Topic: Media Research Center
Robert Kennedy Jr. is one of the Media Research Center's favorite so-called victims of "big tech" because his anti-vaccine conspiracy theories keep getting called out for the misinformation the are (which the MRC dishonestly portrays as "censorship") -- for instance, we've noted how the MRC portrayed Kennedy as a victim of its totally imaginary "secondhand censorship" metric. But Kennedy has presidential ambitions, and the MRC would like to help -- not because they want him to win, of course, but because they think he might hurt President Biden's re-election chances, like Kennedy's other ConWeb boosters. Here's how it did so early in his campaign:
- An April 22 post by Alex Christy complained that a reporter dismissed Kennedy as "token primary opposition" to Biden.
- Curtis Houck made an April 28 appearance on Fox News, where he noted that Kennedy did an interview witih ABC News but that "they edited out what they considered to be misinformation on the negative health effects of vaccines," insisting that Kennedy's "speech shouldn't be silenced." He was joined by another MRC staffer, Stephanie Hamill, who insisted that it was "an egregious violation of journalistic ethics" and that, according to the anonymously written writeup of the appearance, "Kennedy is running for president and should have a right to share his views."
- A May 10 post touting the latest wildly inflated bogus "secondhand censorship" numbers declared that "Even Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. noted that censorship is “a direct assault on our democracy.”
When Instagram restored Kennedy's account after suspending it oer his misinformation, Luis Cornelio cheered in a June 5 post:
Big Tech is back at it with election interference, this time anti-free speech platform Instagram admitting that it suspended a presidential candidate’s account over an “error.”
In exclusive comments to MRC Free Speech America, a spokesperson for Instagram parent company Meta admitted that Instagram had censored Democratic Party presidential primary candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The spokesperson claimed, “[W]ith respect to the below: this was an error, which we corrected.” The spokesperson also shared with MRC Free Speech America staff a link to an article at The Washington Post with the following misleading headline: “Instagram reinstates Robert Kennedy Jr. after launch of presidential bid.”
Kennedy Jr., who is challenging President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination for president in 2024, blasted Instagram over what he labeled “undemocratic” censorship in a series of Twitter posts. “To silence a major political candidate is profoundly undemocratic,” the Democrat politician wrote in a tweet. “Social media is the modern equivalent of the town square. How can democracy function if only some candidates have access to it?”
The Post’s article featured a comment from Andy Stone, a spokesman for Meta saying, “As he is now an active candidate for president of the United States, we have restored access to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s, Instagram account.” Kennedy Jr.’s account was initially suspended over alleged COVID-19 vaccine misinformation violations on February 11, 2021.
Note that Cornelio is incapable of admitting that Kennedy spreads misinformation -- as if there is no objective definition of it -- even though he linked to an Associated Press article that specifically identified the misinformation he spread.
P.J. Gladnick spent a June 6 post complaining that the media will report the truth about RFK Jr.'s wack (but dangerous) conspiracy theorires:
Wouldn't it be nice to run for political office confident in the knowledge that the lapdog press will act on your behalf by attacking your primary opponent? Republicans can't imagine it. But Democrats rely on the press to serve as unofficial agents of their campaign and attack their opponents, allowing them to pretend to remain above the fray.
That's the plan for Joe Biden. According to Tuesday's "Politico Playbook," he and his team will rely on the aid of the self-styled "objective" press to attack Robert F. Kennedy Jr on his behalf while comfortably ignoring him as revealed in"What do you do with a problem like RFK Jr.?"
Biden world’s plan is to ignore him. The overwhelming sense inside the campaign and White House orbits is that any other posture would elevate him from a gadfly with a good name to a genuine contender.
They are counting on reporters and other Democrats to do the work of informing voters about Kennedy’s well-established views. Once that happens, as one Democratic strategist put it to us, they will “realize he’s running in the wrong party.” (This person, like others who spoke about Kennedy, did so on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly about strategy.)
Yes. Joe Biden can relax at his Delaware beach house during the 2024 presidential primary elections because, according to Politico, the press has his back and will attack RFK, Jr. while Joe stares at the sea from his patio. No debates are necessary, just an occasional attack piece.
And how will Biden's loyal press attack RFK,Jr.? By portraying him as like a Steve Bannon prank candidate, despite his generally liberal Democrat views:
Gladnick made sure not to mention Kennedy's anti-vaxxer conspiracy theories -- probably becaus ehe knows that it's not part of his allegedly "generally liberal Democrat views."
Catherine Salgado played the victim card for Kennedy in a June 7 post:
The Big Tech censors are piling on with their anti-free speech election interference, as YouTube again targets Democratic Party presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
YouTube deleted yet another interview of Robert F. Kennedy Jr as the platform continues to join with other Big Tech companies censoring the Democrat presidential candidate. The video, still accessible through The Wayback Machine, has been removed by YouTube, which now has a notice saying the interview violated “Community Guidelines.” The platform has not yet given further explanation.
Trending Politics News co-owner Colin Rugg tweeted June 5, “During a podcast with Mike Tyson, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. talked about how the CIA killed his father. YouTube has now deleted the video. The elites don’t want you to watch this.” The tweet included a video clip of the censored interview, from Matt Orfalea.
This is hardly the first time Big Tech has censored Kennedy. Kennedy recently slammed Big Tech censorship, tweeting, “To silence a major political candidate is profoundly undemocratic. Social media is the modern equivalent of the town square. How can democracy function if only some candidates have access to it?”
The MRC sure cares a lot about a candidate they have no intention of actually supporting in a non-ironic way.
