Cool Mules is a podcast by Canadaland about a cocaine-smuggling ring led by Slava Pastuk that operated within Vice Media.

Cool Mules
Presentation
Hosted byKasia Mychajlowycz
GenreTrue crime
Production
No. of episodes6
Publication
Original release2 March –
29 March 2020
ProviderCanadaland
Related
Websitewww.coolmules.ca

It won a National Magazine Awards Gold Award for best podcast in 2021.

Production

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Cool Mules was produced and co-written by Jesse Brown; Kasia Mychajlowycz was the host, reporter and producer, Jonathan Goldsbie did research, Nathan Burley did the music, and Chandra Bulucon did the sound design and mixing.[1][2]

It was released in six parts, the first of which was released on March 2, 2020.[3]

Synopsis

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The podcast tells the story of Toronto-based[3] Yaroslav Pastukhov/Slava Pastuk, a Vice Media music editor who goes by the pseudonym of Slava P.[4][5] The story takes placed between 2014 and 2016,[3] in which Slava P recruits younger Vice employees into an international cocaine-smuggling ring.[6]

Themes in the podcast include the gig-economy, worker exploitation, and the line between journalists reporting news and creating news.[4]

Critical reception

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In 2021, Cool Mules won a Digital Publishing Awards Gold Award for best podcast (arts & culture) from the National Magazine Awards.[7]

Maxine Betteridge-Moes writing for Smack Media described the podcast as refreshing and fascinating.[4] Lizzy Steiner, writing in CrimeReads writes "host Kasia Mychajlowycz painstaking unpacks a crime that seems custom-built for the millennial generation."[3]

US corporation Storied Media Group bought the rights to the story.[6][8]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Cool Mules is a new podcast about that cocaine-smuggling ring run out of Vice". Nieman Lab. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  2. ^ "Presenting the Winners of the 2021 Digital Publishing Awards". Digital Publishing Awards. 2021-06-10. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  3. ^ a b c d Steiner, Lizzy (2020-03-26). "12 True Crime Podcasts to Listen to this Spring". CrimeReads. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  4. ^ a b c Betteridge-Moes, Maxine (3 April 2020). "Cool Mules is the #1 Podcast You Need To Hear Right Now". www.smackmedia.ca. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  5. ^ Thiessen, Connie (2021-04-29). "SMG to market Canadaland IP for TV & film adaptation". Broadcast Dialogue. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  6. ^ a b Ramachandran, Naman (2021-04-29). "Canadaland Podcasts to Be Adapted For Film and TV Through Storied Media Group Deal (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  7. ^ "2021 National Magazine Awards Nominees Announced". National Magazine Awards. 2021-05-13. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  8. ^ "The surprising rise of Canadaland". mcgillnews.mcgill.ca. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
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