On the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, Steve Bannon encouraged the audience of his podcast not to waver in their faith. “We’re coming in right over target,” President Donald Trump’s former chief strategist intoned. “This is the point of attack we always wanted…today is the day we can affirm the massive landslide on November 3.”
In the aftermath of the ensuing attack on the Capitol, Bannon’s podcast stands out for its prescient blend of violent rhetoric and blatant disinformation. In the run-up to Jan. 6, Bannon and his podcast guests extensively promoted the false belief that Trump had rightfully and overwhelmingly won the November election, only to have it stolen from him by fraud. In doing so, Bannon was one of several prominent podcast hosts to champion the misleading electoral narratives known collectively as the “Big Lie.” While digital platforms like Facebook and Twitter have received significant scrutiny for their role in permitting the spread of those narratives, far less attention has been paid to podcasting. By virtue of both its intimacy and its scale, podcasting can serve as a powerful vector for misinformation, yet there has been comparatively little analysis to date of the role the podcasting ecosystem played in the lead up to the Jan. 6 attack.
To better understand that role, we compiled a dataset of the most popular political podcast series in the United States in November 2020. More specifically, we examined the “Top 100” list for that month from Apple Podcasts,...
Schubert Jonckheer & Kolbe LLP advises Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) investors that the firm is investigating potential legal claims arising from alleged false and misleading statements about the co...