"All hell broke loose" at Newsmax following its vaccine mandate announcement

The Washington Post

"Newsmax seemed to have a massive problem on its hands at the end of last week," says The Washington Post's Jeremy Barr. "Over the past year, the conservative cable news channel has gained a substantial new audience by appealing to Donald Trump supporters who found Fox News insufficiently loyal in its coverage of the 2020 presidential election, more recently attempting to outflank conservative rivals by delivering a heavy dose of on-air skepticism about coronavirus vaccines and other measures to thwart the pandemic. Then, on Friday evening, the news broke that Newsmax would institute a vaccine mandate of its own. Predictably, all hell broke loose. One prominent Newsmax host quickly told The Washington Post that he would not comply with the mandate. Another that same night delivered an on-air broadside denouncing vaccine mandates for supposedly 'purging our society of freedom-loving patriots by scaring them into submission.' ...The company attempted to set the record straight in an editorial on Sunday noting that 'Newsmax has no vaccine mandate nor do we require it for employment.' The editorial framed the internal policy announcement as simply a matter of Newsmax having 'informed our staff of the upcoming federal rule,' which will mandate vaccination or weekly testing for companies employing more than 100 individuals. The regulation was set to go into effect on Jan. 4 but is currently being held up by legal appeals."