Beth Ann Rosica: The mainstream media proves RFK’s point
Last Friday, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., suspended his campaign for president and used the bully pulpit to shred the legacy media and the Democratic party. Yet, if you only read the mainstream media headlines and articles, you would have no idea that RFK lambasted the enjoined groups.
Based on their one-dimensional reporting, the mainstream media proved RFK’s point — in grand fashion.
“You didn’t alone cause the devolution of American democracy, but you could have prevented it.” RFK made that statement early in his remarks about the legacy media.
Then, most of the national media outlets stopped filming live in the middle of his address. Conservative media, including the Daily Wire and Newsmax aired the entire speech.
From my perspective, RFK’s commentary was the most genuine and passionate statement, albeit a bit long, uttered throughout this topsy-turvy presidential campaign. At times, he was visibly emotional. And more so than anything else, he was honest — brutally honest.
Despite his passion and criticisms, these are the headlines from CNN. The majority of their reporting focused on the endorsement of Trump and disregarded the valid critique of the media and the Democratic Party.
Brownstein: Why RFK Jr.’s endorsement could be a problem for Trump
‘Kind of gibberish’: CNN analyst reacts to RFK Jr.’s appearance with Trump
GOP commentator on how RFK Jr.’s endorsement could backfire for Trump
Hear RFK Jr.’s sister’s response to her brother endorsing Trump
MSNBC also supported RFK’s assertions with these headlines.
Members of the Kennedy family denounce RFK Jr.’s decision to endorse Trump
RFK Jr.’s journey from Democrat to Republican shows how Covid scrambled politics
The Washington Post focused on the endorsement and ignored the message.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says he is suspending his campaign and endorsing Trump
Even this article in The New York Times that shows the difference in reporting perspective between the conservative and liberal media fails to address RFK’s criticism of the media and the Democratic party.
How Media Outlets on the Right and Left Covered Kennedy’s Trump Endorsement
Locally, The Inquirer, followed suit with a single article that cited freedom of speech but did not actually address RFK’s concerns with the media or the Democratic party.
RFK Jr. suspends his presidential bid and backs Donald Trump before appearing with him at his rally
All of these outlets had the opportunity to prove RFK wrong by simply reporting on what he said about the media and the Democratic Party, but that did not happen.
For those interested in honest reporting, thankfully, the alternative media sites did cover the message. IM1776, a magazine of cultural and political analysis, posted a transcription of his full remarks and noted that they were the only group to do so at the time of publication.
Here is what the mainstream media failed to report about the Democratic party, according to RFK.
“I attended my first Democratic convention at the age of six, in 1960. And back then, the Democrats were the champions of the Constitution and of civil rights. The Democrats stood against authoritarianism, against censorship, against colonialism, against imperialism, and against unjust wars. We were the party of labor, of the working class. The Democrats were the party of government transparency and the champion of the environment. Our party was the bulwark against big money interests and corporate power. True to its name, it was the party of democracy.”
RFK concluded that the Democratic party has lost its way.
“As you know, I left that party in October because it had departed so dramatically from the core values that I grew up with. It had become the party of war, censorship, corruption, big pharma, big tech, big AG, and big money.”
RFK blamed the mainstream media for colluding with the Democratic party.
“And our television networks expose themselves as Democratic Party organs. Over the course of more than a year in a campaign where my poll numbers reached at times in the high twenties, the DNC-allied mainstream media networks maintained a near-perfect embargo on interviews with me. During his ten-month presidential campaign in 1992, Ross Perot gave 34 interviews on mainstream networks. In contrast, during the sixteen months since I declared, ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, and CNN, combined, gave only two live interviews from me. Those networks instead, they ran a continuous deluge, hit pieces with inaccurate, often vile pejoratives and defamatory smears. Some of those same networks then colluded with the DNC to keep me off the debate stage.”
As RFK called those outlets out, many stopped airing his speech.
“Representatives of those networks are in this room right now, and I’ll just take a moment to ask you to consider the many ways that your institutions have abdicated this really sacred responsibility. It’s the duty of a free press to safeguard democracy and to challenge always the party in power. Instead of maintaining that posture, of fierce skepticism toward authority, your institutions and media made themselves government mouthpieces and stenographers for the organs of power.”
He did not mince words when calling out the legacy media for their decidedly undemocratic behavior.
“The mainstream media was once the guardian of the First Amendment and democratic principles, but has since joined this systemic attack on democracy. Also, the media justifies their censorship on the grounds of combating misinformation, but governments and oppressors don’t censor lies, they don’t fear lies. They fear the truth, and that’s what they censor.”
I listened twice to RFK’s entire message — it was that compelling. And the fact that his critique was not accurately reflected in the mainstream reporting is truly tragic. It speaks to how desperate we are for alternative media sources to gather all the facts, not just those that a few elites want us to know.
Beth Ann Rosica resides in West Chester, has a Ph.D. in Education, and has dedicated her career to advocating on behalf of at-risk children and families. She covers education issues for Broad + Liberty. Contact her at barosica@broadandliberty.com.
I read RFK Jr.’s speech to my wife, because he’s tough to listen to with that raspy voice, and because she despises Trump. She absolutely hates Trump and says all he does is belittle people but never explains in detail what he is going to do himself. She was shocked that Trump Administration would consider giving RFK a plank. Everything RFK stands for regarding unhealthy food (not the vaccine stuff) is her main focus in life. She might actually vote for Trump now.
It is election interference that the Dems removed Biden from the ballots but refuse to remove RFK. (They are still trying to remove him in certain states but selectively leave him on in other states.) Zuckerberg recently confirmed every conspiracy about election interference by the “big brother” deep state. Crickets from the media. The deep state and their media conspiracy partners know better than us, so they censor and lie – constantly.
Two of the great current media propaganda lies: 1) Trump will be a tyrant. Although he wasn’t during his first Presidency. 2) Harris will fix all the problems that manifested during the Biden Harris admin… but she needs to wait until she finishes this term, currently in the white house, before she can fix everything that went wrong.