Newsmax - Bias and Credibility (2024)

QUESTIONABLE SOURCE

A questionable source exhibitsone or more of the following: extreme bias, consistent promotion of propaganda/conspiracies, poor or no sourcing to credible information, a complete lack of transparency, and/or is fake news. Fake News is thedeliberate attempt to publish hoaxes and/or disinformation for profit or influence (Learn More). Sources listed in the Questionable Categorymay be very untrustworthy and should be fact-checked on a per-article basis. Please note sources on this list are notconsideredfake newsunless specifically written in the reasoning section for that source.See all Questionablesources.

• We rate Newsmax Right Biased and Questionable based on the promotion of conspiracy theories and pseudoscience as well as numerous failed fact checks.

Detailed Report

Questionable Reasoning: Conspiracy Theories, Pseudoscience, Propaganda, Fake News, Failed Fact Checks
Bias Rating: RIGHT
Factual Reporting: LOW
Country: USA
MBFC’s Country Freedom Rank: MOSTLY FREE
Media Type: TV Station
Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: LOW CREDIBILITY

History

Newsmax is an American conservative biased news and opinion website founded by Christopher Ruddy in 1998 and based in West Palm Beach, Florida. Christopher Ruddy is the president and CEO of Newsmax Media. According to an Atlantic article, Ruddy is also a close friend of Donald Trump. The website is divided into four main sections: Newsmax, Newsmax Health, Newsmax Finance, and Newsmax World, divided into various subsections.Newsmax Media also operates a print magazine called Newsmax and the cable news channelNewsmax TV.

On 4/30/2021, Newsmax apologized to Dominion Voting Systems for claims that they manipulated voting machines and counts to thwart the re-election of President Donald Trump. The statement reads, “Newsmax has found no evidence that Dr. Coomer interfered with Dominion voting machines or voting software in any way, nor that Dr. Coomer ever claimed to have done so,” it said in a statement. “Nor has Newsmax found any evidence that Dr. Coomer ever participated in any conversation with members of ‘Antifa,’ nor that he was directly involved with any partisan political organization.”

Through this apology, Dominion Voting Systems dropped the defamation lawsuit against Newsmax.

On 10/20/2022, Newsmax Banned Lara Logan from the network after promoting racist conspiracy theories and Qanon disinformation. The network states: “Newsmax condemns in the strongest terms the reprehensible statements made by Lara Logan, and her views do not reflect our network,” the network said in a statement. “We have no plans to interview her again.”

Read our profile on the United States government and media.

Funded by / Ownership

Newsmax is owned by Christopher Ruddy, who is the CEO of Newsmax Media. Newsmax is funded through advertising and via a paid subscription to their platinum plan, allowing more access to content. In 2024, it was reported that between 2019-2020, Former Qatari government official Sheikh Sultan bin Jassim Al Thani invested $50 million in Newsmax through Heritage Advisors. The paper cited sources employed at Newsmax at the time as saying that they were urged to soften news coverage of Qatar — a claim that the outlet rejects.

Analysis / Bias

Newsmax has a category on their sidebar called Around the Web, which is deceptive advertising. It looks like news links and leads to fake pseudo-science information and products. For example: “Suffer with Low Energy, Weight Gain & Fatigue” leads to a new website promoting products. In another category called Specials, they publish news with sensational headlines resulting in headlines such as these: “Nobel Prize-Winning Discovery Makes Your Cells Nearly “Immortal” SPECIAL: New way to grow biologically younger,“ which again leads to an advertisem*nt.

When reporting real news, Newsmax uses minimally loaded words in their headlines and articles such as “NYT: Growing Puerto Rican Population Could Offset GOP Cubans” and moderately loaded:“FEMA’s Long: No Time For San Juan Mayor’s ‘Political Noise.’Newsmax also aggregates news stories from credible sources such as Reuters and the AP. Newsmax holds a strong right editorial bias. The majority of editorials favor conservatives, such as “Could Google Lose the Left?” which first appeared in the right-biased Conservative Review.

Newsmax does not always align with experts’ consensus in the given field when it comes to science. For example, they often promote “no global warming,” which is simply untrue. Further, they have promoted misinformation regarding vaccines’ safety, chemtrails, CoronaVirus conspiracies, and unproven 2020 election fraud disinformation.

In general, Newsmax is not a credible source with a strong right-leaning editorial bias. They violate all basic journalistic standards for credibility and reliability.

Failed Fact Checks

• Does President Barack Obama support taxing motorists based on the number of miles they drive? – False
• World Health Organization (WHO) has rescinded its advice which urges isolation for COVID-19 patients and social distancing in public. – False
• Government Fast-Tracked $29 Million to Charleston – Misleading
• Hillary Clinton refused to meet with a contingent of Gold Star mothers. – False
• The Obama administration provided a $3.7 million grant to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. – Mostly False
• Will a COVID-19 vaccine alter your DNA? – False
• “He basically controls global health policy. What’s the plan? Using vaccines to track people.” – False
• As an example of voter fraud, “we have literally 9,000 people who voted in this election (in Nevada) who don’t live in Nevada.” – Pants on Fire
• Says Joe Biden is on video “admitting to” election fraud in a “confession.” – False
• Denzel Washington Praises Police, Denounces BLM Protesters in a Yahoo Entertainment interview. – False
• Abortion increases the risk of breast cancer, mental illness, and preterm labor. – Unsupported
• “Pope Benedict XVI and the Vatican requested that President Biden not attend Benedict’s funeral.” – False

We rate Newsmax Right Biased and Questionable based on the promotion of conspiracy theories and pseudoscience as well as numerous failed fact checks. (M. Huitsing 10/8/2017) Updated (05/15/2024)

Source: https://www.newsmax.com/