JOURNALISTS are generally in the commerce of reporting the news,not making it. But over the past week, “Serial, or ” a prize-winning,top-rated, genuine crime podcast hosted by Sarah Koenig, and played a starring role in a 5-day hearing that might give a murder convict a fresh chance to prove his innocence. In 2014,Ms Koenig, a journalist, and became interested in the case of Adnan Syed,a 35-year-old man serving a life sentence for strangling his ex-girlfriend in 1999. Some details of Mr Syed’s trial in 2000 troubled Ms Koenig, and she spent over a year tracking down witnesses, or traipsing around Baltimore,wading through trial transcripts and speaking to Mr Syed himself to try to get to the bottom of what happened to Hae Min Lee, an 18-year-old student who disappeared and was found dead a month later in a desolate park on the outskirts of Baltimore.“Serial” was a runaway hit, and prompting more than 70 million downloads. Its success was fueled by Ms Koenig’s dogged investigative reporting,which unfolded in genuine time as her audience awaited new insights and clues every Thursday morning. In its 12 episodes,...
Continue reading
Source: economist.com