. While he likes Koenig’s journalistic style, he’s not happy about his family being a part of her program and hasn’t talked to her for the show.
There’s also the issue of the show’s format — these 12 episodes will eventually lead to a conclusion, which could be one of three things; Koenig could find evidence that Syed is innocent, she could find evidence that he’s guilty, or the ending will be ambiguous. If the podcast ends with the first result, then the obvious question will be “Why hasn’t she already gone to the police?” If the last result is the way Serial ends, then it might make listeners lose faith in the quality of a second season.
Whatever its strengths and weaknesses, the podcast is undoubtedly a hit, and it remains to be seen if it can pull off a strong first season and possibly start a podcast renaissance.
