Newsmax appears to be pivoting away from the "lunacy" with a more Fox News-like focus on politics

The Daily Beast

"Between multiple billion-dollar lawsuits over its 2020 election-fraud lies and having a star White House reporter go all-in on satanic vaccine conspiracy theories, Newsmax seems to be facing a similar predicament to that of Fox News in recent years: How do we pivot away from the lunacy?" reports The Daily Beast's Justin Baragona and Diana Falzone. "The fledgling MAGA channel’s solution seems to be going on a hiring spree of former Fox News producers and reporters. While Newsmax has never shied away from over-the-top, often unhinged right-wing commentary, the MAGA-centric channel’s ludicrousness came under the microscope over the last two weeks when its star White House reporter Emerald Robinson began pushing on Twitter a patently absurd claim that the COVID-19 vaccines contain a 'bioluminescent' tracking device with satanic powers." After Robinson was permanently banned from Twitter last week, it appears Newsmax is dumping her for a more respectable White House reporter: Fox News chief D.C. correspondent James Rosen, currently a political reporter for local TV giant Sinclair Broadcasting Group. "Furthermore, over the past month Newsmax has hired two longtime Fox News 'straight news' executive producers to be the fledgling network’s news director and vice president of talent," The Daily Beast adds. "This seeming effort to replicate the Fox News model suggests Newsmax is trying to expand its threadbare newsroom and lend it some credibility—in spite of recent embarrassments."