In these turbulent political times in the United States, many have never been more thankful to live in a democratic society complete with checks, balances, and due process. The political climate has also brought about a wave of politically-themed podcasts on both sides of the aisle. While some remain unabashedly partisan, others have maintained fair and balanced analysis and discussion. These podcasts in the latter bucket fight against the silo’ed nature of echo chambers many people often get caught up in.

Democracy Works fits nicely into this nonpartisan spectrum. Created by faculty members at the McCourtney Institute for Democracy at Penn State University, Democracy Works talks with guest all over the political landscape and spectrum. Their unique position associated with a university gives them a certain credibility and additional resources many other podcasts aren’t afforded. Between the caliber of guests who join them — best-selling authors, professors, media pundits, and more — their conversation is informational, and more importantly, thought-provoking.

You may recognize one of the Democracy Works hosts, Jenna Spinelle, who’s contributed to Discover Pods in the past (read her articles here). We exchanged emails about what it’s like to have a political podcast in today’s climate, how the podcast got started, and where it’s going. See below for the full Q&A.

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DISCOVER PODS: How’d you get into podcasting?

SPINELLE: My cohosts and I were on a car trip from Pennsylvania to Washington, D.C. last fall and spent pretty much the whole time there and back listening to podcasts or talking about politics ourselves. The more we looked into it, we saw that there were not many, if any, other podcasts talking about the issues we wanted to cover in the way we wanted to talk about them. None of us had any idea how to actually make a podcast, but we were lucky enough to partner with our local NPR affiliate for production services. They helped us turn our rough ideas into a full-fledged show. We’ve also received a ton of support from the podcasting community and are very grateful for it.

DP: In your own words, why should listeners tune in to Democracy Works?

SPINELLE: Democracy is one of those things that’s hard to define, but is important for everyone to understand what it is. On our show, we talk about what it means to live in a democracy — everything from voting to protest to the free press — in a way that we hope is educational and nonpartisan. There are a lot of pundits and partisans in the podcasting world already who are great at what they do. We wanted to take our show in a different direction, especially given the fact that we are based at a university.

DP: With such a hectic political climate, are there certain areas of democracy you think are at risk?

SPINELLE: One of the things I’m most concerned about are the filter bubbles that people across the political spectrum put themselves in. A healthy democracy requires participation from people who are operating from a shared set of facts and information, which seems to be increasingly difficult to find these days. Podcasts provide a great way to take in different points of view and break out of those echo chambers.

DP: Which guests have surprised you with their insight? 

SPINELLE: We were fortunate enough to interview David Frum of The Atlantic as a guest earlier this year. He is a conservative and a Republican, but a pretty vocal critic of Donald Trump. He reminded us about how much people from the left and the right really have in common, and how much renewed interest he’s seen in people wanting to understand the other side and develop a sense of empathy for people who think differently than they do.

DP: What’s the biggest challenge you face as an indie podcaster?

SPINELLE: Like a lot other indie shows, we struggle to grow our listener base amid all of the big-name podcasts out there, especially in the news/politics space. We are focusing on producing the best content we can and looking for like-minded organizations to help share our episodes with their audiences.

DP: Where do you want to take your podcast?

SPINELLE: Our first two seasons largely focused on United States democracy, but we know that democracy is in trouble in many other places around the world. We hope to start looking at other countries in 2019. We are also hoping to use our show as a way to introduce podcasts to Penn State’s large alumni base. I’ve presented at a few University meetings and personally helped people find and subscribe to our show on their phones. Hopefully our show can act as a gateway into all of the other great podcasts out there and increase overall listenership.

DP: What other podcasts are you listening to now?

SPINELLE: My background is in journalism and I love listening to Longform for insight into some of the great writing and reporting that’s happening right now. I also love the Ministry of Ideas for a more philosophical take on make of the same issues we cover on Democracy Works.

DP: Anything else you’d like to add?

SPINELLE: I think 2019 is going to be the year that podcasting moves beyond early adopter stage in higher education. Since we launched Democracy Works, I now meet once or twice a month with other units on our campus who are interested in starting their own show or already making plans to produce one. The success of the Sound Education conference earlier this fall shows that podcasts have huge potential for classroom use; we’re hoping to do more of that in the coming year as well.

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