ABC News censors RFK Jr. interview remarks on Covid vax problems, may have violated federal law

American Thinker ^ | 04/29/2023 | Thomas Lifson

[SeekAndFind]

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is a bigger problem for the Democrats and their media arm than they realized.  The blowback from an interview with Linsey Davis that aired Thursday on ABC demonstrates the nature of the problem. You see, before airing the taped interview, ABC censored his comments attacking the effectiveness and safety of the Covid vaccines. Zachary Stieber of The Epoch Times (paywalled but available to AT readers by special arrangement) reports:

ABC News cut off a presidential candidate when he started talking about COVID-19 vaccines, raising concerns about censorship.

Robert Kennedy Jr., who recently announced his presidential run as a Democrat, sat down with ABC News for a lengthy interview released on April 27.

After airing clips of the interview, reporter Linsey Davis spoke to viewers.

“We should note that during our conversation, Kennedy made false claims about the COVID-19 vaccines,” she said. “We’ve used our editorial judgment in not including extended portions of that exchange in our interview,” Davis said.

The claims in question were not listed, and ABC did not return a request for comment.

Davis indicated that at least one dealt with the effectiveness of the vaccines.

“Data shows that the COVID-19 vaccine has prevented millions of hospitalizations and deaths from the disease,” Davis said. She did not provide any citations for the claim.

“He also made misleading claims about the relationship between vaccination and autism. Research shows that vaccines and the ingredients used in the vaccines do not cause autism, including multiple studies involving more than a million children and major medical associations like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the advocacy group Autism Speaks,” she added.

On Twitter, the candidate for the Democrats’ nomination accused the network of violating federal law:

[SeekAndFind]

RFK Jr.'s Tweet:

47 USC 315 makes it illegal for TV networks to censor Presidential candidates but Thursday, ABC showed its contempt for the law, democracy, and its audience by cutting most of the content of my interview with host Linsey Davis leaving only cherry-picked snippets and a defamatory disclaimer. Offering no evidence, @ABC justified this act of censorship by falsely asserting that I made "false claims." In truth, Davis engaged me in a lively, informative, and mutually respectful debate on the government’s Covid countermeasures. I’m happy to supply citations to support every statement I made during that exchange.

I'm certain that ABC’s decision to censor came as a shock to Linsey as well. Instead of journalism, the public saw a hatchet job. Instead of information, they got defamation and unsheathed Pharma propaganda. Americans deserve to hear the full interview so they can make up their own minds. How can democracy function without a free and unbiased press?

As President, I will free FCC from its corporate captors and force the agency to follow the law by revoking the licenses of networks that put the mercantile ambitions of advertisers ahead of the public interest. #Kennedy24

[rktman]

More here:

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/4149084/posts

😁👍

[Revel]

First Kennedy would have to have guts to go after them. Next he would have to get the DOJ to pursue it. So I wouldn’t hold my breath on seeing justice.

[Jess Kitting]

47 USC 315 makes it illegal for TV networks to censor Presidential candidates

I wonder what they call censoring the story about Hunter Biden's crimes.

[bigfootbob]

I’d like to know if RFK,Jr. like his Party, has a soft on crime/defund/reimagining incarcerating repeat offenders/drug legalization philosophy?

Question 2

Do you support parole or if elected president would you pardon Sirhan Sirhan in your first 100 days?

[RoseofTexas]

Sue themmmmmmm!!

[JoJo354]

Yeah...all news anchors are experts on medicines and everything about their effectiveness...or not.

[Jacquerie]

I assume that, like other network television broadcasters, ABC airs lots of ads for pharmaceutical makers, who have become some of the biggest television advertisers.

[lowbridge]

““We should note that during our conversation, Kennedy made false claims about the COVID-19 vaccines,” she said. “We’ve used our editorial judgment in not including extended portions of that exchange in our interview,” Davis said.”

Interesting how their “editorial judgement” didn’t include editing out lies told about Trump such as in the russia collusion hoax.

[Libloather]

Interfering with an election? Collusion?

[Rural_Michigan]

Hear hear. Kennedy24. I’m with him.

[Grampa Dave]

47 USC 315 makes it illegal for TV networks to censor Presidential candidates but Thursday, ABC showed its contempt for the law, democracy, and its audience by cutting most of the content of my interview with host Linsey Davis leaving only cherry-picked snippets and a defamatory disclaimer. Offering no evidence,

ABC justified this act of censorship by falsely asserting that I made “false claims.” In truth, Davis engaged me in a lively, informative, and mutually respectful debate on the government’s Covid countermeasures. I’m happy to supply citations to support every statement I made during that exchange.

I’m certain that ABC’s decision to censor came as a shock to Linsey as well. Instead of journalism, the public saw a hatchet job.

Instead of information, they got defamation and unsheathed Pharma propaganda. Americans deserve to hear the full interview so they can make up their own minds. How can democracy function without a free and unbiased press?

As President, I will free FCC from its corporate captors and force the agency to follow the law by revoking the licenses of networks that put the mercantile ambitions of advertisers ahead of the public interest. #Kennedy24

[logi_cal869]

I knew this would eventually percolate to the top.

Can’t recall if I made the comment here, but I literally said the words, “that’s illegal.”

[joshua c]

where is the FCC?

their license should be yanked

[minnesota_bound]

If it was not for Elon Musk buying Twitter we would never have seen his video response as it would have been blocked. Foxnews and the democrats would say anything negative about Tucker with him having no audience to refute.
________________________

Catturd ™
Listen very carefully … Fox News, NBC, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, the New York Times, the Washington Post and many others are the past … they’re floppy disk, cassette players, 8-track tapes, phone booths, and pagers. Citizen podcasts are the future.

________________________

Scale – Tucker Carlson 2 Minute Video Had More Viewers Than All Cable News Programming Combined in 24 Hour Period – 72.7M vs 53.1M
April 28, 2023 | Sundance | 243 Comments

To give scale to the growing insignificance of broadcast news networks, consider this fact-based analysis.

Tucker Carlson released a two-minute video on Twitter that had 72.7 million views in 24 hours. The entire cable news industry combined, every show on every channel, over the corresponding timeframe had 53.1 million views.