Steve Bannon is supposed to be heading to jail sometime soon over a contempt of Congress charge. Until he does, he’s been very busy podcasting. His show, The War Room, airs an hour-long episode at least twice every day. Surprise surprise: Among political podcasts it’s reportedly the one with the most misinformation.
As per The New York Times, a study released Thursday by the Brookings Institution revealed its findings after downloading and transcribing 36,603 podcast episodes from 79 political talk shows. Of those, The War Room was the worst offender. It’s estimated that nearly 20 percent of the show features a false, misleading or unsubstantiated statement.
Was Bannon troubled by the report? Of course not. In an interview the grifter who’s been stiffing his lawyers called it a “badge of honor.”
The War Room is, predictably, far from the only offender. About 70 percent of the reviewed podcasts boasted at least one false or misleading claim. Some were worse than others. Coming in second place behind The War Room was The Charlie Kirk Show, hosted by the youngish MAGA twerp who sometimes goes on his show looking like crap. Bronze was a tie between The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show and The Rush Limbaugh Show, which was included in the report despite its host having passed away in 2021.
One of the analysts for the Brookings report admitted that sometimes falsehoods and misleading data can slip out during these podcasts due to their conversational manner. She added, But what does stand out, particularly for a show like Bannon’s War Room and a few others, is just how frequently this type of content appears.” In other words, Bannon keeps inviting on guests who are going to spew nonsense — that is, when he’s not doing it himself.
(Via NYT)