NewsMax Media

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Newsmax

Type	Monthly newsmagazine
Format	Magazine

Owner	Newsmax Media, Inc.
Editor	Christopher W. Ruddy
Founded	September 16, 1998
Headquarters	560 West Village Boulevard, Suite 120 West Palm Beach, FL 33409
ISSN	1546-5497

Website: www.newsmax.com

Newsmax Media is a news organization founded by journalist Christopher W. Ruddy and based in West Palm Beach, Florida. It runs the Newsmax.com website and publishes Newsmax Magazine. Ruddy, who serves as editor-in-chief, describes Newsmax.com as "the leading independent online news site with a conservative perspective."^[1]

1 History
2 Reach and influence
3 Controversial articles
4 Contributors
5 References
6 External links

[edit] History

Christopher W. Ruddy started Newsmax.com on September 16, 1998, supported by a group of conservative investors, including the family of the late CIA Director William J. Casey. Later Richard Mellon Scaife, his former employer at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and a supporter of conservative causes, invested in the fledging company.^[2] One of the initial board members was author James Dale Davidson who edited a financial newsletter that had shared Ruddy's interest in the Vincent Foster case. Davidson's co-editor, Lord Rees-Mogg, former editor of the The Times and Vice Chair of the BBC, later became chairman of Newsmax Media.^[3]

Other news figures who later joined the Newsmax board included Arnaud de Borchgrave, the longtime Newsweek chief correspondent who also serves as editor at large of UPI and Jeff Cunningham, former publisher of Forbes. The late Admiral Thomas Moorer, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who helped bring the Vietnam War to a close, also served as one of the company's founding board members. Former Nixon Chief of Staff and Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr. has served as special advisor to NewsMax.[1]

Ruddy aimed at creating an Internet news company by building a team of reporters instead of working alone. Some of these, like Carl Limbacher and Missy Kelly, were people known for posting on a Whitewater-related bulletin board at Prodigy (which also produced Jim Robinson, founder of Free Republic).^[4] In August 2001, talk radio host Michael Reagan merged his monthly newsletter The Reagan Monitor with Newsmax Magazine and began writing a regular column for the publication.^[5]

According to financial records for 2000 and 2001, Newsmax operated at a gross profit margin of 56.9 percent and 44.1 percent respectively, but corresponding operating income losses of $4.3 and $4.1 million resulted in net losses of $4.1 and $4.0 million.[2][3]

[edit] Reach and influence

In addition to NewsMax.com, the company publishes NewsMax Magazine, which the company describes as the nation’s "largest independent monthly with a conservative perspective." During 2006 the magazine’s ABC audited circulation totaled approximately 90,125 paid subscribers. ^[6]

In November of 2005, Newsmax magazine earned a Silver Eddie award in the News/Commentary category of the Eddies, the journalism awards presented by Folio Magazine in New York City. ^[7]

NewsMax pushes an idelogical "conservative" agenda. In February 2004, during the Kerry vs. Bush presidential election, CNN reported that NewsMax.com published pictures of John Kerry and Jane Fonda "at an antiwar rally in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania."^[8]

[edit] Controversial articles

After the mysterious disappearance of Chandra Levy in 2001, contributor John LeBoutillier allegedly posted a speculative column on the site about the sex life of Representative Gary Condit, with whom Levy had an affair. The column quickly circulated among media members, even though NewsMax editors pulled it from the site.^[9]

On May 26, 2000, Newsmax published an article claiming Hillary Clinton refused to meet with the Gold Star Mothers.[4] 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[5] and eventually led to a retraction by NewsMax.[6]

A 2005 NewsMax.com report about Senator 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.[7]

During the debate over the failed 2007 Immigration Bill, Newsmax popularized opposition to an alleged "North American Union," a dystopian vision of a future America where "NAU citizens no longer spend dollars or salute Old Glory. They spend "ameros." [8] The "North American Union" is considered a conspiracy theory by popular conservatives such as Michael Medved [9], and has been debunked in the mainstream media. [10]

On August 9, 2007, Newsmax freelance reporter, Jim Davis, reported that Barack Obama was in attendance on July 22, 2007 during a controversial sermon giving by Jeremiah A, Wright, Jr. at Trinity United Church of Christ in South Chicago, Obama's place of worship.[11] The claim that Obama was in attendance for this particular sermon was repeated by Newsmax as fact again on March 16, 2008. [12] A July 22, 2007 speaking schedule for the National Council for La Raza in Miami, Florida shows Obama as a scheduled speaker for 1:30pm. [13] Video confirms he attended the conference and spoke during his allotted time. New York Times op-ed author, William Kristol, who relied upon the erroneous NewsMax articles in an op-ed article in the New York Times on March 17, 2008, ^[11] provided the following retraction and apology later in the day, "In this column, I cite a report that Sen. Obama had attended services at Trinity Church on July 22, 2007. The Obama campaign has provided information showing that Sen. Obama did not attend Trinity that day. I regret the error." ^[12]

[edit] Contributors

Newsmax has a stable of correspondents and "pundits" who offer commentary. Among them is Ronald Kessler, Newsmax's chief Washington correspondent, who worked for The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. He is also author of 17 non-fiction books, including "The Terrorist Watch: Inside the Desperate Race to Stop the Next Attack," "Laura Bush: An Intimate Portrait of the First Lady," "A Matter of Character: Inside the White House of George W. Bush," "The CIA at War," and "The Bureau."

Other contributing correspondents to Newsmax include former Reader's Digest Editor Kenneth R. Timmerman. Newsmax regulars include Christopher W. Ruddy, David Limbaugh, Pat Boone, James Hirsen, Geoff Metcalf, John LeBoutillier, Mychal Massie, Susan Estrich, Lawrence Auster, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, Bill O'Reilly, and Steve Farrell. [14]

Besides political commentaries, Newsmax publishes The Blaylock Wellness Report ^[13] in which Dr. Russell Blaylock provides information regarding choices in food, drugs, nutritional supplements, and other health remedies.^[14]