• Overall, 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

Reasoning: Conspiracy Theories, Pseudoscience, Fake News, Failed Fact Checks
Country: USA
World Press Freedom Rank: USA 45/180

History

Newsmax is an American conservative 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, each divided into various subsections.  Newsmax Media also operates a print magazine called Newsmax as well as the cable news channel Newsmax TV.

Read our profile on 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, which allows more access to content.

Analysis / Bias

In review, Newsmax has a category on their sidebar called Around the Web, which is nothing more than deceptive advertising that looks like news links and leads to fake pseudo-science information and products. For example: “Suffer with Low Energy, Weight Gain & Fatigue”, which leads to a new website promoting products. In another category called Specials, they publish news with sensational headlines such as: “Nobel Prize-Winning Discovery Makes Your Cells Nearly “Immortal” SPECIAL: New way to grow biologically younger,“ which again leads to an advertisement.

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. Editorially, Newsmax leans strongly right, with most editorials favoring the right, such as “Could Google Lose the Left?”, which first appeared in the right biased Conservative Review.

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

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

Overall, 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 (11/12/2020)

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