I’ve acquired extra on the wild world of right-wing podcasting right this moment (thanks, Brookings!). Let’s get into it.
Bannon’s podcast is spreading political misinformation, and it’s not alone
I do know I’ve mentioned this earlier than, however it’s price reiterating — Brookings’ mission on political podcasts is significant to understanding the scope of partisan media. Folks underestimate how a lot affect political pods have and simply how tough they’re to average. It’s one thing price keeping track of as we method (oy) one other presidential election.
Brookings launched new analysis right this moment on the frequency of podcasters making false claims on matters like election fraud and covid, and among the many high political podcasts, it’s… quite a bit. The information set appears to be like at political reveals which have appeared in Apple’s high 100 and others which can be beneficial via Apple’s algorithm. As I’ve written beforehand, conservative political reveals far outnumber liberal ones. And in response to the brand new analysis, conservative hosts are additionally the worst offenders with regards to misinformation.
Steve Bannon leads the pack with a completely insane (if not altogether stunning) price of almost 20 % of all episodes that includes unsubstantiated claims. As one of many high proponents of the Large Lie, Bannon was chargeable for greater than two-thirds of all conspiracy principle claims amongst podcasts within the knowledge set.
Even when his willpower to unfold misinformation is with out peer, Bannon could not have fairly as massive an impact as a number of the others on the listing. He has been banned from YouTube and Spotify, the 2 largest podcast platforms. In the meantime, packages with a lot bigger audiences, equivalent to The Charlie Kirk Present and Louder with Crowder, additionally had dangerous monitor data, with misinformation charges of almost 17 % and 11 %, respectively. In line with report creator Valerie Wirtschafter, even when accounting for potential political bias amongst fact-checkers, “conservative podcasters have been 11 instances extra possible than liberal podcasters to share claims fact-checked as false or unsubstantiated.”
Whereas that is an extension of the bigger points in right-wing media, it additionally factors to a podcasting-specific downside. Podcasting typically doesn’t have the identical inner guardrails as TV, and as soon as it’s printed, it’s remarkably tough to average. Except you’re getting the type of scrutiny as Joe Rogan, many cases of misinformation fly beneath the radar. Corporations like Spotify are trying to make use of AI to average podcasts, however it’s unlikely that these options shall be really efficient by the following election. Podcasts will undoubtedly be a automobile for political misinformation in 2024; the query is simply how a lot affect they’ll have.
Ear Hustle co-host has been launched from jail
Rahsaan “New York” Thomas, producer and host of Radiotopia podcast Ear Hustle, has been launched from jail after greater than 20 years behind bars. Thomas was a finalist for a Pulitzer in audio reporting in 2020 for his work on the groundbreaking present, which paperwork life in jail.
Final yr, California Governor Gavin Newsom commuted his 55 ½-years-to-life sentence for second-degree homicide. His co-host Walter “Earlonne” Woods was equally launched in 2019 after having his sentence commuted by former California Governor Jerry Brown.
Chore time is podcast time
That’s in response to a brand new YouGov ballot that surveyed how Individuals hearken to podcasts. Almost half of the respondents who hearken to podcasts mentioned they achieve this whereas performing family chores, although girls have been way more prone to reply as such than males (55 % vs. 43 % — gee, marvel why!!). Different fashionable instances for podcast listening embody throughout a commute (42 %), whereas understanding (29 %), and whereas cooking (additionally 29 %). Additionally price noting: 47 % of respondents mentioned they don’t hearken to podcasts in any respect — which suggests greater than half do! Good for you, podcasts.
That’s all I acquired. See you tomorrow.
