Topic: Newsmax
Newsmax can't stop complaining that its TV channel was dropped by DirecTV in a business dispute of licensing fees, which it is dishonestly framing as "censorship" (even though DrecTV replaced it with another right-wing channel, obliterating any claim to viewpoint censorship), and it's continuing to call back seemingly everyone who ever appeared on the channel to perform a little outrage over it. Here's how if finished out its second week of victimhood:
- Rep. Barry Moore to Newsmax: 'Woke' CEOs 'Better Have Darn Good Explanation'
- Dick Morris to Newsmax: DirecTV Silencing Trump's 'Positive Campaign'
- Dr. Ben Carson: Our Freedoms at Stake With AT&T Censorship of Newsmax
- Jeffrey Lord to Newsmax: I'd Cancel DirecTV In a 'Nanosecond'
- Rep. Greg Murphy to Newsmax: Action on DirecTV Censorship 'Very, Very Soon'
- Rep. Russell Fry to Newsmax: DirecTV Committed 'Incredible Disservice'
- Rep. Ken Buck to Newsmax: Hearings Likely on DirecTV's Shocking 'Discrimination'
- Rep. Cory Mills: Removing Newsmax 'Absolutely Censorship'
- Blaine Holt to Newsmax: Did Not Fight Only to See Censorship Like DirecTV's
- John Schneider to Newsmax: DirecTV Decision Exposes 'Hypocrisy'
- Rep. Rosendale to Newsmax: DirecTV Dropping Newsmax a Bid to 'Silence' Conservatives
- Rep. Biggs to Newsmax: Censorship Threatens US 'Way of Life'
- Pete Ricketts: Congress Should Probe DirecTV Dropping Newsmax
- Rep. Comer to Newsmax: DirecTV Might Answer to Congress
- Alan Dershowitz to Newsmax: DirecTV Clearly 'Wrong,' Irresponsible
- Former AG Whitaker to Newsmax: AT&T Should Not Take Subsidies, Quash Speech
- Florida AG Moody to Newsmax: 'Investigation' Needed for DirecTV Dropping Newsmax
- Sen. Ted Cruz Asked DirecTV to Preserve Docs From Dems on Newsmax
- Trump: AT&T Dropped Newsmax for 'Political Reasons'
- Rep. Mary Miller to Newsmax: Hearings on DirecTV Will Be 'Aggressive'
- Sen. Markwayne Mullin to Newsmax: 'I Canceled DirecTV'
- Ed Rollins to Newsmax: DirecTV Censoring Newsmax 'an Outrageous Decision'
- Troy Miller to Newsmax: Christian Broadcast Followers Urged to Call DirecTV
- Rep. Burgess to Newsmax: DirecTV Censorship 'Issue of Fairness'
- Rep. Kevin Hern: Platforms 'Suppressing' Alternative Voices Like Newsmax
- Rep. Garcia: We'll 'Fight Like Hell' to Investigate Newsmax Deplatforming
- Sen. Steve Daines: Newsmax, DirecTV Need to Talk It Out
- Rep. Tim Walberg to Newsmax: AT&T's Censorship 'Key Agenda' Item
- Sen. Lankford to Newsmax: DirecTV Shouldn't Repeat Disney's Mistakes
By our count, that's at least 111 "news" articles Newsmax has published complaining about getting deplatformed, attacking DirecTV and threatening to sic the government on the company over a business decision.
Newsmax columnists have opined as well. Tom Borelli parroted the pro-Newsmax line in a Feb. 3 column:
To the uninformed, DirecTV’s claim it got rid of Newsmax based on a business decision seems reasonable on the surface; looking deeper, it’s clear an intimidation campaign by U.S. House Democrats was a driving force behind its move to get rid of Newsmax.
In a February 2021 letter from Reps. Anna G. Eshoo, D-Calif., and Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., to companies that distribute TV news programs through streaming, satellite or cable, pressed those companies on their justification for providing Fox News, Newsmax and OANN to their customers.
Reps. Eshoo’s and McNerney’s opening paragraph didn’t pull any punches; it accused AT&T and DIRECTV of being responsible for "disseminating misinformation to millions."
The congresspersons followed up by asking the companies a number of questions including how "moral and ethical principles" play into deciding which channels to distribute and do they require "content guidelines."
They also asked if actions were taken against the TV channels regarding "the November 3, 2020 elections, the January 6, 2021 Capital insurrection or COVID-19 misinformation."
The last question served as a direct assault on the companies business decision demanding to know if they planned to continue to carry Fox News, Newsmax and OANN and "If so, why?"
Translation?
We want you to cancel Newsmax and other conservative outlets because we don’t agree with their content because it makes Democrats look bad in the eyes of the public.
Borelli censored the fact that bot Newsmax and OAN did, in fact, broadcast falsehoods and misinformation regarding the 2020 election, particularly about election tech firm Dominion, who is suing both of them. Borelli also wrote:
It may well be argued that AT&T and DirecTVare feeling the sting of GOP wrath because they just added a new conservative outlet, The First, to its offerings.
Perhaps that reflects an obvious clean up aisle five move in an effort to placate the political outrage it created.
The best solution for all is for AT&T and DirecTV to bring back Newsmax.
That, as far as we can tell, is only the second reference at Newsmax to the fact that DirecTV did, in fact, replace it with another right-wing channel -- which, again, obliterates the argument that what DirecTV did is viewpoint censorship. The first apparent reference was in a Jan. 27 article.
James Hirsen devoted his Feb. 6 column to blaming Newsmax's deplatforming on DirecTV's parent, AT&T, somehow being "woke" (translation: not filled with right-wingers):
In a nutshell, the world's largest telecommunications company (and third largest provider of cellphones) has insidiously morphed into a far-left organization that poses as a service company.
According to OpenSecrets, during the time period between 1989 and 2019, AT&T was the 14th-largest donor to United States federal political campaigns and committees, contributing tens of millions of dollars, a majority of which went straight into Democrat hands.
As Newsmax contributor Jeffrey Lord reported in the American Spectator, the company's leaders have backgrounds that link them with politicians of the liberal Democrat kind.
AT&T’s board of directors includes a chairman of the board that previously served as FCC chair, and was appointed by former President Bill Clinton. This same chairman of the board was an ambassador that was appointed to the position by former President Barack Obama.
Two board members are reliable contributors to prominent Democratic candidates, including one individual who was an adviser and supporter of former President Bill Clinton, as well as being the co-chair of the left-leaning Brookings Institution.
[...]
Did corporate heads at AT&T via its DirecTV subsidiary set out to suppress the speech of Newsmax? And was the company following the dictates of its fellow left-leaning politicians, media apparatchiks and radical activist groups?
The pieces of the puzzle seem to be falling into place.
Hirsen didn't explain how not being filled with right-wingers makes as company "woke." Nor did he disclose that DirecTV replace Newsmax with another right-wing channel, which undermines his conspikracy theory that the company was "following the dictates of its fellow left-leaning politicians, media apparatchiks and radical activist groups."
(Updated to note a previous reference to The First.)
