On Wednesday morning during Free Speech Week, Media Research Center President David Bozell joined The Chris Plante Show to highlight MRC's 2026 Free Speech Award winner, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Bozell noted that outside of President Trump, few public figures were censored more than RFK Jr., particularly regarding his stance on vaccines, vaccine schedules, and the COVID-19 pandemic:
“In fact, outside of President Trump, there's probably not another public official—or to-be public official, candidate, author, spokesman, or otherwise—that was censored more than RFK Jr. on a variety of different fronts, but namely, his number one issue: vaccines, vaccine schedules, and the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Bozell detailed how Facebook and Instagram shut down RFK Jr.’s campaign documentary and how the Biden administration labeled him on their "Disinformation Dirty Dozen" list. Empathizing with Kennedy’s experience, Bozell noted that the MRC was similarly targeted, landing at #5 on NewsGuard's "Toxic 10" list—quipping that he wished they were #1.
Highlighting the scope of the Biden administration's censorship apparatus, Bozell pointed to 57 federal initiatives across agencies like the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which funneled taxpayer funds and six-figure grants to censorious organizations like NewsGuard, as well as seven-figure grants to state universities to study how to target "disinformation."
Bozell expressed:
“So we inherit this massive [censorship] apparatus. President Trump signs a Day One executive order to dismantle it, and no one's done a better job at their position at the cabinet level to do that than RFK Jr.”
Bozell praised RFK Jr. for taking immediate action alongside President Trump's Day One executive order to dismantle this system at HHS. Kennedy uprooted bad actors, reinstalled free speech proponents, and instituted new transparency rules. Concluding the segment, Chris Plante commended the MRC’s efforts, offering a blessing for their ongoing fight for free speech.
Plante closed out the show by nodding to free speech and its significance, saying to Bozell, “We fight for it here. I know that you fight for it there. God bless the Media Research Center.”
Watch the entire segment here:
