Actor and producer Robert De Niro has bowed to science and withdrawn an anti-vaccination documentary from his Tribeca Film Festival lineup.
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt spent more than two minutes on March 28 covering De Niro’s “rare change of heart” to pull the “controversial documentary film.” The segment did an excellent job of covering the discredited claims about vaccines and De Niro’s decision.
The New York Times reported on March 26, that De Niro was under fire for including the discredited Vaxxed documentary, which repeated the “debunked” link between vaccines and autism, in the festival.
Vaxxed was directed by the “widely discredited” Andrew Wakefield, who fabricated a link between vaccines and autism in a 1998 study, according to NBC National Correspondent Kate Snow. The study was later entirely retracted and Wakefield lost his medical license.
“De Niro, who has a child with autism, said, after conversations with experts they concluded ‘We do not believe [the film] contributes to or furthers the discussion I had hoped for,’” Snow reported.
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Nightly News also included comments from two medical professionals praising De Niro’s decision to side with science and not add to anti-vaccination fears.
“Vaccines are a distraction. They divert energy, time and scientists’ attention away from things that are more valuable to helping children and families affected by autism,” said James McPartland, a professor in Yale’s autism program.
Dr. William Schaffner told NBC, “We were delighted because this was a film that purported and a -- a discredited concept.” Schaffner works at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
ABC Good Morning America and CBS This Morning also covered mentioned De Niro’s decision on March 28.
CBS News correspondent Jericka Duncan insisted, “The debate over vaccinating children remains a hot-button issue, and the filmmakers say they have a first amendment right for their views to be heard.”
Between 1998 and 2014, all three networks kept anti-vaccination fears alive by continuing to report that the link between vaccines and autism was still hotly debated, despite being debunked by the medical community.
