'This Is a Safe Media Space': Behind the Strategic Insulation of the MAHA Movement

[Celerity]

Trump isn’t just targeting traditional press, he’s creating a media refuge for the activists shaping the Republican Party’s agenda. Look no further than Robert F. Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again.

https://www.notus.org/health-science/robert-kennedy-maha-media



When guests arrived at the Make America Healthy Again Inaugural Ball on the night of Jan. 20, they could rest assured they were entering a refuge: The event’s self-described “exclusive media coverage partner,” Biohack Yourself Media, told them so. “This is a safe media space, designed to reflect everything the MAHA movement stands for — truth, transparency, and positivity,” read the interview invitation Biohack Yourself issued to ball attendees. “We are not mainstream media. We are an independent, friendly health press, aligned with the principles of this movement.”

Hand-picking preferred media is certainly not new for politicians, but crackdowns on who gets to cover what have reached a new high under President Donald Trump. The Associated Press continues to be denied access to the Oval Office over its refusal to use the Trump-mandated moniker “Gulf of America.” ABC settled a defamation lawsuit to avoid facing the president’s wrath. NBC News, The New York Times, NPR and Politico were kicked out of their Pentagon workspaces to make room for four new outlets, three of which lean right.

Biohack Yourself’s partnership with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s 501(c)(4), MAHA Action, models a new approach for news organizations hoping to get — and keep — access to the new administration’s leadership. Biohack Yourself’s editor in chief, TereZa Lolli, and a spokesperson for MAHA Action, Emma Post, both emphasized in emails that Biohack Yourself was not the only outlet present at the MAHA ball. But other journalists were asked to leave at 7, according to Vogue’s coverage of the event. Biohack Yourself’s interviews went on until after 9:30 p.m. Post did not respond when asked about the different levels of access for different outlets.

Biohack Yourself also produced the ball, which was attended by many of Trump’s nominees for leadership roles at the health agencies. Even Dave Weldon, the elusive former nominee for director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, did a Biohack Yourself interview at the MAHA ball — the only on-camera appearance he made between when he received the nomination and when the White House rescinded it, Weldon confirmed to NOTUS in an email. He declined to provide any other comment.

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[Timeflyer]

1. Don't they mean MACA--"Make America Contagious Again?"