Ben Shapiro Calls Out Report Accusing Daily Wire of Vaccine Skepticism: ‘Notice the Difference Between the Headline and the Actual Story’
Joshua Blanchard/Getty Images for Politicon
Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro called out The Washington Post on Thursday over a report accusing his outlet of vaccine skepticism.
In the Post’s Technology 202 newsletter, written by Cristiano Lima with research from Aaron Schaffer, a subhead read “These vaccine skeptics are outperforming news outlets on Facebook and Twitter, study finds.”
According to the report (emphasis is the Post’s):
The report, produced by the German Marshall Fund (GMF) think tank, zeroes in on the reach of the popular conservative media site the Daily Wire, founded by Ben Shapiro, and of the Children’s Health Defense, a group founded by longtime anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
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… And researchers said the Daily Wire has been the most popular news publisher on Facebook since July 2021, with much of its engagement “centered around content critical of vaccines and vaccine policy.”
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The study also found that the Daily Wire’s posts about vaccine mandates in particular drew significantly more engagement than their typical ones, “indicating that the site found success in pushing content that tapped into ongoing culture wars around U.S. COVID policies.”
Shapiro called out the subhead for describing his outlet as among the “vaccine skeptics,” when the body of the write-up more precisely identified the Daily Wire as opposing vaccine mandates.
“Oh, nothing, it’s just WaPo trying to pressure social media to choke off our traffic again based on the lie that we’re anti-vaccine, not just anti-vaccine mandate. Notice the difference between the headline and the actual story,” he tweeted.
Oh, nothing, it’s just WaPo trying to pressure social media to choke off our traffic again based on the lie that we’re anti-vaccine, not just anti-vaccine mandate. Notice the difference between the headline and the actual story. pic.twitter.com/yEBjoY0J9L
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) February 24, 2022
Shapiro has repeatedly called on people to get the vaccine, a fact that was pointed out on Twitter by former FDA commissioner and current Pfizer board member Scott Gottlieb
In other words, get the vaccine, dopes.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) December 8, 2020
Critics must distinguish between conservative commentators who supported development, distribution, uptake of #Covid vaccines — but opposed government mandates; and those who were anti-vax. @BenShapiro is NOT anti-vax. He regularly encouraged people to CHOOSE to get vaccinated. https://t.co/Hedmhj7JbI
— Scott Gottlieb, MD (@ScottGottliebMD) February 24, 2022
The Daily Wire previously sued the Biden administration over the (now-defunct) Covid vaccine-or-testing mandate for businesses with 100 or more employees.
Although Shapiro is in favor of the Covid vaccine, other pundits at The Daily Wire are not.
Most notably, Candace Owens has not only expressed opposition to Covid vaccine mandates, but to the Covid vaccine itself. She has said she wouldn’t even take it on her deathbed.
