''Sword and Scale'' is a bi-weekly American

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

exploring nonfiction stories of

true crime True crime is a nonfiction literary, podcast, and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people associated with and affected by criminal events. The crimes most commonly include murder; about 40 per ...

. It features a variety of narrated true crime stories intertwined with interviews with criminals, witnesses, victims, authors, 911 call audio, witness testimony, trial audio, interrogation tapes, music, and sound effects. The podcast was first released on January 1, 2014 by creator, host, Mike Boudet. Within a year, ''Sword and Scale'' had 1 million downloads and it has ranked in the top 10 of the

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

"Science" category, and within the top 5 in the "Social Sciences" category. Popularity increased dramatically after the popularity of ''Serial'', and the show is often compared to it and other podcasts like

Criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

. In 2016, ''Sword and Scale'' became part of the

Wondery Wondery is an American podcast network and publisher of numerous award-winning podcasts, including Dirty John, Dr. Death, and The Shrink Next Door. Wondery was founded in 2016 by entrepreneur and media executive Hernan Lopez. The company was lau ...

podcast network started by former Fox International Channels CEO Hernan Lopez. The show returned for its eighth season in January 2021.

Controversy

officially parted ways with ''Sword and Scale'' on March 9, 2019 after Boudet, the podcast's host, shared a statement on the official Instagram account that drew online criticism over its perceived misogynistic nature. Following its departure from Wondery, Tricia Griffith, veteran broadcaster and owner of the popular true crime forum

Websleuths Websleuths is an internet community that is focused on crime and missing persons. The privately owned Websleuths LLC maintains a forum for registered users to discuss and classify information related to crimes, trials and unsolved cases, which th ...

, was appointed the show's new host. The move was temporary, with Mike Boudet returning on June 12, 2019. On 1 April 2021, Sword & Scale announced on their social media pages that Kast Media had voided the show’s contract. On 11 November 2021, Mike Boudet announced the immediate closure of all Sword & Scale's social media pages via a post on his blog. As at December 2022, all Sword & Scale social media pages are active. In December 2022, the Sword & Scale Twitter account faced backlash after tweeting an insensitive poll asking people to vote on which race they preferred victims to be. All tweets relating to this have since been deleted from the Sword & Scale Twitter account.

References

External links

* {{official website, http://swordandscale.com/ Infotainment Audio podcasts 2014 podcast debuts Crime podcasts