The New Yorker:
Even as Fox News acknowledges that Joe Biden is the President-elect, Newsmax Media—a conservative multimedia company that includes a Web site and a television channel—has supported Donald Trump’s claims of voter fraud, and has seen a spike in ratings, with as many as 1.1 million people tuning in to its nightly broadcasts. Newsmax’s C.E.O., Christopher Ruddy, began his career as a journalist at the New York Post and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, where he specialized in conspiracies about Bill and Hillary Clinton, even going so far as to write a book calling into question the circumstances surrounding the death of Vince Foster, the Clintons’ friend and the deputy White House counsel. In 1998, Ruddy founded Newsmax, which became known for its anti-Clinton content; in the Trump era, it served as a platform for Trump boosters like Diamond and Silk and Sean Spicer. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Trump’s allies have explored buying Newsmax, as part of an effort to build a Trump-branded alternative to Fox News; Ruddy replied that he wasn’t interested in turning his company into Trump TV. Nevertheless, Ruddy, a longtime Mar-a-Lago member and friend of the President’s, has claimed that Fox and other conservative media outlets have offered insufficient support to Trump, especially during the past several weeks.
I recently spoke by phone with Ruddy about the future of Newsmax and his relationship with the President. During our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, we also discussed how Trump’s media consumption has changed during his Presidency, how Newsmax has covered Trump’s false claims about voting fraud, and whether Ruddy feels any responsibility for misinforming his viewers.
How do you see the conservative media environment changing after January, when Trump leaves office, if you do see it changing?
I think it’s going to be as robust as ever. It’ll be growing, not diminishing. Assuming that Joe Biden is inaugurated President, which every probability study says will be the case, there’ll be a demand for media that is in opposition to his Administration. We saw the success of media like MSNBC and CNN, whose ratings skyrocketed, and the Times. I think you’re going to see that on the right side of the aisle.
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