Fox News has embraced Kennedy’s endorsement of Trump while ignoring his dangerous views on vaccines
Media Matters searched transcripts in the SnapStream video database for all original programming on Fox News Channel for any of the terms “RFK,” “Kennedy,” “Robert,” “Bobby,” or “R.F.K.” within close proximity of any of the terms “coronavirus,” “virus,” “pandemic,” “outbreak,” “corona,” “COVID-19,” “COVID 19,” “COVID,” “vaxx,” or “vax” or any variation of either of the terms “vaccine” or “immunize” from August 23, 2024, when Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., suspended his presidential campaign and endorsed GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, through August 28, 2024.
We timed segments, which we defined as instances when Kennedy’s views on vaccines or COVID-19 was the stated topic of discussion or when we found significant discussion of Kennedy’s views. We defined significant discussion as instances when two or more speakers in a multitopic segment discussed Kennedy’s stance on vaccines or COVID-19 with one another.
We also timed mentions, which we defined as instances when a single speaker in a segment about another topic mentioned Kennedy’s views on vaccines or COVID-19 without another speaker in the segment engaging with the comment, and teasers, which we defined as instances when the anchor or host promoted a segment about Kennedy’s views scheduled to air later in the broadcast.
We rounded all times to the nearest minute.
Media Matters searched transcripts in the Kinetiq video database for all original programming on Fox News Channel for any of the terms “RFK,” “R.F.K,” or “Kennedy” from August 23, when presidential candidate Kennedy announced the suspension of his presidential campaign and endorsed GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, through August 28, 2024. We considered each instance when any speaker referred to Kennedy by name as a single mention.
