The War Room podskat Stephen Bannon, a senior adviser to former US President Donald Trump, was considered the most illusory of political projects popular with the audience. This is stated in a study by the Brookings Institution, the results of which are cited by the newspaper. New York Times.
Researchers downloaded and transcribed 36,603 podcast episodes from 79 political talk shows aired through January 22, 2022.
“About 20% of the content in Bannon’s War Room episodes contained false, misleading or unfounded claims. That’s more than other conservative presenters’ programs,” the NYT article states.
According to experts, around 70% of all watched podcasts contained at least one false or misleading statement.
Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and founder of the public organization Turning Points USA, came in second (16.6%). The Rush Limbaugh Show (which ended in 2021 after the presenter’s death) and The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show shared third place (15.2%).
Valerie Wirtshafter, a senior analyst at the Brookings Institution, said that Bannon and Kirk’s podcasts often contain the types of content designed to mislead the listener.
“We take what they call misrepresentation or disinformation to be true. And time will judge us,” Bannon told the NYT, commenting on the results of the study.
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