Democrat presidential candidate Robert Francis Kennedy Jr on Friday slammed ABC News and anchor Linsey Davis after the network said that it censored his remarks on COVID-19 vaccine from an interview.
RFK Jr is known to be vocal about his anti-vaccine views. He has faced criticism for the same.
On Thursday, ABC’s Davis admitted that the network edited his anti-vaccine comments from an exclusive interview. RFK, in his response, tweeted that the TV network’s actions are illegal. He cited 47 US Code 315.
“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…” the Presidential candidate’s tweet read.
Can Linsey Davis and ABC be sued?
47 USC 315 states that ‘if any licensee shall permit any person who is a legally qualified candidate for any public office to use a broadcasting station, he shall afford equal opportunities to all other such candidates for that office in the use of such broadcasting station’.
It, however, has certain terms. The code says that the licensee should have ‘no power of censorship over the material broadcast under the provisions of this section’.
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“No obligation is imposed under this subsection upon any licensee to allow the use of its station by any such candidate.”
Explaining the censored part, Davis said, “We should note that during our conversation, Kennedy made false claims about the COVID-19 vaccines.”
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“We’ve used our editorial judgment in not including extended portions of that exchange in our interview. Data shows that the COVID-19 vaccine has prevented millions of hospitalizations and deaths from the disease. He also made misleading claims about the relationship between vaccination and autism.”
