Newsmax is vehemently denying a recent report that it goaded Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy into buying more TV ads on the network after he complained of a lack of coverage. In a statement to Semafor, which first reported the accusations, the right-wing network said the claim “that Newsmax is asking candidates to advertise in order to ensure coverage as some quid pro quo … is categorically untrue and incorrect. Newsmax would take an assertion such as that very seriously. There is no correlation between advertising and editorial visibility for any candidate on Newsmax.” Semafor cited two anonymous sources who claimed that Ramaswamy told them network chief Chris Ruddy said to the presidential hopeful in a personal call that he should increase his advertising on Newsmax to ensure more coverage. Newsmax said of the claims: “If candidates want to reach our audience outside of our programming, then, of course, advertising would be a good way for them to do this. That is the basis of all political advertising.”
