Newsmax.com Nutrition Label
A conservative site that covers politics, culture, and health, and that airs clips of interviews from its cable TV network. Newsmax has repeatedly published false and unsubstantiated health claims.
Ownership and Financing
The website is owned by Newsmax Media Inc., a Florida-based company founded by Christopher Ruddy, who is the company’s CEO, president, and editor-in-chief. Ruddy has described himself as a close friend of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s and frequently offered commentary on the Trump administration for other news organizations.
Ruddy holds a 60 percent ownership stake in Newsmax Media, according to a March 2010 article in Folio magazine. Conservative billionaire and publisher Richard Mellon Scaife held a 40 percent share until his death in 2014. The Pittsburgh Business Times reported in 2015 that Scaife’s stake then passed to 535 Media LLC, an affiliate of Scaife’s company Trib Total Media, which publishes the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review newspaper.
Newsmax.com runs advertisements, charges for premium content, and links to an online store.
Content
The website covers U.S. and international politics, culture, technology, and science. Sections are divided into categories including Newsfront, Health, Money, World, Politics, and Opinion.
Newsmax has a cable television network, with programming live-streamed on the site and clips from interviews posted in the site’s Newsmax TV section. Individual episodes of Newsmax TV shows are hosted on a separate website, NewsmaxTV.com. Ruddy told Bloomberg Business in 2014 that, compared with Fox News, Newsmax TV is intended to be “more information-based rather than being vituperative and polarizing.”
The site publishes primarily conservative columns in its Opinion section. Opinion contributors have included Republican U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, former Republican U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, and Betsy McCaughey, a Republican former lieutenant governor of New York.
Newsmax.comsupplements content produced by staff with articles by The Associated Press, Bloomberg News, and Reuters.
Credibility
While some of Newsmax’s videos and articles rely on firsthand interviews with politicians or summarize reports from credible news organizations such as The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Examiner, the site has regularly published articles with false or egregiously misleading claims, including about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
For example, a September 2023 article, titled “Trump Haters Aim to Bar Him from Ballots,” stated that, “If Trump really wanted an insurrection, he would not have authorized 10,000 National Guard troops to patrol Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6. Trump’s enemies want Americans to believe that he ordered unarmed insurrectionists to storm the Capitol after he greenlighted 10,000 GIs with automatic rifles to crush their rebellion. How idiotic do Democrats think Americans are? Alas, the U.S. House’s then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Mayor Muriel Bowser, D-Wash. D.C., rebuffed the protection that Trump approved.”
In fact, there is no evidence that Pelosi or Bowser denied a request for National Guard assistance before or during the attack on the Capitol, or that then-President Donald Trump authorized 10,000 National Guard troops to be deployed before Jan. 6.
Biden administration Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told The Washington Post in December 2021 that officials found no record that Donald Trump ordered the deployment of National Guard troops. Pelosi’s office denied receiving such a request. “The Speaker’s Office has made it clear publicly and repeatedly that our office was not consulted or contacted concerning any request for the National Guard ahead of Jan. 6,” Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill told Agence France-Presse in March 2021.
Moreover, the D.C. National Guard is controlled by the U.S. president and the executive branch, not by the Speaker of the House, and Trump would not have needed Pelosi or Bowser’s approval to deploy the Guard in the nation’s capital.
“Had President Trump ordered 20,000 National Guard soldiers to the Capitol before Jan. 6, it would have happened,” Dwight Stirling, CEO of the Center for Law and Military Policy, a think tank whose stated mission is to “strengthen the legal protections of service members and veterans,” told PolitiFact in June 2022. “No one can prevent a presidential order from being followed with regard to where troops go or what they do. That it didn’t occur is evidence that no such order was issued.”
A January 2024 article, headlined “Florida Surgeon General: COVID Shots Are the 'Anti-Christ,’” advanced the false claim that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines could change a person’s DNA.
The article cited an interview with Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo — who has repeatedly made false claims about COVID vaccines — on the “War Room” podcast hosted by former Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon. Ladapo said of COVID vaccines, “Frankly, I think it probably does have some integration at some levels with the human genome because these vaccines are, honestly, they're the anti-Christ of all products. I think it probably does. But I'm not saying it does.”
In fact, there is no evidence that components of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines have “some integration at some levels with the human genome,” as Ladapo said. Peter Marks, the director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, wrote in a Dec. 14, 2023, letter to Ladapo that “we now have access to global surveillance data on over one billion doses of the mRNA vaccines that have been given, and there is nothing to indicate harm to the genome.” Newsmax.com did not mention the FDA letter.
Moreover, the National Human Genome Research Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, says on its website that no mRNA vaccine could change DNA, stating: “There is no risk of an mRNA vaccine changing your DNA because mRNA does not have the ability to alter DNA.”
Ladapo’s claim was based on the fact that the manufacturing process for COVID-19 mRNA vaccines can indeed result in trace quantities of DNA in the final product. Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, explained in a Jan. 3, 2024, video on the hospital’s website, that in order to produce the vaccines, scientists begin with plasmids — small, circular pieces of DNA — that contain a synthetically manufactured gene for the infectious COVID-19 spike protein. Using bacteria as a growth medium, the plasmids are then amplified into billions of copies before the spike protein DNA is extracted to form mRNA. The mRNA is then purified, filtered, and treated with an enzyme that removes any residual DNA fragments.
However, Offit also explained in the video and in comments to medical news site MedPage Today on Jan. 5, 2024, that cells typically reject foreign DNA fragments, preventing the genome integration that Ladapo was suggesting was possible. “Even if they entered the nucleus, which they can't, they would have to insert themselves into your DNA, which means they would have to cut your DNA, which would require enzymes like integrases, which they also don't have,” Offit told MedPage Today. “So the chance that DNA could affect your DNA is zero.”
Newsmax.com has also published false claims about U.S. elections. An October 2022 article, headlined “Nearly 250K Ballots Sent to Pa. Voters With Unverified IDs,” said that, “Nearly 250,000 ballots, state data show, were mailed to Pennsylvania voters without their identities being verified, according to the election integrity organization Verity Vote.” The article went on to state, “Despite possibilities of a potential quarter of a million votes being miscounted, the election integrity group Verity Vote, which warned of the 250,000 unverified ballots being miscounted, citing data from the state itself, told Just the News it is being attacked for their report.”
In fact, two days before Newsmax published this article on Oct. 29, 2022, the Pennsylvania Department of State said in a statement that, “There are not 240,000+ 'unverified ballots,' as certain lawmakers are claiming. That is misinformation.”
When Pennsylvania voters fill out an application for a mail-in or absentee ballot, their identity is usually verified automatically through the Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors (SURE) — a database of registered voters in Pennsylvania — according to an Oct. 28, 2022, letter sent to state legislators by Leigh Chapman, the then-acting Secretary of the Commonwealth.
However, some applications require further verification, officials said. As of Oct. 28, 2022, there were 7,600 ballot applications — not more than 240,000 — for which this was the case, although that number was “simply a point-in-time number, which will continue to decrease as the election gets closer and as voters provide required proof of identification,” Chapman’s letter stated.
Pennsylvania state law requires election officials to send out ballots to registered voters who request them — even if those voters do not provide identification when they apply. If dentification is provided by the sixth day following the election, that vote is not counted.
A December 2022 article, titled “DeSantis Rightfully Demands Under Oath Vaccine Transparency,” said, “The COVID vaccines are the most dangerous substance Americans have ever been ordered to inject into their bodies. The disabling and often deadly side effects from these vaccines outnumber all the total side effects from every other U.S. vaccine since record keeping began.”
The article was referencing data from the U.S. Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). Rather than proving “disabling and often deadly side effects'' caused by COVID-19 vaccines, VAERS collects unverified reports of adverse events following vaccination. Reports can be made by anyone, including anti-vaccination activists, without providing a name or contact information, and without any proof that the vaccine was responsible for an adverse effect. Indeed, the database includes events that lack a plausible link to a vaccine, such as someone dying in a car accident on their drive home after being vaccinated.
It is true that more reports have been made to VAERS about COVID-19 vaccines than other vaccines. However, one reason for the increased reporting is the fact that health care providers are required by law to report serious adverse events, including deaths, that occur after COVID-19 vaccination “regardless of causality,” according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website.
Contrary to the Newsmax.com claim that COVID-19 vaccines are “the most dangerous substance Americans have ever been ordered to inject into their bodies,” multiple phases of clinical trials and real world studies have found COVID-19 vaccines authorized in the U.S. to be safe and effective in reducing the risk of hospitalization, severe disease, and death from COVID-19. As of Jan. 4, 2023, the CDC had only identified nine deaths caused by COVID-19 vaccines, all of which were cases of rare blood clots linked to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. In contrast, a June 2022 study published in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases estimated that the first year of COVID-19 vaccinations averted at least 14.4 million COVID-19 deaths worldwide.
The Women’s Health Protection Act, which was rejected by the U.S. Senate in May 2022, would have codified in federal law the standards for legal abortion set by Roe v. Wade, allowing elective abortions prior to fetal viability, according to a February 2022 Reuters article. The bill’s text explained that it would have allowed exceptions for abortions later in pregnancy “when, in the good-faith medical judgment of the treating health care provider, continuation of the pregnancy would pose a risk to the pregnant patient’s life or health.”
The bill would not have “legalized abortions on-demand, for any reason or no reason at all, up to the moment of birth.” as the Newsmax.com article claimed.
Because Newsmax.com regularly publishes false or egregiously misleading claims, including about U.S. politics and health, NewsGuard has determined that the site repeatedly publishes false or egregiously misleading content and does not gather and present information responsibly.
Although some headlines on the website have misstated facts, NewsGuard found that the articles that advanced false claims generally did not repeat those claims in headlines. For example, an article that advanced false claims about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol was headlined “Trump Haters Aim to Bar Him from Ballots.”
Newsmax does not have a stated corrections policy. The most recent corrections NewsGuard found in originally reported Newsmax articles were from January 2024 and July 2023. Because of the website’s infrequent publishing of corrections, and because the website has not corrected significantly false content that remains on the website, NewsGuard has determined that Newsmax does not meet NewsGuard’s standard for having effective corrections practices.
Newsmax does not disclose a particular political perspective. Articles written by editor-in-chief Ruddy used to include a description of Newsmax Media Inc. as “one of the country’s leading conservative news outlets.” In articles published after September 2020, that description has been shortened to “a leading news company.”
Opinion articles are usually separated from news stories on the homepage and published in a dedicated section. However, content exclusive to subscribers in the site’s Platinum section, which is not labeled as opinion, regularly advances a conservative perspective that is not disclosed to readers.
For example, a December 2023 article, titled “Top 5 Items on Republicans’ Christmas Wish List,” said, “The leaders of some of the most prestigious universities in the nation have embraced the teaching of ‘woke’ ideologies such as critical race theory and have adopted diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives that critics contend completely contradict their supposed goal of promoting inclusivity on campus by alienating certain groups.”
A November 2023 article, headlined “Liberals Using Museums to Push 'Woke' Marxist Agenda,” said, “Conservative lawmakers are among those who fear that progressives subscribing to a “woke” ideology are rewriting history in some of the country’s premiere museums – and American taxpayers might be on the hook for the twisted changes to the national narrative.”
An October 2022 article, titled “Democrats Now Running From ‘Defund the Police’ Talk,” stated: “Democrats who had championed ‘defunding’ police departments before being forced to pour money back into policing amid a nationwide rise in crime are now publicly admitting the social justice movement was a colossal mistake, trying ahead of the midterm elections to dodge critics who charge that the push was responsible for fueling the increase in crime.”
NewsGuard has exchanged emails and telephone calls with Newsmax since 2018, but has not received responses to a total of 23 follow-up emails seeking information about the website’s content and editorial practices.
In January 2022, Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy asked NewsGuard to send questions by email. However, he did not respond to four emails sent over seven days seeking comment on the articles noted above, the site’s approach to corrections, and its handling of opinion. Although the site itself did not reply to these multiple emails, Bill Daddi, president of New York-based DBC Brand Communications (a public relations firm), emailed NewsGuard on Newsmax’s behalf in January 2022 and criticized NewsGuard’s approach to assessing the accuracy of the site’s health claims.
“The issue is, specifically as relates to health reporting, but that also applies to reporting in general, ‘facts’ are not always absolute and are subject to interpretation by the perspective of those presenting them,” Daddi said. “They also evolve. This is certainly true as relates to health research. There are valid and significantly differing opinions on the topics you identified, with science on each evolving and changing over time. To present most health research as ‘final’ or ‘established’ is in itself misinformation and just patently not true. Yet it appears you aim to do so here.”
In an April 2022 email to NewsGuard, Ruddy said, “We are asking that Newsguard stop sending any emails to Newsmax. We believe Newsguard holds a very liberal bias and we don’t see your ratings as neutral or fair. Please alert your team to no longer send us questions. We will not respond.”
Transparency
Newsmax.com does not clearly disclose its ownership. In earlier reviews, NewsGuard found that ownership was identified through a logo for “Newsmax Media” at the bottom of the website. However, as of January 2022, the logo has been changed to only “Newsmax,” along with small print that states, “Newsmax, Moneynews, Newsmax Health, and Independent. American. are registered trademarks of Newsmax Media, Inc. Newsmax TV, and Newsmax World are trademarks of Newsmax Media, Inc.”
In addition, The Washington Post reported in March 2024 that in 2019 and 2020, Newsmax received a previously unknown $50 million investment from Sheikh Sultan bin Jassim Al Thani, a member of Qatar’s royal family and the owner of London-based investment fund Heritage Advisors. The Post reported that Newsmax staff were told “to soften” their coverage of Qatar. Newsmax denied to the Post that it directed staff to slant Qatar coverage. Nevertheless, Newsmax.com does not inform its website readers of the investment.
Because Newsmax.com only identifies Newsmax Media in small print and does not reveal the Qatari sheikh’s $50 million investment, NewsGuard has determined that the website does not meet the standard for disclosing ownership and financing.
Ruddy is listed as the site’s editor-in-chief in his biography, which is found in the site’s Opinion section. The biography also describes him as founder, CEO, and president of Newsmax Media Inc. NewsGuard has determined that this disclosure, while it is not centrally located on the website, meets NewsGuard’s standard for revealing who is in charge.
Most originally reported articles include the writer’s name and contact and biographical information, which meets NewsGuard’s standard for providing information about content creators.
Sponsored articles on Newsmax.com from native advertising platform Revcontent are only labeled as “Around the Web.” This does not meet NewsGuard’s standard for distinguishing advertising from editorial content.
As noted above, although NewsGuard has exchanged emails and telephone calls with Newsmax since 2018, it has not received responses to a total of 23 follow-up emails seeking information about the website’s transparency practices.
History
Newsmax was founded in 1998 by Christopher Ruddy — inspired, he said, by the conservative site the Drudge Report. Michael Clemente, a former Fox News executive, was named CEO of Newsmax TV.
Ruddy’s self-styled politics defy easy definition. A conservative and a critic of George W. Bush’s war in Iraq, he wrote “The Strange Death of Vincent Foster,” a book published in 1997 that promoted conspiracy theories about the suicide of Foster, deputy White House counsel in the Clinton White House. In more recent years, however, Ruddy has donated to the Clinton Foundation, called Bill Clinton “a friend,” and defended Hillary Clinton against accusations that donations to the Clinton Foundation influenced her work as U.S. secretary of state.
Although he is not a registered Republican, Ruddy, a former reporter for the New York Post and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, told The Atlantic, “My sympathies are with the Republican Party.” He is often described as a confidante of Trump’s.
Following Donald Trump’s defeat in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Ruddy seized on the opportunity to grow Newsmax’s audience with disenchanted Fox News viewers who had tuned out after Fox called the election for former Vice President Joe Biden. Newsmax, which had refused to acknowledge Biden as president-elect, saw its primetime ratings soar in the days and weeks after the election. According to The New York Times, viewership of Newsmax’s top shows increased from approximately 58,000 viewers to 1.1 million — a growth spurred by the network’s commitment to a pro-Trump election narrative.
“In this day and age, people want something that tends to affirm their views and opinions,” Ruddy told The New York Times in a November 2020 interview. However, Vox reported in July 2021 that Newmax’s viewership subsequently declined to an average of 114,000 viewers as of July 18, 2021.
In July 2020, The Daily Beast reported that Newsmax was among a string of news sites, including the Washington Examiner, The Jerusalem Post, Politicalite, and Spiked, that had been duped into publishing opinion articles by a network of fictitious authors advancing pro-Emirati political narratives. Newsmax appears to have published at least four such articles, on topics including the relationship between Dubai’s government and its business community, the use of crowdsourcing by mining companies, and potential investment opportunities in Iraq. Three of the four articles had been removed as of NewsGuard’s August 2020 review, with the last — the Iraq story — remaining online as of January 2022.
In December 2020, Newsmax was sued for defamation by Eric Coomer, director of product strategy and security at Dominion Voting Systems, after Newsmax reported on the false allegation that Coomer had participated in an “Antifa conference call” to rig the 2020 election.
Newsmax settled the lawsuit in April 2021 without disclosing financial terms, retracted its original story, and apologized to Coomer. “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,” Newsmax said in a posting on the website. “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.”
As of January 2022, that retraction and apology had been removed from Newsmax.com.
In September 2024, voting-technology company Smartmatic reached a confidential settlement with Newsmax in a defamation suit that alleged that Newsmax anchors and guests had spread false claims accusing the company of facilitating widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election. The settlement was announced three days before opening statements in the trial were scheduled to begin.
A Sept. 26, 2024, statement from Newsmax said, “Newsmax is pleased to announce it has resolved the litigation brought by Smartmatic through a confidential settlement.” In a statement to CNN the same day, Smartmatic attorney Erik Connolly said of the settlement, “Lying to the American people has consequences. Smartmatic will not stop until the perpetrators are held accountable.”
A separate suit filed by Dominion Voting Systems regarding Newsmax’s coverage of disproven 2020 election-fraud claims was pending as of September 2024.
Editor’s Note: This Nutrition Label was updated on Sept. 27, 2024, to reflect that a confidential settlement was reached in Smartmatic’s defamation suit against Newsmax. This label was previously updated on March 30, 2024, Jan. 22, 2024, Jan. 21, 2023, Jan. 20, 2022, Dec. 2, 2020, and Sept. 2, 2020.
Written by: John Gregory
Contributing: Bron Maher, Peggy Ackermann
Edited by: Eric Effron, Amy Westfeldt