The mainstream media is said to be in crisis. Television show ratings, with rare exceptions, are in free fall. Newspapers have suffered declining circulation and advertising revenue. Meanwhile, the web and social media have provided us with an enormous range of free sources of news. Journalistic reporting is increasingly being replaced by opinion or comment. Is objective reporting a thing of the past? Meanwhile, podcasts reflect the decline of traditional media as gatekeepers, replicating in audio the rise of the blog. Should we celebrate the rise of the podcast or is something lost when we are all plugged into our listening of choice rather than a shared public conversation.