‘Wouldn’t Take Sherlock Holmes’ to Figure Out: Ramaswamy Responds to Bombshell Report Newsmax Wanted Money For Favorable Coverage
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy responded to a recent report that Newsmax wanted him to buy advertisements on the network in order to receive better coverage.
According to a report from Semafor, earlier this summer Ramaswamy and had a phone call Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy where the two discussed the network’s coverage of his candidacy. Ramaswamy noted that the conservative network was not providing him enough coverage during the most watched hours of the day.
Ruddy reportedly suggested Ramaswamy buy more television ads on the network if he wanted more coverage during the day. The report cited two close associates that Ramaswamy informed about the conversation.
Per Semafor:
Ruddy, Ramaswamy told them, noted that such a transaction had helped Republican businessman Perry Johnson, a gadfly candidate who has thus far garnered only passing attention among mainstream and even conservative outlets covering the 2024 presidential cycle.
In a statement, Newsmax spokesperson Bill Daddi told Semafor that the insinuation ‘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.’
During an interview with Sean Spicer released on Friday, Ramaswamy addressed the allegations levied in the report.
SPICER: One last question, because I know your time is tight. There was. In the last couple of days, Newsmax has put out several texts and Instagram posts talking about the polling, and neither here nor there, but it seems to be going after you. Talking about – and I just — how you fared after the debate. But there was a story that had come out in an outlet called Semafor a couple of weeks ago saying that they had tried to pressure you into buying more ads. Can you just clarify: Is that true? And do you think that that’s why their, their posts and such target you in a way that might not be fairly?
RAMASWAMY: Well, I have seen a difference in coverage since that story came out from Semafor. So, that’s just a fact. And I think you and others have apparently noticed it, too. I didn’t provide that information to Semafor, but Semafor did report that Newsmax said that, you know, one of the ways we could get more coverage was through advertising. And so, look, I want to be respectful to colleagues across the political spectrum.
People can look at the facts and form their own judgments about which candidates have been or had purchased ads and have been, you know, treated in a certain way on that network, even some candidates who weren’t on that debate stage.
But, you know, I’m not in this race to disparage or to, you know, embarrass anybody else. I’m in this race to speak the truth about what I stand for and where we’re headed. All I will say is it has been very educational for me to see how corrupt the existing political media establishment is. And that’s not limited to right wing or left wing. It’s just a broken system. The super PAC puppetry of the way partisan politics is run. It’s been an eye-opening experience for me.
But all the more reason why it’s given me my sense of conviction that it takes a true outsider willing to speak the truth to get that job done. And on the particular question that you’re asking about. I think it wouldn’t take a Sherlock Holmes to do their homework and figure out for themselves, both before and after, exactly how things go down in media.
Watch the full clip above via Spicer’s YouTube channel.
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