Newsmax

Newsmax is an American website and television network known for providing information with a notable conservative slant. It was founded by Christopher Ruddy, a former investigative reporter for the Washington Post. Before founding Newsmax, Ruddy had made a name for himself by opposing the administration of President Bill Clinton.

Ruddy founded Newsmax in 1998 as a website that served as an online news media publisher. Several years later, he used the website to publish extensive claims blaming former President Clinton for the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Over the next decade, Newsmax continued to grow in popularity, primarily with American conservatives. Ruddy later launched Newsmax TV, which he hoped would grow into a competitor of Fox News. Newsmax TV quickly aligned itself with the administration of President Donald Trump, posting content that was particularly favorable to Trump. It also hosted several newscasters who previously worked at Fox News.

Newsmax made national headlines for its pro-Trump coverage of the 2020 presidential election. When Fox News eventually declared, accurately, that the election had been won by Democratic challenger Joe Biden, many American conservatives turned their backs on Fox and switched to Newsmax, which continued to perpetuate the false claim that Trump was the true winner because of cheating in multiple states and hundreds of counties.

Background

Christopher Ruddy is the founder and one of the best-known figures at Newsmax. He began his career as an investigative reporter working for the Washington Post, earning some fame for his coverage of the Clinton administration. In 1992, Ruddy reported that a Public Broadcasting System documentary had fabricated a significant portion of its facts, leading to the program being removed from the network. He also wrote notable articles about numerous problems with the Social Security Administration and program. In 1994, Ruddy left the Washington Post to report for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Ruddy was also known for publishing an investigative series of articles focused on the death of Vincent Foster. Foster was an American attorney who worked in the Clinton administration as deputy White House counsel. In 1997, Ruddy used the information from his investigations to publish The Strange Death of Vincent Foster: An Investigation. In this book, Ruddy alleges that Foster’s death, which was officially ruled a suicide, should be more closely investigated. Ruddy provides alleged evidence for his claim, such as details about the body that are inconsistent with the official narrative, and alleges that authorities had modified reports.

In 1998, Ruddy founded Newsmax, an online media outlet. He used the website to publish his next work, Catastrophe: Clinton’s Role in America’s Worst Disaster, in 2002. The book-length online publication blames the Clinton administration for the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon that occurred on September 11, 2001. The Clinton book makes several outlandish claims, such as arguing that the West Nile virus was an Iraqi biological weapon. Following that release, Ruddy continued to guide the development of Newsmax, working to turn the media outlet into a major media source for American conservatives.

Overview

Newsmax catered to right-wing, conservative readers in keeping with its founder’s reputation in conservative circles. During its first years, Newsmax was known for its negative portrayal of the Clinton presidency. Though eclipsed by Fox News, then the outlet most popular with conservative audiences, Newsmax developed its brand by proving its willingness to publish stories that other news outlets believed were too right-wing. Newsmax launched a television channel, Newsmax TV, in 2014. The channel was broadcast through both satellite and cable television providers. Though it worked with a smaller budget than its rivals, Newsmax TV quickly grew in popularity with conservative viewers. It courted conservative media hosts that had been shunned by other media outlets, drawing the personalities’ fan bases with them. Some of these commentators included Bill O’Reilly and Sean Spicer, who formerly worked at Fox News.

During the 2016 presidential election, Newsmax earned a reputation as an outlet firmly in favor of Trump. After Trump won the election and was sworn in, Fox News, Newsmax, and One America News Network praised conservative government officials and generally supported the actions of the president. Though Newsmax managed to recruit several former Fox News personalities to its network, Fox News continued to beat other conservative channels in the ratings.

During the 2020 election season, Newsmax voiced consistent support for President Trump, who was claiming the only way he could lose was if his opponent or enemies committed election fraud. Because of the global COVID-19 pandemic and fears of spreading the virus at polling places, many states’ election officials encouraged voters to request absentee ballots or mail ballots, which they could return via US Postal Service or place in designated drop boxes. On November 3, 2020, states began reporting election results; however, counting of mail-in ballots continued in some states for several days. Nevertheless, Trump declared himself the winner of the election early on November 4. As Democratic candidate Biden’s lead grew over the following days, Newsmax began to assert that the Democrats were conspiring to steal the election. The media outlet argued that the Democratic Party had conspired to illegally change the results of the election, and that the government should work to oppose Biden’s win. Initially, other conservative networks supported this view, refusing to give Biden credit for the victory; however, evidence showed that the election was legitimate.

When Fox News eventually conceded that Biden had won the election, many fans of Trump rejected the network. Instead, they moved to Newsmax, which continued to refuse to acknowledge Biden’s victory. In December 2020, Newsmax TV surpassed Fox News in ratings for the first time in the network’s history.

On January 6, 2021, Trump held a rally outside the White House. Immediately following the event, a mob of right-wing protesters and rioters marched to the US Capitol and breached the building in an effort to stop Congress from certifying Biden’s electoral win. After smashing doors and windows to gain entry, they damaged property, ransacked offices, stole items, and injured multiple law enforcement officers, killing one. The mob delayed but ultimately failed to stop the certification process, which was completed overnight in a lengthy session. Newsmax drew criticism when it dismissed the insurrection, instead supporting Trump’s claim that the mob was composed of anti-fascists pretending to be his supporters, despite the evidence to the contrary. In the days that followed the insurrection, Newsmax continued to deny the election results, despite both Democrats and Republicans in Congress acknowledging Biden as the legitimately elected president.

Later that year, a lawsuit alleging defamation brought by Dominion Voting Systems specifically accused Newsmax as one of the broadcasters responsible for spreading false claims about 2020 election fraud. In 2021, Newsmax issued a retraction and an apology to one of the Dominion employees over the election stories, which in turn led the employee to drop his case against the news company. By 2022, the Senate committee formed to investigate the January 6 attack on the Capitol had conducted investigations and hearings that had compiled evidence of numerous relevant Newsmax broadcasts containing misinformation about the incident. Though satellite provider DirecTV temporarily removed Newsmax as a channel in January 2023, citing a failure in carriage fee agreement, by March the two parties had reached a deal in which Newsmax's broadcasting was restored. The dispute had sparked prominent debates over potential censorship. The company faced other allegations and reached an agreement with Smartmatic in 2024 after the company filed a lawsuit against Newsmax for false claims about the 2020 election. The amount of the settlement was not disclosed to the public.

Bibliography

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