Hey y’all! I’m back with a little note on editing. This is NOT going to be a long one but definitely something to consider as you’re editing your show! Listen as I share why there are ethical considerations in podcast editing and how to approach them!
Before we really get started though I do want to point out that this MOSTLY has to do with content editing, but can also be impacted by technical considerations as well.
What are ethics in podcasting you may be wondering… The technical answer is that editing a podcast should not alter how a person speaks OR change the intent behind what a person says through the editing of the audio.
The best way for me to explain this however is to paint a picture.
Let’s say that you have a guest on your show who simple speaks slowly. They take time to think about what they want to say and they have long pauses between thoughts. It would be unethical to remove all of those pauses completely to make the show go faster. It would also be unethical to speed up their speech without their permission.
Why?
Because you are then inherently altering the way that they appear to communicate. For instance, say you have a heavily edited show but they appear on another show with no editing whatsoever. Now the person who follows your guest will have two completely different versions of how this person speaks and may be confused as to why they sound so different on different shows.
While there is no governing body per se for podcasting, there are some unwritten rules that we should all follow as we seek to provide a platform for people to share their voice and their message.
Listen in to hear more!
