Reshuffling the Podcasting Deck

On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser talk about the recent announcement that Instagram’s founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, would be leaving the company - at least in part due to clashes with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg over the company’s future.

They also discuss tech talks on capitol hill this week between the justice department and federal and state law enforcement on political bias, antitrust, and privacy on social media -- as well as a hearing in the Senate scheduled for Wednesday on how technology companies use and misuse consumer data.

Then, the hosts spend the rest of the podcast talking about...podcasts. The last couple weeks have witnessed some dramatic changes in the podcast industry (including right here at the Slate Group). Last week Buzzfeed axed it’s entire podcast department, a very popular and groundbreaking arm of the media company. Meanwhile, Vox Media did just the opposite, announcing they’d be doubling their podcast output this fall. To help make sense of all this, April and Will are joined by media writer Nick Quah, who pens the weekly newsletter Hot Pod, which is considered required reading for many in the podcast industry. 

15:41 - Interview with Nick Quah

34:36 - Don’t Close My Tabs

Don’t Close My Tabs:

okayplayer: The Secret History of Outkast’s ‘Speakerboxxx/The Love Below:’ the Last Truly Great Double Album

The New Yorker: How Russia Helped Swing the Election for Trump

The Guardian: ‘Sorry I’m Scuba Diving’” Salesforce CEO Criticized Over Response to Border Contract Backlash

Podcast production by Max Jacobs

If Then plugs:

You can get updates about what’s coming up next by following us on Twitter @ifthenpod. You can follow Will @WillOremus and April @Aprilaser. If you have a question or comment, you can email us at ifthen@slate.com.

If Then is presented by Slate and Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, New America, and Slate. Future Tense explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. To read more, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our weekly newsletter.

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