Serial

Is anyone listening to this podcast? It's generating a ton of interest and popularity. And it's pretty damn fascinating.

It's about a reporter who goes back and investigates the 1999 murder of a high school girl outside Baltimore and whether or not they got it right. They release a new podcast every Thursday (usually between 35-55 minutes). The woman goes into great detail about every aspect of the case, it seems. She plays recorded interviews with as many people as she can talk to, and she also plays recordings from the police interrogations and the trial from back in 1999. Just riveting. It's like True Detective in podcast form.

Anyway, I highly recommend it. The first season is free, but they're trying to generate some cash for the second season, in which they'll tackle a new case. I'll definitely be donating.

 

Just went over 5 million downloads/streams. They'll make a little cash for the second season.

 

Whoa. Yeah, they shouldn't have much trouble making whatever is needed to produce a second season.

 

Was hoping you had spelled "cereal" wrong. Was looking forward to that thread.

 

I'm on episode two right now, and it's really riveting so far. Definitely doing my best to catch up, since I think 8 episodes have come out so far.

 

I listened to most of episode 1 on my way to work today and can't wait to get back to it.

 

Sarah Koenig makes a pitch for contributions to fund a second season before the start of Episode 9.

 

Yup. Can't blame her, especially if it has generated more than 5 million downloads. I assume that's a ton. I wouldn't be surprised if she's already raised enough to cover expenses for season 2.

 

Sounds cool. I'm going to check it out.

Was the case unsolved or resulted in no conviction?

 

No, there was a conviction.

It is, if nothing else, a great example of how a massive amount of reporting can lead to GREAT storytelling. I've read enough hot takes from people sitting in cubicles to last me three lifetimes. This is someone exhaustively pursuing every angle, exploring every nuance, giving you every perspective, and doing it a very fair and entertaining way. There is no way you can listen to it and not have a lot of questions about our entire process of gathering evidence and prosecuting people based on witness testimony and little else (something that happens every day in this country). It's also an interesting look at how many different people can live through something and remember it differently. The narrator, Sarah Koenig, is an absolute pro. Give the first episode a listen. You won't regret it.

www.serialpodcast.org

 

I definitely agree with this. I think she is repeating some information that was brought up in books by Malcolm Gladwell and Bill James, in how fickle some convictions or acquittals can be. But the medium - actually hearing all of these interviews with the various participants - really hammers it home in a way a book does not.

 

I am sympathetic to prosecutors and police officers, who are often put in difficult positions politically, to not only to solves cases but win convictions, whether justice is done or not. There is no way that two Baltimore County homicide detectives could have spent an entire year (or more) investigating nothing but this one homicide. And I think, listening to the podcast, it's reasonable to come the conclusion that Adnan is not entirely innocent here. Guilt and innocence are not probably not black and white terms the way we'd like to believe them, and that's one of the reasons to listen to the podcast. Shit is messy. And most convicted criminals in prison who say they're innocent are likely not. So I could see how if you were a cop or a prosecutor listening to this, you'd be pissed because of the larger implications in how it might color how people look at the process. But it seems pretty clear letting Jay convict Adnan with nothing more than his own testimony and cell phone records was ridiculous. Doesn't mean Adnan didn't do it, just means the process was pretty flawed. And that's riveting, seeing that peeled apart.