NewsMax Media

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NewsMax
The NewsMax logo
Type Monthly newsmagazine
Format Magazine
Owner NewsMax Media, LLC
Editor Christopher Ruddy
Founded September 16, 1998
Headquarters P.O. BOX 20989
West Palm Beach, FL 33416
ISSN 1546-5497
Website: www.newsmax.com

NewsMax Media is a news organization founded by journalist Christopher 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]

Contents

[edit] History

Christopher 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 James Dale Davidson, a well known author, who edited a financial newsletter that had shared Ruddy's interest in the Vincent Foster case. Davidson's co-editor, Lord William Rees-Mogg, former editor of the prestigious Times of London and Vice Chair of the BBC, later became chairman of NewsMax Media.[3]

Other prominent 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 Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr. has served as special advisor to NewsMax.[1]

Taking The Drudge Report as a model, 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 totalled more than 90,125 paid subscribers. [6]

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

Nielsen Net Ratings indicates the site received close to 23 million page views during October 2006 to its website NewsMax.com. [8]

In November 2006, Nielsen issued a press release stating that NewsMax was the #2 web site in the U.S. “with the highest concentration of Republicans.” NewsMax.com's audiance, according to Nielsen, is 65.4% Republican. The only site with a higher percentage of republican audience is RushLimbaugh.com.[9]

Searching for NewsMax on the Internet will return over 2 million pages on Google[10].

In February 2004, during the Kerry vs. Bush election, CNN reported that NewsMax.com published pictures of John Kerry and Fonda "at an antiwar rally in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania."[11]

[edit] Articles of note

  • 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 Rep. Gary Condit, with whom Levy had an affair. The column quickly circulated among media members, notwithstanding that NewsMax editors promptly pulled it from the site.[12]
  • On May 26, 2000, NewsMax published an article claiming Hillary Clinton refused to meet with the Gold Star Mothers.[4] However, according to the Gold Star Mothers organization, this was false and "Senator Clinton greeted us gratiously on Gold Star Mothers Sunday, 2005. See pictures on this page."[5] This story was also debunked at other websites[6] and eventually led to a retraction by NewsMax.[7]
  • A 2005 NewsMax.com report about Republican Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania -- claiming he was "teaming up" with rock band U2 for a fundraiser -- gained considerable attention, likely due to the apparently odd alliance. Adopting a technique used by some other politicians, however, Santorum had actually bought 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."[13] 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.[8]

NewsMax has been labeled Yellow journalism [9] by mediamatters.org, who claims to be "correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media." [14]

[edit] Contributors

NewsMax has a stable of correspondents and "pundits" who offer commentary. Notable among them is Ronald Kessler, NewsMax's chief correspondent. Kessler is a veteran investigative reporter who worked for the Washington Post and Wall St. Journal. He is also the New York Times bestselling author of 16 non-fiction books, including "Inside the CIA," and "The FBI: Inside the World's Most Powerful Law Enforcement Agency."

Other contributing correspondents to NewsMax include former Reader's Digest Editor Kenneth R. Timmerman and New York Times bestselling author Richard Poe. NewsMax regulars include Christopher Ruddy, David Limbaugh, Pat Boone, Dr. James Hirsen, Geoff Metcalf, John LeBoutillier, Susan Estrich, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, and Bill O'Reilly. [10]

[edit] References

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Ruddy, Christopher. "NewsMax Leads the Way ... And We Say Thank You!" NewsMax.com, August 15, 2005.
  2. ^ Poe, pp. 171-172.
  3. ^ Poe, p. 100.
  4. ^ Poe, pp. 70-72.
  5. ^ "Michael Reagan and Reagan Monitor Join NewsMax Magazine". NewsMax.com, August 14, 2001.
  6. ^ ABC Audit March 7, 2006 : ABC Member # 04-0795-9
  7. ^ "2005 EDDIE WINNERS".
  8. ^ "[Nielsen//NetRatings (Account Needed)]".
  9. ^ "Republicans Outnumber Democrats Online, According to Nielsen//NetRatings".
  10. ^ "Google Search"
  11. ^ "Kerry takes new fire over Vietnam, CNN".
  12. ^ Grove, Lloyd. "The Reliable Source". Washington Post, July 20, 2001, p. C3.
  13. ^ Healy, Patrick D. "U2 Moves to Distance Itself From Concert Fund-Raising". New York Times, October 14, 2005, p. B6.
  14. ^ "Media Matters for America"

[edit] External links

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