Topic: WorldNetDaily
L.A. "Tony" Kovach gushed over a newly fiiled lawsuit in a Jan. 30 WorldNetDaily column:
Notable Democrat-supporting liberal Robert F. Kennedy Jr., J.D., (RFK Jr.) is suing corporate media giants. As WND reported, Kennedy said, "Nobody has ever complied their way out of totalitarianism."
Kennedy's lawsuit is significant because it is based on antitrust law.
Unlike some who file suits and never win, Kennedy and his organization have enjoyed several big court victories, including a recent one. The Defender explained, "Federal antitrust law prohibits firms from colluding to deny critical facilities or market access to rivals."
From the complaint itself: "CHD with this lawsuit aims to vindicate the freedom of speech and of the press. The Defendants are the BBC, The Washington Post, the Associated Press, and Reuters."
Bob Unruh expanded on the lawsuit in a Feb. 7 article:
Robert Kennedy Jr. has joined with several other plaintiffs to sue major media outlets for suppressing competition.
The complaint accuses the Washington Post, Associated Press, BBC and Reuters of infringing on antitrust laws by attacking others' reporting on issues such as COVID-19 and more.
The action alleges the defendants are illegally boycotting some news reports under the guise of a coalition that was intended to crack down on misinformation.
The complaint charges the "Trusted News Initiative," launched by the BBC only years ago, violates the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890.
That law prohibits industry cartels, price fixing and a variety of other anti-competitive schemes.
Kennedy's complaint accuses the defendants of conspiring to denigrate conservative talking points about COVID, the vaccinations, treatments including ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, the Hunter Biden laptop and more.
Neither Kovach nor Unruh mention the relevant fact that Kennedy is an anti-vaxxer who rejects science to peddle his own conspiracy theories (and that, as a result, no Democrat claims him), and that pretty much all of the plaintiffs in his lawsuit are anti-vaxxers. And neither of these people are going to point out the massive holes in logic in this lawsuit.
As one observer noted, no "big tech" companies are listed as defendants, "despite the premise of their lawsuit being that they've been excluded from Big Tech," and the plaintiffs all describe themselves as publishers, "Which is obviously great when you're alleging you've been prevented from publishing by Big Tech." Further, the court case on which the plaintiffs are hanging their antitrust claim against the Trusted News Initiative doesn't really apply here because the TNI was formed to fight disinformation, not make money, and as another observer noted, "social or political boycotts are not a violation of antitrust laws, and are protected by the First Amendment."
Despite the dubiousness of this lawsuit, Kovach -- described in his end-of-column bio as the co-founder of two publications "which are widely acknowledged to be the largest, most-read and evidence-based trade media serving the affordable housing and mobile home/manufactured housing profession and consumers" -- continued:
There are numbers of takeaways from the above. One is that Kennedy, a Democrat, is indirectly exposing the Biden family and Democratic corruption through this litigation. Conservatives should bear in mind that perhaps 65 to 80% of the country largely agree on a range of issues. Strategic thinkers should carefully unpack the information linked here, because bigger audiences – and more supporters – are available.
Kovach offered no list of specific things "65 to 80% of the country largely agree on."
