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Political podcasts in the United States attract a number of local and international
listeners, making their shows top rankers on Apple Podcasts and Spotify platforms. Podcasts in
the United Kingdom have a massive listener base from Great Britain and other countries.
In terms of content, the study found that political podcasts in the United Kingdom and
the United States discuss foreign political issues outside of their own country. As a result, the
shows are accessible to listeners from several countries. However, several political podcasts in
the United Kingdom emphasize domestic politics with in-depth information, which means that
people who are not familiar with UK politics may find it difficult to understand the contents of
these shows. On the other hand, political podcasts in the United States can be easily followed
by an international audience; the programs often introduce and explain the political context
in the United States to listeners.
Shows that contain inappropriate language will have an “E” symbol (Explicit) to warn
the audience about inappropriate content and language in an episode. Both the United States
and the United Kingdom do not have criminal laws for the prosecution of defamation issues.
Hence, the media enjoys a great degree of freedom, especially in the US. Therefore, political
criticism can be made by podcasters without being controlled by the government. However,
these shows may be monitored by the organizations hosting them to maintain ethical media
behavior and reduce hateful content.
In terms of the listeners, there is a high level of political polarization in the United
States; an analysis of the listeners' comments on Apple Podcasts and Spotify platforms found
that the listeners criticized the podcasters as not being impartial and left-wing biased.
In the case of podcast shows in Thailand, political podcasts hosted by media
organizations, such as The Power Game, are top-rated. However, although political podcasts
are highly popular, the number of shows is still relatively small compared to other types of
podcasts, such as self-development, business, and others.