On August 20, Semafor reported that Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy told Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy that if he wanted to appear on the network, he could pay to do so. According to two people to whom Ramaswamy described their conversation, Ruddy mentioned that another Republican candidate, Perry Johnson, had benefited handsomely from a similar deal.

In a statement to Semafor, Newsmax denied that it “is asking candidates to advertise in order to ensure coverage as some quid pro quo” and merely contended that “advertising would be a good way” for candidates to reach voters on Newsmax. 

But according to a Media Matters review, data strongly suggests that Newsmax allowed Johnson to buy his way into a disproportionate amount of airtime. 

Between June 1 and August 19, Johnson got nearly 5 and a half hours of candidate airtime on Newsmax. That includes 4 hours and 16 minutes of programming Johnson paid for as well as 16 interviews on the network that totaled an additional hour and 10 minutes. 

Comparatively, in that same time frame, Ramaswamy got 36 minutes of candidate airtime on the network. Most of that time was spent on 3 interviews totaling 35 minutes. All of this, of course, is amid a GOP primary media environment that is dominated by former president Donald Trump, especially on Newsmax. 

 

As Semafor reported, Johnson’s Newsmax coverage didn’t come from just television interviews, though 16 interviews in almost three months for a candidate polling at 1-2% is certainly noteworthy. Newsmax has also aired what Johnson calls a “reality show” -- called Perry Johnson in Prime Time: Backstage Pass -- which consists of promotional documentary footage of Johnson’s campaign. The campaign even recorded ads encouraging Newsmax viewers to watch the show, because Johnson is “a rock-solid conservative, like you and me.”

A recent episode of Perry Johnson in Prime Time: Backstage Pass followed Johnson at the Iowa State Fair as he partook in various candidate traditions, and did two interviews with Newsmax-affiliated figures: a radio interview with Des Moines-area host Simon Conway of The Simon Conway Show, and a shorter TV interview with former Newsmax host Sean Spicer (who was uncredited), about fair snacks and the GOP primary debate.

The latest edition of Johnson’s paid programming ended with a concert from country music performers Big & Rich, for which Johnson also paid. After performing some songs and inviting veterans in the audience to come on stage for rounds of applause and “that redneck whiskey,” Big & Rich welcomed “the man of the hour,” Johnson himself, to the stage. 

Whatever Johnson may have told the audience, not much made it to the Newsmax show beyond him saying “God bless America” as the episode segued into Big & Rich performing Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy).

“I’m Perry Johnson, and I approved this message,” the episode ended, finally confirming that the show was paid programming -- and that one can watch more of the same, every week on Newsmax.

Methodology

Media Matters searched transcripts in the SnapStream and Kinetiq video databases for all original programming on Fox News Channel, Newsmax, and One America News for any of the terms “Trump,” “Haley,” “Ramaswamy,” “Hutchinson,” “Scott,” “DeSantis,” “Elder,” “Johnson,” “Binkley,” “Christie,” “Pence,” “Laffey,” “Suarez,” “Hurd,” “Singh” or “Burgum” (including misspellings of any name where appropriate) within close proximity of any of the terms “phone,” “guest,” “interview,” “in studio,” “with us,” “with me,” “bring in,” “to discuss,” “to talk,” “calling in,” “drop,” “take,” “rally,” “event,” “press conference,” “stage,” “introduce,” “heard,” or “thank” or any variation of any of the terms “speak,” “react,” “join,” or “town hall” from June 1, 2023, through August 19, 2023.

We also searched our internal database of all original, weekday programming on Fox News Channel (shows airing from 6 a.m. through midnight) for segments that analysts determined to include any of the declared GOP presidential primary candidates as guests or live coverage of any campaign-related event for any of the declared GOP presidential primary candidates from June 1, 2023, through August 19, 2023.

Finally, we searched transcripts in the Nexis database for all available programming on Fox News Channel for any of the terms “Trump,” “Haley,” “Ramaswamy,” “Hutchinson,” “Scott,” “DeSantis,” “Elder,” “Johnson,” “Binkley,” “Christie,” “Pence,” “Laffey,” “Suarez,” “Hurd,” “Singh,” or “Burgum” within the transcript’s “guest” field or that appeared at least five times in all caps within the body of the transcript from June 1, 2023, through August 19, 2023. We then reviewed the text to determine whether any declared GOP presidential primary candidate appeared as a guest or the network aired live coverage of a campaign-related event.

We timed interviews and panels, which we defined as instances when the anchor or host interviewed any declared GOP presidential primary candidate either alone or with other guests; live coverage, which we defined as instances when the program cut to a live campaign-related event of a GOP presidential primary candidate; and paid programming, which we defined as instances when a candidate paid a network for a set amount of programming time. We included coverage (which we collectively termed “candidate airtime”) only after each individual contender officially announced their candidacy.

We rounded all times to the nearest minute.