This morning’s Mediaguardian has a fascinating interview with Simon Kelner, editor of The Independent. I’ve always had something of a softspot for the Indie, as somebody who’s bought it on and off from day one (indeed I’ve just been out to pick up a copy of today’s – and I bet I’m in the minority of people paying £3.49 to continue their “Banned Books” collection).

But I’m amazed to read his views on vod and podcasts:

Unlike his fellow editors in the “quality” section of the market, Kelner is endearingly contemptuous of multi-platform journalism, especially when it comes to pod and vodcasts. “I’ve never met anyone who ever listens to podcasts,” he explodes. “When I saw in the Telegraph ‘Get your podcast of Simon Heffer discussing David Cameron’s latest policy announcement’, I thought you’ve got to be joking! I’m not convinced that they’re the future.”

That’s particularly amazing since as far as I’m aware both the Indie’s travel and book sections have put together podcasts – albeit for commercial sponsorship reasons.

I’m guessing that Kelner’s social circle is not exactly representative of the average Independent reader, so it’s very dangerous to make rash calls like that.

Kelner also admits that their website isn’t as good as everybody else’s and that they’re going to make investments this year. He does claim that The Independent’s website makes a profit though – something he reckons other websites don’t. In the past, the paper has tried to a great extent to make money through direct subscriptions – Kelner has historically been opposed to giving away his content free. In particular, Robert Fisk’s columns and writings have been locked well and truly into a pay-per-view area.

This seems to have dissipated of late. While giving away your content may have seemed like a bad idea, it has meant historically that if I wanted to link to an Independent article in a blog entry or email, I couldn’t very easily. Hence I’d end up finding the equivalent story on The Guardian or BBC’s sites.

But if The Independent wanted to make almost guaranteed cash out of podcasts, I’m amazed that they haven’t launched something like a Robert Fisk podcast. Unless the man himself doesn’t want to do it, it’d be immediately popular in the digital world, and whilst I wouldn’t want to suggest that it becomes chargeable a la Ricky Gervais, it would surely easily find a sponsor and would be a popular listen.

I suspect that when the media planners for Apple campaigns are looking for press titles to advertise their wares in, The Independent, like The Guardian is somewhere near the top of the list. The Independent’s listeners do own mp3 players and will listen to podcasts.