Trump allies in talks to buy Newsmax and turn it into Fox News competitor, reports say

A group of investors connected to Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee (RNC) are considering purchasing the conservative news outlet Newsmax and turning it into a Fox News competitor, it has been reported.

Fox, like several other mainstream media outlets, called the 2020 presidential election for Joe Biden more than a week ago, creating a stir in conservative circles where Donald Trump’s baseless claims of rampant voter fraud have actually caught on.

Newsmax has been at the head of the pack of conservative outlets condemning Fox for projecting Mr Biden’s electoral victory, publishing conspiracy theories on its website and amplifying over its airwaves the Trump campaign’s unsubstantiated message that the election was somehow “stolen” from the incumbent.

Now, the RNC-aligned investment group Hicks Equity Partners is in “ongoing discussions” with Newsmax, Business Insider  and the Wall Street Journal have reported.

Rumours have swirled for years in Washington that Mr Trump and his allies might try to build a media empire after his presidency that could draw viewers away from Fox. No negotiations have ever reached final stages, including the reported Newsmax-Hicks discussions.

Several mainstream outlets — such as the New York Times, The Guardian, and others — have reported on how Newsmax has been attempting to outflank Fox from the right to win over the most right-wing members of its audience. At least one person has taken notice: Mr Trump.

In a tweet on Sunday, the president urged his followers to watch Newsmax and One America News Network (OANN) instead of Fox after the Murdoch-owned network aired a segment trashing the Trump campaign’s legal strategy, which accuses states of allowing election fraud.

“This is why @FoxNews daytime and weekend daytime have lost their ratings. They are abysmal having [Pete Buttigieg] (Mayor Pete of Indiana's most unsuccessful city, by far!) on more than Republicans. Many great alternatives are forming & exist. Try @OANN & @newsmax, among others!” Mr Trump wrote.

Founded in 1998, Newsmax has been a fringe player in the conservative media ecosystem for two decades with its right-slanted news coverage and opinion pages. But its influence has come nowhere near that of Fox or the digital giant Breitbart.

It has long been a landing cushion for jettisoned talent from Fox, such as when it aired Bill O’Reilly’s show following his firing from the larger network in 2017. Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer hosts a show on Newsmax’s cable channel, which launched in 2014.

It would be difficult for anyone, even with the outgoing president’s backing, to build Newsmax into a force rivaling Fox. Newsmax averaged 223,000 viewers in primetime during election week, a 156 per cent increase on normal times, Nielsen data shows. Fox, on the other hand, averaged 6m primetime viewers during election week.

Fox News referred  The Independent to an earnings call from 3 November where Fox Corporation chief executive Lachlan Murdoch embraced competition in the media market.

“We have always … thrived with competition,” Mr Murdoch said on the call. “And we have strong competition now. I would say the only difference today versus some years ago, as our audience has grown and our reach has grown, we see our competition as no longer only cable news providers, but also as the traditional broadcast networks.”

The Independent has attempted to contact Newsmax for comment.