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Uncensored:NewsMax.com

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Danny censored this page on April 17, 2006, providing the following reason(s):

"POV qualms"

This is a copy of the article prior to the action(s), provided for historical purposes.

This article may not conform to the neutral point of view policy.
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NewsMax.com is a conservative news website that was founded in September 1998 by journalist Christopher Ruddy, who is its current CEO and editor-in-chief. It is headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida.

1 Background
2 Misinformation
- 2.1 John McCain
- 2.2 Plame-CIA Leak
3 References
4 External links

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. [1]. Ruddy received funding for a conspiracy book surrounding the Presidency of Bill Clinton from Joseph Farah (founder of WorldNetDaily, and co-founder of the Western Journalism Center.[2]. 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. [3] 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'"[4]

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.[5] Eventually, Scaife became an investor and the third-largest stockholder in NewsMax. [6] Conservative James Dale Davidson is also an investor.

NewsMax promotes a right-wing viewpoint, and attacks what it calls liberal thinking as media bias [7].

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, Hillary Rodham Clinton, currently one of the two U.S. senators from New York.

NewsMax's founders include Kevin Timpy, Bruce Lonic, Lord William Rees-Mogg, James Dale Davidson, Admiral Thomas Moorer, Arnaud de Borchgrave, and Michael Ruff. [8] It's 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. [9]

Misinformation

On December 19, 2000, NewsMax falsely claimed: "Hillary and Bill Clinton are putting their Chappaqua, N.Y., home for sale because their neighbors have them under 24-hour video surveillance," citing anonymous sources "at some of America's most notorious supermarket tabloids."[10] In fact, the Clintons have not sold that house.[11]

On May 26, 2001, NewsMax falsely claimed that U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton refused to meet with Gold Star Mothers, a group whose members are mothers who have lost children while serving in the military. ^[12]

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. ^[13] ^[14]

On October 17, 2005, NewsMax falsely claimed that it never stated that a concert by the rock band U2 in Philadelphia was to be a benefit for the re-election campaign of Sen. Rick Santorum. In fact, NewsMax did claim that the concert was "in support of Santorum's re-election" when Santorum's campaign had merely bought seats at the concert for its supporters. NewsMax withdrew the original, erroneous article without issuing a correction.[15]

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.^[16] 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." ^[17]

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."^[18]

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."^[19]

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)"^[20]

And Title 18, Section 793 is the Espionage Act.