DirecTV, by booting Newsmax, has woken a sleeping giant

OPINION:

Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, after orchestrating the December, 7, 1941, attack on America at Pearl Harbor, would later write in his diary, “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”

Now fast-forward to February, 2023. This seems DirecTV’s problem, too.

Maybe booting Newsmax from the lineup wasn’t such a great idea, after all — if only from the public relations point of view. 

Conservatives around the nation; congressional members on Capitol Hill; media pundits and talking heads alike — they’re all rising up and rallying against DirecTV for its drop of Newsmax from its channel offerings. 

Here’s a taste.

Sens. Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, Mike Lee and Tom Cotton penned a letter to the satellite carrier demanding answers — saying they were “deeply disturbed” by what they perceive as perhaps “the latest example of big business suppressing politically disfavored speech at the behest of liberal Democrats.” The Republican National Committee has called for accountability for DirecTV’s “censorship of Republican voices.” Conservative author Dennis Prager has advised his media followers to “just cancel DirecTV.” South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem railed against the loss of free speech that has plagued conservatives and asked that “AT&T” “facilitate” the reinstatement of Newsmax too DirecTV. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Congress should certainly investigate AT&T and DirecTV for dropping both Newsmax and, last year, OANN. Rep. Andy Biggs has blasted the booting as “fascism;” radio and podcast legend Michael Savage has called it an example of the “Sovietization” of America’s media.

There are more — many more angry voices out there.

DirecTV, as the saying goes, has stepped in it.

As for a defense, the company said its action was purely financial, not political, and that it had wanted to “continue to offer the network” but Newsmax’s call for higher carriage fees would have resulted in “significantly higher costs that we would have to pass on to our broad customer base.” DirecTV also pointed out it had picked up another conservative channel, The First, that features Bill O’Reilly and Dana Loesch, among its hosts.

Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy seems unimpressed. In a statement, he said, “This is a blatant act of political discrimination and censorship against Newsmax. The most extreme liberal channels, even with tiny ratings, get fees from AT&T’s DirecTV, but Newsmax and [One American News] need to be deplatformed.”

The takeaway is two-fold: First, the fight’s not ending any time soon. Republicans in the House have already indicated their willingness to drag forward DirecTV and AT&T executives for hearings. And second, the larger war of censorship against conservatives seems to be tipping away from the fascists and heading back to the win column for freedom. From Twitter’s Elon Musk — winning! — to TV’s Newsmax, the pendulum of public opinion is swinging hard toward free speech.

Authoritarians can only exert their powers so long before a nation of free citizens awaken from slumber. It won’t be long for the censors of America to learn, like Isoroku Yamamoto, to beware the sleeping giant.

• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Lockdown: The Socialist Plan To Take Away Your Freedom,” is available by clicking HERE  or clicking HERE or CLICKING HERE.