IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cog/meanco/v13y2025a8984.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Podcasting the Truth: Challenging Journalistic Knowledge and Building Epistemic Authority in Independent YouTube Podcasts

Author

Listed:
  • Viljami Vaarala

    (Swedish School of Social Science, University of Helsinki, Finland)

Abstract

The legitimacy of journalism as a truth-teller has become contested during the era of digitalisation and newly emerging platforms. Recently, the epistemic authority of legacy journalism has been challenged by right-wing podcasting. This article explores metajournalistic discussions on the identity of legacy journalism as a truth-oriented practice and institution in six Finnish podcasts published independently outside legacy media on YouTube. This metajournalistic discourse of truth is identified through topic modelling in 229 podcast episodes, of which 119 are scrutinised using qualitative discourse analysis. The discursive articulations in the YouTube podcast episodes are assessed in the light of realist and antirealist philosophies as well as epistemic theories of journalistic truth structured by critical realist and pragmatist philosophies. The results show that the epistemic authority of legacy journalism is challenged through three interconnected themes through which legacy journalism is articulated as an antirealist practice and institution. By contrast, YouTube podcasting is framed as a platform for a balanced, authentic, and uncut talk that realises the epistemic ideals of journalism. The challenges to the epistemic authority of legacy journalism presented by the Finnish YouTube podcasts are also similar to those identified in previous research on right-wing podcasting and online counter-media. The findings point to the need for legacy journalists and podcasting practitioners to adopt more nuanced and context-bound understandings of journalistic knowledge and truth structured by critical realist and pragmatist philosophies.

Suggested Citation

  • Viljami Vaarala, 2025. "Podcasting the Truth: Challenging Journalistic Knowledge and Building Epistemic Authority in Independent YouTube Podcasts," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 13.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v13:y:2025:a:8984
    DOI: 10.17645/mac.8984
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/8984
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17645/mac.8984?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v13:y:2025:a:8984. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: António Vieira or IT Department (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cogitatiopress.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.