—
Kevin and Benedict are colleagues. We have written and worked together. They have a podcast called This Week in News with Kevin and Benedict. I like them. Here’s their story. Kevin grew up in Sacramento California, where he conquered his enemies and saved the city from annihilation multiple times. He currently attends UC Berkeley as a Political Science major. He also worked as a heavy equipment mechanic for 5 years before college. He enjoys cigars, hockey (Go Sharks), politics, and saltwater fish tanks. Benedict is a Brit living in the US. Just for you, part 2.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Why should this be entertaining as well? What does this mean for the individuality of news presenters?
Benedict: Also, a lot of news is very voiceless. In the sense that, it seems that the people delivering it do not have a personality. it is partly a conceit of the genre. You are reading from the newscaster and haven’t had time to think about it, necessarily, or present your viewpoint. The best news readers, you get a sense of their personality.
Oftentimes, you don’t. We have more time to plan and think about stuff, and let our personalities do our lifting for us. I say that as though we have fantastic personalities.
Kevin: [Laughing].
Benedict: Because obviously. It is something good about podcasts. Nobody expects it to be about news all of the time. There can be levity. You may be able to help people see things in a new light with its ridiculousness and funniness. It is different than putting yourself on the stage in the spotlight. I am talking into a mic. If people are interested in that, then it’s great.
Kevin: Both of us would agree to an extent. We are pundits. We read the news. We try to give as broad a spread of news as possible for our listeners, but we providing our opinion at the same time. At the core, that’s what a pundit is. It is an opinion-based analysis of the news.
Benedict: It comes with the intent to inform.
Jacobsen: Benedict, you mentioned critiquing Donald Trump now because he or the administration happens to be in power. Kevin and Benedict, do you think that critique of those in power is one of the main roles of “pundits”?
Kevin: Yes. No matter who is in power, those who are reporters, pundits, or whatever role you play, should be questioning the choices and decisions of those in power. They need to be held accountable no matter how you lean politically. President Obama, who I am now a fan of and was not when he was elected, there are a lot of things, which I am generally left-leaning now.
He did poorly or generally flat out screwed up. If he was in power now and continuing them, I would criticize Guantanamo and the drone campaign. There are a number of things, which I think is definitely there to be criticized. They need to be heard, so people have the opportunity to speak their opinion about it. That’s how the decision is made. Politicians, if they want to get re-elected, have to listen to what people want.
Benedict: It is tricky, though. Reporters are good at maintaining the lack of bias. They report on who is in power and the things they are doing or trying to do. I think it is tricky with pundits. The people whose voices get the most amplified tend to be the people who are mostly partisan. So, news networks will invite very pro-Trump or anti-Trump now. It is almost never the same people who were criticizing both Obama and Trump.
They don’t get invited on the news networks if you see what I mean. That’s something good about podcasts and being outside of mainstream, beltway politics. A good thing about being outside the loop of it all is you can be more objective. Kevin and I don’t know any politicians. We talk about what we think when we see stuff. We don’t care who criticize. if people do something silly, then we criticize those who do something silly.
We talk about criticizing those in power. I want to say we should criticize those who want power. You can criticize those who want power, “It would be a bad thing if this person were to take power.” People did this with Trump, and with Clinton. You should extend the criticism to people in active pursuit of power.
Kevin: I have a wall of post-it notes. I write jokes and thoughts on them. One says, “Everyone can be wrong.” It reminds me. We can’t turn a blind eye to people who we like and are on our side when they are wrong. We have to criticize them as well. While we are definitely and have an opinion, and people know what side we’re coming from, we have to retain objectivity. In that, we won’t overlook things simply because we like this person – or they are on our team.
Jacobsen: What are some limitations of the medium?
Kevin: They don’t get to see my beautiful face.
Jacobsen: [Laughing].
Benedict: Yes, that’s true. Another limitation is the time taken to make things. We can’t release on the day of a big news story when it breaks. It takes the time to record, plan, and edit everything. We can’t be as immediately reactive. It probably hurts a number of people who listen. It can be a positive too. It gives us more time to think about things and what we’re thinking, and what we want to say on a subject.
Kevin: We record on Fridays and release on Sundays. Being on opposite sides of the country, it is two days later, so it is last week’s news, which is the reason for covering everything from last week. So, we could, if we had the time, record on Monday and then release on Monday. But being me with the editing and trying to fit the schedules together for the recording, it is a major downside to not always be the spot.
Sometimes, when something happens, we will record a 10-minute reaction, and I’ll edit, and we’ll release it. Trying to be up to date with the news in this medium is difficult.
Benedict: It is difficult with this administration and time period because things change so much between a Friday and Monday. Things can get out of date and can be a real problem. Once things settle down, it will be a nicer medium to use.
Jacobsen: Also, you guys have a logo with both of you giving thumbs up in a cartoon format.
Kevin: [Laughing].
Jacobsen: Where did that come from?
Kevin: There is a website called Fiverr, which is awesome. I found someone who does web drawings, cartoons. I went back and forth with them. They drew up a design. They colored it. I like it. It is pretty cool.
Benedict: It is.
Kevin: We sure in the logo that Benedict has hair.
Benedict: He was given an old photo so it looks like I have hair.
Jacobsen: What are your hopes for growth in the future for TWIN?
Kevin: I love doing the show. Benedict, as much as I joke about him, I love him. We have a lot of fun on the show together. We built up a friendship together. I would do it if we had two listeners a week because it is so much fun to do. But as far as growth, it happens slowly over time. We have seen moderate growth. We are releasing a second show, a history show. It is getting some positive feedback.
We really enjoy doing this. Obviously, we want to get to a point where we have patrons enough to cover the costs for the show, but it is not so much that [Laughing] we are worried about all of that. It takes the time to grow a podcast audience. We have a couple of listeners who are very devoted. We have one who live tweets us while on the show. His thoughts while we’re on the show.
The biggest thing for me is the interaction with the listeners and that there are people listening, whether agreeing or disagreeing with us. One thing I would like for growth of the show, I would like to have conservative listeners. Who even though they do not agree, they listen and tell us. So, there is a back-and-forth. That is missing in society. People who disagree and listening to each other. That is something I would like to have as the show grows.
Benedict: In the future, for the growth of the show, I would like to have us do more interviews – as we’re doing more. We can get a few more diverse perspectives. We have started to chat to other podcasters and have them on our show. We have gone on a couple of shows ourselves now. I want to do more of it. It is fascinating to get more perspective – as much as I love talking to Kevin about this stuff. To be able to bring that to people, that is something exciting to me.
Jacobsen: Thank you very much for your time, guys.
Kevin: Awesome.
Benedict: No worries.
—
Get the best stories from The Good Men Project delivered straight to your inbox, here.
—
Photo Credit: Getty Images