On behalf of the Media Research Center's Board of Directors, MRC President David Bozell is proud to announce that the winner of the MRC's 2026 Free Speech award is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
As President Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kennedy inherited a department deeply entangled in the censorship apparatus that the MRC has spent years exposing. Kennedy arrived with the power to do something about it. And he has. MRC’s Free Speech Award honors Kennedy for using his position, influence and authority to protect Americans’ right to speak.