U of Montana Professor’s True-Crime Podcast Named Among the Best
I'm starting to think the only people not doing podcasts these days are you and me. And I'm not even so sure about you.
Yes, it is a pod-eat-pod world out there, especially in the ultra-competitive category of whodunnits. That makes an accomplishment like this even more noteworthy. And it's cool to help spread the word that a University of Montana professor is receiving some very nice accolades for her contributions to the true-crime category!
UM News Service shared the news today (Tuesday) that Slate Magazine included University of Montana professor Jule Banville's "An Absurd Result" as one of their best true-crime podcasts, books and movies available in 2022. Slate is an online magazine that covers current affairs, politics, and entertainment culture in the United States. It has been in circulation since 1996.
UM News Service quotes Slate Magazine as saying, “Banville...gave this story the space and time it needed, gorgeous (but not flowery) writing combined with impressive shoe-leather reporting...Her storytelling skills combined with sweeping fact-finding reveal the heartbreaking hypocrisy of our justice system and the repeated failings of law enforcement toward both victims and the accused.”
Prior to UM, Professor Banville was a newspaper reporter and a public radio personality. No wonder the way podcasts combine those two skill sets that she was attracted to pursuing her own. She has been a teacher at UM since 2012, teaching audio, reporting and writing courses at the School of Journalism and acting as an advisor to the Montana Kaimin student newspaper.
Her seven-episode podcast, “An Absurd Result” chronicles the 1987 assault on an 8-year-old girl in Billings. All these years later the victim, Linda Glantz, chose to be identified and interviewed for the podcast, which includes some fascinating details of the early days of DNA.
The podcast can be accessed here. Congratulations to Professor Banville!
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