ABSTRACT
From podcasts to audio slideshows, audio has been responsible for some of the best-known web-native formats in journalism, but it has also been one of the toughest nuts for publishers to truly 'crack'. Audio is perhaps the medium with the most unrealised potential when it comes to online journalism. Helped by new mobile-based tools such as audio boo, sound cloud and speaker, and the increasing use of mobile phones in newsgathering, journalists were embedding audio in articles, sharing sound clips on social media and streaming it live online. Made by the creators of the well-known radio programme This American Life, it became the fastest podcast to reach 5 million downloads and streams on iTunes, topping the charts in four different countries. Audio can be recorded directly onto a computer or laptop, in a studio, on a mobile phone or tablet, using a digital dictaphone, or audio recorders such as a Marantz, Edirol or Zoom.
