A single post on X from Joe Rogan summed it up perfectly.
“LOL WUT”.
This, after ABC chair Kim Williams unloaded on the world’s most popular podcaster, suggesting that Rogan and other popular right-wing commentators “prey” on their audiences.
ABC chair Kim Williams (right) was critical of podcaster Joe Rogan during a National Press Club address. Credit: Digitally altered image. Artwork: Marija Ercegovac.
“They prey on fear, they prey on anxiety, they prey on all of the elements that contribute to uncertainty in society ... They entrepreneur fantasy outcomes and conspiracy outcomes as being a normal part of social narrative,” Williams told the National Press Club on Wednesday.
You might not like Rogan. I’m no fan, and Williams certainly isn’t. But what the former comedian and TV host has managed to accomplish with his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, is precisely what the ABC has largely failed at for years – to meaningfully engage with young audiences.
Considering Australians are the consumers of the most podcasts in the world, you’d think Williams would be paying a lot of attention to this space, and the people who dominate it. But in his comments, he displayed a basic misunderstanding of Rogan’s modus operandi.
Rogan hosts the world’s most popular podcast, growing his audience by thousands of new listeners each week. He boasts the kind of listener numbers that the ABC........