The case of “the people vs. Adnan Syed” became the topic of an American podcast “Serial”, hosted by investigative journalist Sarah Koenig, gaining world-spread interest and attention. This cold murder case from 1999 features Adnan Syed, a convicted felon doing time for the murder of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee, which he says he never committed. Sarah Koenig reviews this unsolved murder mystery, interviewing and following up on the key witnesses and details of the case.
you can listen to the podcast here: https://serialpodcast.org/season-one
The podcast is highly enjoyable and interactive in a way that allows for listeners to connect and form personal connections and ideas on the case. The host of the podcast, Sarah Koenig does a phenomenal job at this by creating content based on a real life, intense and mysterious murder case. Throughout the podcast Sarah keeps listeners like myself intrigued, as listeners investigate with Sarah and get to form their own opinions on Adnan’s innocence, or guilt on their own.
Learning about investigative journalism in this format is new to me and is a very fascinating way of telling and investigating a story, when done right. Sarah incorporated many strategies in her podcast to keep listeners attached to the case, presenting other’s experiences not with her own words, but with recordings of the witnesses and accused themselves. Listening to someone’s side of the story is very different if you were to read it; the way people say things, stutters and hesitations, emotions and energy, someone’s character. All things that a reader cannot generate with a news report or blog entry.
This case has grown tremendously and has raised awareness on Adnan’s case, even allowing for the case to be re-opened. However, there are still side effects to the result of a sensational, hot-topic case. Hae Min Lee’s family may be affected by the sudden and overwhelming attention. This responsible, athletic, well liked high school girl was murdered in 1999, but 15 years later an entire podcast is dedicated to questioning the conviction of her murder case. Hae Min Lee’s friends and family all struggled mourning the death of a loved one. All the attention on this case does not allow for a restful and quiet acceptance of their losses. Hae Min Lee’s friend speaks on her frustration:
” I want to make sure that people remember that this was a person that lived and had a life and not just become so focused about, ‘this is an interesting case.’ It’s people’s lives.”
– Aisha Pittman for The Guardian
Listening to a podcast is so much more enjoyable to me than reading an article or book, because getting to listen to real people’s voices makes the experience of following a story personal. However, sometimes the narrator can create a biased environment if the narrator insists on a certain perspective. Books require for more creativity on the side of the listener, as listeners must envision and create characteristics with whatever text they are given. Books written from the perspective of the main character also can create a biased environment if the thoughts and opinions of other characters are not expressed.
Imagine having to remember what you had for dinner two nights ago. Now what time did you wake up that day? Sarah Koeing illuminates the problem with memory and the challenges that follow with memory during a murder case. Every factual argument in the courtroom relies on the memory of separate individuals. The fact an accused individual does not remember what one did on a specific date, at a specific time does not prove the guilt of that individual. Sarah Koenig kicks off her podcast with one burning question:
Can we trust our memory?
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