Newsmax Media has hired Brian Peterson, a longtime public relations executive at Fox cable and regional sports networks and the NFL among other places, as SVP of communications and marketing for the Newsmax TV parent, reporting to CEO Christopher Ruddy.
Forgoing any appeals for healing or reflection, right-wing media organizations that spread former President Donald J. Trump’s distortions about the 2020 election continued on Wednesday to push conspiracy theories about large-scale fraud, with some predicting more political conflict in the months ahead.
For One America News Network and Newsmax, the Georgia runoffs present an opportunity to capitalize on post-presidential election audience gains, which they’ve boosted thanks to promotion from President Donald Trump. For weeks, the outlets pushed baseless theories about election fraud in an effort to be No. 2 behind dominant cable news channel Fox News.
Exclusives
There has been a quantifiable shift in the number of people who watch Newsmax, a much-smaller, would-be Fox News competitor that has seen a dramatic uptick in viewers in the weeks since the election by capitalizing on conservative frustration with Fox, and, some say, a desire from President Trump’s fans to keep alive the flailing narrative that he will ultimately serve a second term, despite Biden’s coming inauguration.
Eric Coomer, security director at the Colorado-based Dominion Voting Systems, said he wants his life back after being named in false charges as a key actor in “rigging” the election for President-elect Joe Biden. There has been no evidence that the election was rigged. His lawsuit, filed Tuesday in district court in Denver County, Colorado, names the Trump campaign, lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, conservative columnist Michelle Malkin, the website Gateway Pundit, Colorado conservative activist Joseph Oltmann, and conservative media outlets Newsmax and One America News Network.
Voting machine companies, including Antonio Mugica’s Smartmatic, threaten defamation lawsuits against Fox, Newsmax and OAN.
The challenges are unlikely to knock Fox News from its perch as the cable news ratings giant. Fox has spent billions investing in its around-the-clock news division and its primetime lineup draws millions of viewers every night. But fledgling conservative outlets such as Newsmax and One America News see an opportunity to challenge Fox by providing unabashed pro-Trump news and commentary.
With his claims rejected by courts and dismissed by state officials, America’s most powerful cable news junkie has expanded his diet beyond Fox News, relying more on networks that are willing to parrot and feed his unfounded claims of an electoral conspiracy. His support, in person and via an increasing number of tweets, has bolstered these networks’ viewership and aided their upstart effort to compete with Fox News.
The King Of Trump TV Thinks You’re Dumb Enough To Buy It
Chris Ruddy, the CEO of Newsmax, has found a business opportunity in feeding Trump supporters the fantasy that the president could still win the election.
Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy on Tuesday sought to quell speculation that it would become a Trump-branded network after President Donald Trump leaves the White House. While telling CNBC he’s friends with Trump, Ruddy said, “I think they’re reading into it a little too much.”
Newsmax may be focused on conservative audiences, but it has very liberal views of where its business can go in the future as an independent news operation. The top executive of the news outlet said the company intends to move forward on its own, and noted Newsmax has little desire to turn the network, which has seen its ratings pop since the presidential election, into a TV outlet focused largely on a forum for a post-White House Donald Trump.
Newsmax, which wants to draw viewers away from Fox News, has played up conservative criticisms of the network. An anchor said Fox is “jumping right into the tank for the left.”
On Monday before his rally in Sanford, Fla., President Trump ramped up his attacks on Fox News and promoted some competitors including C-SPAN and conservative outlets One America News Network and Newsmax. “@FoxNews allows more negative ads on me than practically all of the other networks combined. Not like the old days, but we will win even bigger than 2016. Roger Ailes was the GREATEST!,” the president tweeted.
“Comcast is the largest cable operator and we already have almost all the other major distributors, testifying to the strong demand Newsmax is generating from viewers across the country,” said Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy, confirming the agreement.
NEW YORK (AP) — Newsmax on Monday hired a former Fox News Channel executive to run its television operation, a sign that the media company is looking to become more competitive with the network that is the overwhelming favorite of conservative viewers. Michael Clemente is the new CEO of Newsmax TV, said Chris Ruddy, who […]
Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy is scheduled to meet with the ex-Fox News host next week to discuss a new TV gig.
News Rivals Wrong In Attacking Sinclair
While I would expect the American Cable Association and Dish to object to Sinclair’s proposed merger with Tribune, I am surprised that Newsmax and One America News are piling on. The right-wing news operations may be worried that a much larger Sinclair will blow past them in the race to supplant Fox News as the go-to conservative channel. But it doesn’t excuse their using the regulatory processes of the FCC to try to derail the merger and stunt Sinclair’s growth.
