Some liberal podcasters or their guests also shared false or unsubstantiated statements, including statements by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York about child poverty or immigration, which fact-checkers called “false.” or “mostly fake.”
But Dr. Wirtschafter said that conservative programs far outnumbered liberals in sharing misleading information. Many podcasters, he said, have seized on fears about the pandemic to captivate eager Americans. A list of anti-vaccination activists and salon experts pushed unsubstantiated theories about the coronavirus and covid-19 vaccines. They said that Covid could be treated or cured with ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine, two existing drugs, despite the evidence which were not effective.
“What we ended up with is that everyone is a health expert because they saw some study,” Dr. Wirtschafter said.
Mr. Bannon, for example, frequently looked for evidence in interviews with guests, which conveyed an apparent search for the truth. But, as clips from these interviews show, he often gave his guests the last word, rarely endorsed opposing views, and rarely warned his audience to wait for more information.
“Maybe there is some nuance or debate in the conversation,” Wirtschafter said, but Bannon leaves listeners with the distinct impression that officials and institutions are “totally lying to them,” he added.
“I agree with that characterization of the world,” Natalie Winters, co-host and executive editor of “War Room,” said in an interview. She added that the goal of the show was “to go against the main narratives, to give them the counterpoint.”
Bannon appeared confused in an episode after Steve Kirsch, a tech mogul and founder of the Vaccine Safety Research Foundation, an anti-vaccine group, said he didn’t know what was inside the vaccine.
