Misplaced Pages

Newsmax Media

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Donald Albury (talk | contribs) at 01:05, 8 April 2006 (rv vandalism). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 01:05, 8 April 2006 by Donald Albury (talk | contribs) (rv vandalism)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
This article may be unbalanced toward certain viewpoints. Please improve the article by adding information on neglected viewpoints, or discuss the issue on the talk page.

NewsMax.com is a conservative news website that was founded in September 1998 by journalist Christopher Ruddy, who is its current CEO, editor-in-chief, and runs the website in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Background

Christopher Ruddy gained publicity for his asociation with the Arkansas Project, which was described by R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr., founding editor of the American Spectator as an attempt at investigative reporting. . Ruddy received funding for a conspiracy book surrounding the Presidency of Bill Clinton from Joseph Farah (founder of World Net Daily, and co-founder of the Western Journalism Center.. The group supplied Ruddy with funding for expenses, Freedom of Information Act requests, legal support, and publicity during his pursuit of a conspiracy theory concerning Foster's suicide. Ruddy's ties to the Spectator and the project created unease among conservatives. The Washington Post quoted John Corry describing Ruddy as "'a very heavy breather' whose book contained 'very few direct quotes, but a great many insinuations'"

Ruddy and Richard Mellon Scaife (who funded the Arkansas Project) remained connected through their promotion of conservative and conspiratorial ideas. Before starting NewsMax, Ruddy was a free-lance reporter for the Scaife-owned Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Eventually, Scaife became an investor and the third-largest stockholder in NewsMax. Conservative James Dale Davidson is also an investor.

NewsMax promotes a right-wing viewpoint, and attacks what it calls liberal thinking as media bias .

Criticism of NewsMax has focused on its distribution of false information. NewsMax has been accused of being a hub for conspiracy theories about Democrats, and former U.S. President Bill Clinton and his wife Hilary, currently one of the two U.S. senators from New York.

Newsmax Board members include former Secretary of State General Alexander Haig, Jeff Cunningham, former publisher of Forbes magazine, Alvin Hirsch, a financial consultant, and Robert Lohman, a former executive of IBM Corporation.

Misinformation

On May 26th 2001 Newsmax falsely claimed that U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton refused to meet with Gold Star Mothers, a group whose members are mothers who have lost children while serving in the military.

On June 5, 2005 in a subscription-only email, NewsMax correspondent John LeBoutillier falsely claimed A book by Ed Klein would reveal opposition by Daniel Moynihan to Hilary Clinton's candidacy to represent New York in the United States Senate.

John McCain

On November 29, 2005 Newsmax was the source of a rumor that John McCain himself validated the use of torture. This accusation was then picked up and repeated by Rush Limbaugh. Newsmax specifically claimed:

"Sen. John McCain is leading the charge against so-called “torture” techniques allegedly used by U.S. interrogators, insisting that practices like sleep deprivation and withholding medical attention are not only brutal – they simply don’t work to persuade terrorist suspects to give accurate information."
"Nearly forty years ago, however – when McCain was held captive in a North Vietnamese prison camp – some of the same techniques were used on him. And – as McCain has publicly admitted at least twice – the torture worked!"

The article contradicts itself by demonstrating that torture does not provide intelligence:

"For the next four days, I was beaten every two to three hours by different guards . . . Finally, I reached the lowest point of my 5 1/2 years in North Vietnam. I was at the point of suicide, because I saw that I was reaching the end of my rope."
"McCain was taken to an interrogation room and ordered to sign a document confessing to war crimes. "I signed it," he recalled. "It was in their language, and spoke about black crimes, and other generalities."

Plame-CIA Leak

On October 29, 2005 Newsmax published an article which claimed that "Patrick Fitzgerald Retreats From Plame 'Covert' Claim." The article commented that Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald:

"declined to bring any charges to that effect, casting even more doubt on the claim that her (Valerie Wilson) CIA job was a closely guarded secret."

Yet, in the October 28, 2005 Federal indictment of Scooter Libby, page 3, section f stated:

"At all relevant times from January 1, 2002 through July 2003, Valerie Wilson was employed by the CIA, and her employment status was classified. Prior to July 14, 2003, Valerie Wilson’s affiliation with the CIA was not common knowledge outside the intelligence community."

Moreover, the indictment page 2, section b stated:

"LIBBY was obligated by applicable laws and regulations, including Title 18, United States Code, Section 793, and Executive Order 12958 (as modified by Executive Order 13292)"

And Title 18, Section 793 is the Espionage Act.

References

  1. ""'Arkansas Project' Led to Turmoil and Rifts"". Washington Post. Retrieved December 13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  2. ""Western Journalism Center - Joseph Farah"". Public Eye.Org. Retrieved December 15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  3. ""Joseph Farah and the World Net Daily"". Con Watch. Retrieved December 13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  4. ""'Arkansas Project' Led to Turmoil and Rifts"". Washington Post. Retrieved December 13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  5. ""Ron Brown Reports for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review by Christopher Ruddy"". NewsMax. Retrieved December 15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  6. ""NEWSMAX MEDIA, INC. SB-2/A#1 REG. NO. 333-83408"". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved November 29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  7. ""Media Bias"". Newsmax. Retrieved November 29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  8. ""First detail on new anti-Hillary book is a lie"". Media Matters. Retrieved November 29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  9. ""First detail on new anti-Hillary book is a lie"". Media Matters. Retrieved November 29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  10. ""Politics: Gold Mother Stars"". Snopes.com. Retrieved November 29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  11. ""John McCain: Torture Worked on Me"". Newsmax. Retrieved November 29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  12. ""Limbaugh repeated NewsMax.com's false claim that McCain 'admitted that torture worked on him'"". Media Matters]. Retrieved December 10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  13. ""Patrick Fitzgerald Retreats From Plame 'Covert' Claim"". Newsmax. Retrieved November 29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  14. ""October 28, 2005 Indictment: US v Libby"" (PDF). United States Attorney General's Office. Retrieved November 29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  15. ""October 28, 2005 Indictment: US v Libby"" (PDF). United States Attorney General's Office. Retrieved November 29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)

External links

Category: