NewsMax.com
NewsMax.com (NewsMax Media, Inc.) "serves up the news with a conservative slant. The company publishes alternative news and opinion content through its monthly 300,000-subscriber magazine NewsMax and corresponding Web site. The company generates sales from politically-oriented merchandise (clothing, posters, books) showcasing stars of the Republican Party. It also partners with Random House to publish a series of co-branded books. Former New York Post reporter Christopher Ruddy, the company's CEO, founded NewsMax Media in 1998." --Hoover's Fact Sheet.
Among early investors in NewsMax were Richard Mellon Scaife, Ruddy's former boss at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and Texas businessman Michael Ruff.[1] Scaife and Ruddy have since bought out the other investors, and Ruddy is majority owner.[2]
One of the initial board members was author James Dale Davidson who edited a financial newsletter, Davidson's co-editor, Lord Rees-Mogg, former editor of The Times and Vice Chair of the BBC, later became chairman of Newsmax Media. Other news figures who later joined the Newsmax board included Arnaud de Borchgrave (he is now a correspondent). Former US Secretary of State and Nixon and Ford administration Chief of Staff, General Alexander M. Haig, Jr. served as special adviser to NewsMax.
Contents
Slogan
"America's News Page"
Journalistic Integrity
NewsMax Media runs the NewsMax.com website and publishes NewsMax Magazine. These publications provide in-depth and comprehensive news, politics and independent commentary. Ruddy, who serves as editor-in-chief, describes NewsMax.com as "the leading independent online news site with a conservative perspective."[2]
In starting NewsMax Media, Christopher Ruddy took the The Drudge Report as a model and aimed at creating an Internet news company by building a team of reporters instead of working alone.
Besides the website and magazine NewsMax.com also sends out a newsletter on a frequent basis to subscribers. These newsletters are The Blaylock Report, a medical publication [3], and the Financial Intelligence Report, a financial publication [4].
Article suggesting a coup against President Obama
On September 29, 2009, NewsMax ran an article by John L. Perry titled Obama Risks a Domestic Military Intervention that suggested a military coup to "resolve the Obama problem." Perry also wrote that a coup, while not "ideal," may be preferable to "Obama's radical ideal, and would "restore and defend the Constitution." Newsmax has since removed the column from its Website, but the entire text of the article has been preserved elsewhere on the Web.[5][6]
Echo chamber
There is ample evidence to support the theory that NewsMax is one of a growing number of right-wing "news" sources and blogs that act as an echo chamber for the conservative viewpoint.
A classic example of this is a December 4, 2007 article by conservative author and activist Kenneth R. Timmerman. Responding to a National Intelligence Estimate report stating Iran had halted its nuclear bomb program in 2003, Timmerman attacks the study by smearing its authors.[3] Timmerman's piece has few verifiable facts. Most of his "sources" are "unnamed."It is, however full of innuendo and opinion.(In the piece Timmerman quotes one of his own books six times.)[4] The echo chamber effect is apparent when a quick Google search for news on the NIE study produces hundreds of right wing sites that quote the Timmerman article's conclusions as fact.[5]
The weekend before the 2004 presidential election, NewsMax purchased airtime on local TV stations across the country to air Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal, a film critical of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.[7]
Controversies
On May 26, 2000, NewsMax published an article claiming Hillary Clinton refused to meet with the Gold Star Mothers, a group of mothers of servicemen.[8] According to the Gold Star Mothers organization, this was false and "Senator Clinton greeted us graciously on Gold Star Mothers Sunday, 2005." This story was also debunked at other websites[9].
A 2005 NewsMax report about Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, claiming he was "teaming up" with rock band U2 for a fund-raiser, gained considerable attention. Santorum had actually purchased 66 tickets to a sold-out show and was reselling these to campaign supporters at $1,000 per seat. The band issued a statement denying it was involved in the practice, saying, "U2 concerts are categorically not fund-raisers for any politician; they are rock concerts for U2 fans."[10] Rather than admitting the error and issuing a correction, NewsMax simply changed its article about the fund-raiser without telling readers it had been changed, stating that the story was misinterpreted.[11]
NewsMax Pundits
- Christopher Ruddy, CEO and Editor
- Kenneth R. Timmerman, correspondent
- Dick Morris
- Michael Arnold Glueck, M.D., and Robert J. Cihak, M.D. ("Medicine Men")
- Paul Weyrich
- John LeBoutillier
- James Hirsen
- John L. Perry
- Geoff Metcalf
- Pat Boone
- Phil Brennan
- George Putnam
- Armstrong Williams
- Edward Koch
- Barry Farber
- David Limbaugh
- Michael Reagan
- Susan Estrich
- Charles R. Smith
- Russell Blaylock
Newsletters
- The Blaylock Report
- Financial Intelligence Report
Random House/NewsMax Authors
- Christopher Ruddy, "The Strange Death of Vincent Foster: An Investigation"
- James Hirsen, "Tales from the Left Coast"
- Carl Limbacher, "Hillary's Scheme"
NewsMax News Links
NewsMax Exclusives
Affiliations
Contact details
560 Village Blvd., Ste. 120
West Palm Beach, Florida, 33409
P.O. Box 20989
West Palm Beach, Florida, 33416
Telephone: 561-686-1165
Toll Free: 800-485-4350
Fax: 561-686-3350
URL: http://www.newsmax.com
External links
References
- ↑ Terry Krepel, "NewsMax By the Numbers. Would you buy stock in this company? Should anyone?" ConWebWatch, May 30, 2002.
- ↑ "Web site thrives as conservative voice in West Palm," Palm Beach Post, October 6, 2008.
- ↑ [1]. The Blaylock Wellness Report.
- ↑ Financial Intelligence Report.
- ↑ John L. Perry, NewsMax Obama Risks a Domestic Military Intervention, Talking Points Memo, TPM News, undated
- ↑ Terry Krepel, Media Matters Newsmax columnist: Military coup "to resolve the 'Obama problem' " is not "unrealistic", September 29, 2009
- ↑ Terry Krepel, "October Surprises and True Intentions", ConWebWatch, October 30, 2004.
- ↑ "Hillary Snubs Gold Star Mothers", NewsMax, May 26, 2000.
- ↑ "Gold Star Mothers", Snopes.com, accessed April 13, 2008.
- ↑ Patrick Healy, "U2 Moves to Distance Itself From Concert Fund-Raising". New York Times, October 14, 2005.
- ↑ 'NewsMax falsely claimed it never said that U2 concert was fund-raiser for Santorum", Media Matters for America, October 18, 2005.
Profiles
- NewsMax Media Inc. company profile, Hoovers.com.
- NewsMax.com in the Wikipedia.
- NewsMax in the dKosopedia.
- NewsMax.com, Media Matters for America, accessed August 9, 2005.
Articles & Commentary
- Fahrad Manjoo, "Newsmax Knows Its Audience," Wired News, December 8, 2000.
- Brendan Nyhan, "News Quacks. A conspiracy-mongering tabloid claims the mantle of Reagan," The American Prospect, February 21, 2002.
- "NewsMax And Random House Announce Book Deal," WriteNews.com, April 5, 2002.
- Terry Krepel, "NewsMax By the Numbers. Would you buy stock in this company? Should anyone?" ConWebWatch, May 30, 2002.
- Terry Krepel, "Is NewsMax Corrupt? Using the standards NewsMax itself applies to the New York Times, absolutely," ConWebWatch, September 6, 2002.
- Terry Krepel, "NewsMax's Season of Silliness", ConWebWatch, March 4, 2004.
- Terry Krepel, "NewsMax's Hillary Hobgoblins", ConWebWatch, August 17, 2005.
- Terry Krepel, "NewsMax's Fiction Writer", ConWebWatch, October 14, 2005.
- Terry Krepel, "Clinton-Hating 2.0", ConWebWatch, April 25, 2007.
- Kate Kaye, "Newsmax Media Wants Advertisers to Take Aim at Rich Republicans", The ClickZ Network, January 31, 2008.
