Fox’s Howard Kurtz Asks ‘Why Do News Orgs Keep Putting RFK Jr. On Air?’ — An Hour After Fox Interviewed RFK Jr.
Howard Kurtz questioned the level of media attention that has been given to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., even though Fox News has given significant coverage and hype to the long-shot Democratic presidential candidate.
On Sunday, Kurtz held a MediaBuzz segment where he acknowledged that “the networks, including Fox, keep having [Kennedy] on,” granting him a platform for his various conspiracy theories and controversial statements. Kurtz ran through Kennedy’s record before bringing Griff Jenkins on and asking him “Why do news organizations keep putting RFK on the air?”
He has a long history of spreading conspiracy theories, and falsehoods. He is obviously entitled to speak — I’m not saying he shouldn’t have any access to the media. Sometimes he is challenged as he was by Martha MacCallum this week, but its almost like he’s a celebrity providing entertainment.
After Jenkins likened the Kennedy hoopla to the 2016 reactions to Donald Trump, he agreed with Kurtz that Kennedy has been pushing “anti-semitic” claims on top of his previous “conspiracy theories.” As Jenkins outlined Kennedy’s strategy of riding the publicity from his claims of being censored, he acknowledged that it was just about an hour ago when Fox News had Kennedy on for a Sunday Morning Futures interview with Maria Bartiromo.
Despite the various controversies that have surrounded John F. Kennedy’s nephew, much of the Fox News’ coverage on him has been focused on ignoring the negatives while framing him as primary threat to President Joe Biden. The network’s hosts have celebrated the airtime they’ve given Kennedy, scoffed at his detractors, and gushed about his polling (even though he’s nowhere close to Biden’s numbers).
As Kurtz and Jenkins broke down Kennedy’s ploys with outrageous statements, Kurtz commented on the “huge amount of attention” he’s getting, but “I don’t think [Kennedy] is a serious threat to President Biden.” Jenkins called it a “difficult situation” since Democrats and Republicans are now being forced to decide on how to handle Kennedy’s antics without censoring him.
Kurtz stuck to his core point though, re-stating that “Kennedy is not a serious challenger to Biden.”
“If his last name was Jones, and he was making all the false statements would he be getting all these TV invites?” Kurtz asked. He later added “Journalists don’t take him seriously. If journalists did take him seriously, he would be all over the news constantly.”
Watch above via Fox News.
