Unusually my 19 year old son came in this morning and asked me what I was doing. I answered ‘work’ and he then asked whether I’d seen the news of American podcaster Charlie Kirk‘s shooting death which had happened around midday US time yesterday September 10, at a public debate, part of what he had called The American Comeback Tour, at Utah Valley University.
I had. It was lead story on every news website I’d seen with Kirk variously called a right wing activist, Trump ally, prominent MAGA figure and conservative commentator, depending which you read. Charlie was a husband and father to a son and daughter, aged just one and three. He also had a daily podcast, The Charlie Kirk Show which sat within the top 50 US podcasts in terms of weekly audience. I didn’t realise that my son both knew him and had been watching some of his videos on YouTube.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox told a news conference:
“I want to be very clear that this is a political assassination. And I just want to remind people that we still have the death penalty here in the state of Utah.
Our nation is broken.”
A recent episode had Charlie saying that we should be able to speak outrageous things, voicing his religious views and opinion that Donald Trump is like a modern day Samson from the Bible.
I don’t share this to have a debate about Kirk’s beliefs, Trump or American politics. As I said to my son, this is a tragedy, an awful thing that means two young children will not get to know their father. What he stood for and the platforms he was using to access a youthful audience are no more.
Last weekend I ran an intensive podcast course more in depth than a 101 where I’ve started to address the impact of podcasts on Australian identity, culture, elections and democracy. The very last thing I said to my group was they were all change makers and had the knowledge, experience and empathy to use their podcast power wisely.
Deadset Studio‘s recent PodPoll 2025 showed that 10% of Australians are now listening to a podcast daily. 69% of 25-34-year-olds are listening each month with tradies the fastest growing demographic of podcast listeners. They aren’t all listening to Hamish and Andy or ABC Conversations. Many will be interacting with US podcasts like Joe Rogan‘s or Charlie’s to privately expand their understanding of the world climate. And, for better or worse, some of what they hear is just opinion, not confirmed fact. American political commentator and podcaster Candace Owens is seeing the repercussions of that currently over allegations she has made about Brigitte Macron, the wife of French President Emmanuel Macron.
The eleventh annual Digital News Report: Australia released in June saw one in four respondents say social media is their main source of news, overtaking online news websites. 9% reported using podcasts to access news in the past week, while 6% said they had used AI chatbots as a source of news. 18–24 year olds are increasingly watching news videos on TikTok (37%) and Instagram (34%) but on a positive note, globally Australians are the most concerned about misinformation, with our news audiences less polarised than Americans.
I like that we might check the verity of the news we receive but believe this is a learned skill and not innate. In lieu of that training we are at a point now with the podcasts that do not sit under any radio codes of practice, that perhaps they should come with something almost like the warning on cigarette packets, ‘what you are consuming may not be true or correct and you can take responsibility for checking and then highlighting inaccuracies’. But then who would respond or edit those found?
Then there’s hateful products with derogatory language and/or racist, sexist, ableist or culturally insensitive themes. What of them too? Can the ACMA step in if they’re not Australian podcasts? Can they if they are?
On the weekend Todd Cochrane, who founded US companies RawVoice and Blubrry back in 2005 to foster the new audio format of podcasting and the associated technology and services, died unexpectedly aged 61. James Cridland, the Editor of Podnews and who many of you will be familiar with due to his contributions to Radioinfo over the years, wrote a beautiful obituary for Todd, from Todd’s beginnings in electronics, publishing one of the first books on podcasts also in 2005 and his passionate advocacy for podcasting free speech and accurate podcast metrics. James recalled an experience with Todd at a conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia:
“He (Todd) not only took part in panels on stage, but also made himself available for one-on-one meetings. Most people saw the public Todd – brash, confident, no-nonsense; but I walked past him having a quiet chat with a hijab-wearing Saudi woman. Half an hour later, he was still quietly talking. “She wanted advice,” he said, later. “She wanted to do a podcast about domestic abuse, and wondered how she could remain anonymous.”
“I’m not a Joe Rogan, nor will I ever be. But what I am is a guy that grew up in the country with humble beginnings, high school education, followed by a bachelor’s degree late in life in a field that I’m not even working in right now. And by God, if I can do this and succeed and grind and put out a show – anyone can.”
It has been an exceptionally dark week for US podcasting but the above gives me hope for future conversations if there are the right people, training, metrics, guidelines, practices and empathy in place.
Vale Charlie Kirk – October 14, 1993 – September 10, 2025
Vale Todd Cochrane – June 4, 1964 – September 8, 2025
Jen Seyderhelm is a writer, editor and podcaster for Radioinfo. Email [email protected]
Main Picture: Reuters, licenced to radioinfo.
Picture: Charlie Kirk podcast tile, public domain