Podcasts | Heavy things to say about getting older and five other new podcasts presented

Talkative activism

Activism sometimes produces great podcasts. Activists have enough to say, which too many journalists lack.

Kurdish background Rojin Birzoi is an active civil debater who brings up, for example, mental health problems, animal rights and equality issues in his podcast.

In the latest episode, the topic is sexual harassment. It is a social problem that is talked about, but usually the discussion remains at the level of flattery.

Birzoi gets to the topic with his expert guest Jaana Hirskanka with deeper than the surface. Hirsikangas, who works as the executive director of the UN equality organization UN Women Finland, reminds that sexual harassment is not the victim's fault.

Although people understand this on a general level, in individual cases of harassment, however, too often mitigating circumstances are found for the perpetrator and aggravating for the victim: Why did you dress like that, why did you behave like that, why did you even go there. The victim is preferably made an accomplice, who has caused a person known to be a good person to commit harassment, abuse or even rape.

Although Birzoi's activism is a virtue in terms of the podcast's discussions, a more journalistic approach would be useful in the post-processing of the material. Get rid of unnecessary initial Latin and get straight to the point!

Rojin – Kurdish rebel. Listenable in various podcast services.

The songwriter's stream of consciousness

Songwriter Jarkko Martikainen childhood was special in many ways. He was born in 1970 in East Germany, where his parents studied to become doctors. For practical reasons, the parents spoke German to little Jarko. Since then, the family moved to Finland, but adapting to Finland was difficult for the four-year-old son with a language problem. In Finland, the family often moved after the parents' jobs, so the future artist had to get used to disappointments, rootlessness and loneliness.

Martikainen talks about his life stages and his thinking Olli Laine in the podcast delivered Conversations with Jarkko Martikainen.

Martikainen is a left-leaning intellectual artist who is alien to today's hard values. Martikainen's welfare state allows a young person to wander aimlessly, and does not kick the poor in the head.

Martikainen has a pleasantly lively speaking voice, and his stories are compelling. In terms of the overall nature of the podcast, the man is perhaps too good a storyteller, because the reporter Laine has not bothered to cut anything out. There are plenty of side paths, which makes the episodes quite meandering in places. As such, the seven-part series sounds like a background interview for a biographical book.

Conversations with Jarkko Martikainen. Yle Areena.

Can a woman grow old?

Asta Leppä continues his excellent audio series with one on women's aging At this age podcast.

Sirpa Pietikäi can be heard in Asta Lepä's Tässä iäsä podcast. Picture: Janne Aaltonen

Leppa's guests are celebrities, but that doesn't matter in this case, because they have important things to say.

Particularly successful episodes are the actor Elina Knihtilä and MEP Sirpa Pietikäinen visits.

Knihtilä emphasizes that actors have a responsibility for what kind of female image they present. He amazes Hollywood stars over fifty who want to look like they are in their thirties at any cost. Knihtilä reminds us that a woman has the right to grow old, even if the media landscape around us claims otherwise.

It is interesting that the podcast was published by Anna magazine, which has been maintaining an image in which a woman must not grow old for decades. Maybe times are changing.

MEP Pietikäinen says that there is also an advantage for a female politician as she gets older, because an experienced female politician is taken more seriously than a young woman.

“A male politician needs nothing more than a gray suit and Kauppalehti under his arm for a credible economic speech,” Pietikäinen says.

Pietikäinen also says that sexist rude feedback decreases with age, although a female politician over sixty still gets her fair share of misogyny.

“Why no one wants to sexualize Eero Heinäluomaa or Mauri from Pekkariif you disagree with their political views.”

On the other hand, it is commonplace for a female politician to have rape fantasies and other rude things if the politician's opinions on, say, the EU's forest policy are not pleasing.

At this age. Listenable in various podcast services.

Biden, Trump or a dark horse?

Finn campaigning for the presidential election is barely acceptable, but in the US the debate is already heatedly electronic, even though the election is only in November.

Sami Lindforsin and Tuomo Hyttinen Election anchors-podcast offers an expert analysis of the unusual political system and the upcoming presidential elections in the USA from the perspective of Finland.

The podcast, which has been running for four years, always focuses on the next important US elections. While the election campaigns in Finland last for a few months, in the USA, especially the presidential election campaigns, actually run throughout the entire election season. Will it stay Biden alive? Have to Trump to jail? Soap opera-like twists and turns keep the interest going.

Lindfors and Hyttinen are both professional journalists. Lindfors works for Yle and Hyttinen Kauppalehti. The men know how to unravel the twists and turns of American politics in an entertaining and comprehensible way.

Currently, the series publishes a new episode every two weeks, but as the presidential election in November approaches, the publication speed will accelerate to more frequent than it is now.

Election anchors podcast. Listenable in various podcast services.

The next president of the United States will not be elected until next November, but the topic has been buzzing around for a long time. Picture: Colourbox

Consumer-oriented about cars

The new ones cars don't sell because loan money is expensive. The automotive world is in turmoil anyway, which makes it difficult to predict the future. Therefore, consumers are postponing their car purchases.

Iltalehti has recently invested in car journalism to such an extent that one can even talk about the magazine's own car editorial.

Iltalehten On the car radio it's not about horsepower, it's more of a consumer podcast. Car journalist Arttu Toivonen the program hosted talks about, for example, misleading car advertising, the poor condition of roads and the green transition of motoring.

An excellent example of a podcast style is an episode Disbelief at car dealershipswhere Toivonen et Mikko Räsänen focus on the current state of the car trade. The episode shows, among other things, that the car salesman running away from the customer is still not a lost folklore. The service is not available even if the customer has entered the store wearing shopping pants. If you don't do business, it won't work.

Car radio. Listenable in various podcast services.

Iltalehti Autoradio is a qualified consumer podcast. Picture: Lev Dolgachov

Politely, from the prog's point of view

Soundi magazine own podcast rarely appears. An episode was released in January About Patti Smith and right after in December the topic was Mike Oldfield and the classic album he released 50 years ago Tubular Bells.

Editor-in-Chief of Sound Mikko Meriläinen and music editor Mikael Mattila offer a civilized and expansive musical package of information about the album, for which Oldfield had a hard time even finding a publisher.

Surprisingly, however, the instrumental prog record became a sales success. Tubular Bells -album has sold around 15 million copies in total.

As the old saying goes, good things are worth waiting for, but hopefully the next Soundi podcast episode won't have to wait as long as this latest one.

Sound podcast. Listenable in various podcast services.