Newsmax ran stories about Chris Christie calling Trump’s legal challenges “an absurdity,” and about Jeb Bush, who tweeted in mid-December that “The election is over.” On December 1, Newsmax published a story about Georgia elections official Gabriel Sterling admonishing Trump and the state’s two Republican senators over their claims that the election had been mishandled.
But the voices promoting fraud were most prominent, and appear to have been enticing to new viewers.
In fact, if there was one story that Newsmax found as newsworthy as alleged election fraud, it was its own ratings.
Newsmax regularly used the breaking news bar at the top of its website to tout its Nielsen ratings, and to take shots at Fox. “WOW! Newsmax TV Beat Fox Business, CNBC Combined,” read a breaking news bar headline in mid-November.
In a statement to National Review, Newsmax denied that it intentionally sowed doubt about the integrity of the election. “Newsmax has always reported on all sides of the news. We reported on the electoral challenge claims made by President Trump, his attorneys and others, often relating to court documents, about election issues and irregularities. Newsmax has consistently stated we were not claiming any of these to be true, and we reported on evidence challenging these claims,” the statement read.
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