Daily Times

But there’s a key difference between Newsmax and OAN, according to Kevin Arceneaux, a political science professor at Temple University.

Newsmax is closer to Fox News in its editorial approach, he says. “They seem to be a little more willing to play fast and loose with the truth, but they have some sense of journalistic standard.”

Ruddy said that once the results are confirmed and Team Trump’s legal appeals are through, if Biden is still declared the winner — of which there seems little doubt — “Trump should concede and there should be a smooth transfer of power. We hope that’s the case.”

On the other hand, “it’s not even clear that I would categorize OAN as a news network,” said Arceneaux, even if the channel styles itself as one.

He views OAN as “a place for far-right leaning conspiracy theories, an echo chamber.”

By design, OAN has “created a completely different reality for conservatives who can’t come to terms that Trump lost,” said Chris Pocock, a former producer at the network.

For Arceneaux, the problem isn’t so much the channel’s content as it is that elected Republican officials seem to agree with it, which gives OAN legitimacy.

As a result, there is a risk of seeing the two major US parties “having completely different conversations about different sets of facts,” Arceneaux said. “It’s very difficult to see how you have a healthy democracy in that context.”

“The key is going to be whether or not (the two channels) can make it stick,” said Jeffrey McCall, a communications professor at DePauw University. “That remains to be seen.”

Newsmax and OAN, which are small in today’s media landscape, are going to have to invest, McCall warned, if they want to face off with Fox, which has revenues of several hundred million dollars a year.

According to several US media reports, Ruddy was recently approached by the investment group Hicks Equity Partners — which has close ties to the Republican party — over a possible purchase.

But the Newsmax founder, himself a close Trump acquaintance, said there had been “no formal” offer.

In the background is also Trump’s desire, which he has mentioned several times, to own his own news channel, either by creating it or buying an existing one.

“I would welcome the president to have a show on Newsmax,” said Ruddy, “but I wouldn’t want to have the whole network named after him or be about him.”

Could Trump TV someday become a reality? Citizen Media, a small company in Illinois, already registered the name in June.