Today, we’re sharing an episode from another Gimlet Media podcast, Science Vs. This episode fact-checks some claims made in a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience, featuring Dr. Robert Malone. As you may know, this episode has caused an uproar: Many scientists have called out the show for spreading false information about the Covid-19 vaccines and some 270 scientists and medical professionals called on Spotify (our employer!) to adopt better policies to mitigate misinformation. Our colleagues at Science Vs jumped in to, in their words, “fact check the bejesus out of it.”
This issue is close to home for us at How to Save a Planet because, as a podcast about climate change, we’re acutely aware of the impact of false information and misinformation in muddying the waters and confusing the public – for instance, about climate science.
So we’re proud to share this episode from our colleagues, which not only digs into some of the claims made in the Malone interview, but also zooms out to talk about the bigger picture: how misinformation works, and what to watch for if you’re worried about getting sucked in by false information online.
It’s also just a great, informative, fun listen. We hope you enjoy it, and we’ll be back next week with a new episode of How to Save a Planet.
You can check out more episodes of Science Vs. for free on Spotify. You can also find the full transcript of this show, including footnotes listing all the studies cited in the episode, here.
UPDATE 2/11/22: When Science Vs first published this episode, they said that in more than 60 papers they'd gone through, they'd found only one reported case of someone dying from myocarditis after a Covid-19 vaccine. Some listeners questioned this, and they re-checked their work and found several more deaths. The episode has been updated — and thanks to the listeners who picked this up.
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